native grasslands are the least conserved and most altered landscapes … · and most altered...

Native grasslands are the least conservedand most altered landscapes on earth.

2 Central Great Plains Grasslands Initiative

Central Great Plains Grasslandsin urgent need of collaborative conservation

conservation PRIORITIES

The prairies of the central U.S. are an iconic American landscape. Once home to

legions of bison, prairie dogs, elk and grassland birds, the vast prairie to which early settlers flocked has been dramatically altered over the past 150 years. Less than one-third of this majestic landscape remains today. Native grasslands are the least conserved and most altered landscapes on earth.

The results of this decline are staggering. Almost three-quarters of the breeding bird species in the United States survive in the prairies of the

Great Plains. Historically, some of these birds were widely distributed and found here in vast numbers. Today, grassland bird populations have declined more dramatically than any other group of North American birds.

The call for The Nature Conservancy and its partners to work harder, faster and smarter in this landscape is clear and couldn’t be more urgent. Previous attempts to develop comprehensive approaches to grassland conservation have been hampered by the sheer size of the Great Plains, insufficient funding, and at times, uncoordinated state-by-state efforts. However,

recent efforts by the Conservancy have resulted in the development of a focused and innovative approach to grassland conservation: the Central Great Plains Grasslands Initiative. This project is focused on two key regions of the larger American prairies in an effort to develop a successful conservation template that can be applied to other areas.

The project boundaries (see map page 7) for the Central Great Plains Grasslands Initiative encompass areas of common ecological challenges, conservation opportunities and implementation strategies.

Work with oil and gas energy industry leaders to minimize impacts by developing new siting tools and improve reclamation practices.

Collaborate with policy makers, agency staff and landowner groups to reduce destruction of native grasslands.

Minimize impacts of commercial wind energy development on wildlife and their habitats by encouraging appropriate siting and mitigation.

Facilitate the widespread use of prescribed fire as a tool to improve grassland health and grazing production.

The Nature Conservancy 3

The Nature Conservancy is working with oil and gas industry leaders to develop new, collaborative solutions to ensure that energy production uses siting and practices that minimize impacts to nature.

Native grasslands are important ecological systems in both the public and private sectors. They are valued not only for their agricultural and grazing productivity, but also for the rich, subsurface oil and gas resources, by which many local and regional economies of the Central Great Plains are buoyed. With recent advances in drilling technology and growing energy demands in the U.S., exploration of newly discovered oil and gas producing formations is occurring at a rapid pace. The landscape targeted in the Central Great Plains Grasslands Initiative is no exception. The unintended consequences of increased surface disturbance, truck traffic, noise, water use, spills and introduction of invasive species can have significant cumulative impacts on wildlife and its habitats.

Ensuring that our nation has the energy it needs while conserving remaining natural grasslands requires the Conservancy to collaborate with oil and gas company leaders. A key component of this collaboration is developing a siting model that will identify optimal locations for well pads, roads and other infrastructure in order to avoid negative impacts to wildlife. The GIS-based model will require staff from the Conservancy and corporations to bring their technical expertise together to provide solutions that work for both nature and successful oil and gas resource

Siting Our Future

development. In addition, use of the siting model will be easily incorporated into the planning process of companies interested in reducing impacts to our remaining prairies.

Energy development has the potential to allow invasive non-native plant species to gain entry into the Central Great Plains. Invasive species exact heavy costs in lost economic productivity. Estimates show that invasive weeds cost U.S. ranchers billions of dollars in lost grazing productivity annually, not to mention damage to wildlife habitats. Use of non-native plants to stabilize disturbed soils can be a source

of such invaders. Increasing exploration across the Central Great Plains expands the need to stabilize

soils on roadsides and well sites making the selection of plant types important. The Conservancy will collaborate with industry experts to develop a voluntary program to help oil and gas developers avoid using non-native invasive

plants and to select preferred native species for soil stabilization and reclamation.

The approaches described here will minimize further degradation and loss of the remaining native prairies while facilitating energy production.

Invasive species cost billionsin property damage and

lost economic productivity.


Ensuring ProtectionAgricultural programs and policies, particularly at the federal level, present both benefits and challenges to the natural landscapes, aquatic environments and wildlife populations of the Central Great Plains. Subsidies for corn ethanol production, for example, can drive conversion of native grasslands to row-crop production, one of the most widespread and devastating ecological threats to grasslands. Similarly, subsidies that make crop insurance more affordable also make farming in areas of marginal production potentially less risky, and therefore foster the destruction of native prairie habitats.

Conversely, easement programs (such as those offered through USDA’s Farm & Ranchland Protection Program, Grassland Reserve Program and Wetlands Reserve Program) have provided major public and ecological benefits by preventing fragmentation and conversion of remaining unaltered prairies. This method of conservation aligns with the goals of many who want to maintain the unfragmented nature of the prairie while preserving its ranching heritage and economic base.

Presently, more than 200,000 acres are protected by conservation easements in the Central Great Plains Grasslands Initiative project areas; but this represents only a miniscule advancement toward the large landscape-scale approach necessary to achieve meaningful conservation in this vast region. Ongoing encroachment of cropland conversion, energy development, urban sprawl, exurban

development, and subdivision continue to degrade the ecological health of the Central Great Plains. Addressing these issues demands solutions that simultaneously support the well-being of the region’s economies, cultures and natural landscapes. In addition to building and maintaining close partnerships with private landowners, major components of the solution are held within the Farm Bill.

Putting an ecologically-friendly Farm Bill to work requires that the Conservancy and its partners work together to address:

• federal policy at the congressional level; • funding through Congress and agency budgets; • rule-making processes at the agency level; • implementation through both national and

local process, as well as on-the-ground work with agency staff and landowners.

Success in this realm demands investments of staff time, travel and other resources. Failure would entail major setbacks for conservation in the Central Great Plains. The Farm Bill and other state and federal programs offer important opportunities that must not be squandered.

Easement programs have provided major public and ecological benefits by preventing fragmentation and conversion of remaining unaltered prairies.


Greater Prairie ChickenThe greater prairie chicken inhabits tallgrass prairie in the Flint Hills region of Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma.

Lesser Prairie ChickenThe lesser prairie chicken occurs in shortgrass, mixed-grass and shrubland habitats in southwestern Kansas, northwestern Oklahoma and the northeast Texas Panhandle.

BatsBat species in Kansas and Oklahoma include the pallid bat, Townsend’s big-eared bat, cave myotis, tri-colored bat, big brown bat, and the Mexican free-tailed bat (OK only).

Protected by Action of The Nature Conservancy1. Four Canyon Preserve

2. Cheyenne Bottoms Preserve

3. E.C. Springer Prairie Preserve

4. Arkansas River Least Tern Preserve

5. Tallgrass Prairie Preserve

6. Flint Hills Preserve

7. Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve

8. Skyline Preserve 9. Konza Prairie Preserve

Threatened & Endangered Species10. Least tern11. American burying beetle12. Neosho madtom13. Topeka shiner14. Whooping crane15. Whooping crane & least tern

16. Black-capped vireo17. Least tern18. Black-capped vireo19. Whooping crane20. Arkansas River shiner & least tern

central great plainsgrasslandscollaborating to conserve America’s most impacted habitat

Central Great Plains Grasslands Area

Western Conservation Zone

Tallgrass Conservation Zone

Urban Area

Interstate/Highway

River

Conservation Easement


Eco-Friendly EnergyRecognizing that renewable, low-carbon energy is essential, The Nature Conservancy is working to minimize commercial wind energy impacts on wildlife and their habitats in the Central Great Plains.

Scientific studies indicate that ecologically compatible wind energy development can be accomplished in the Central Great Plains. Using available data, it is possible to develop viable wind energy facilities that minimize impacts to sensitive habitats and species, or avoid impacts to the most sensitive areas all together.

Economically viable wind resource areas and important grassland expanses show a high degree of overlap across the Great Plains. These overlapping features raise concerns that ecological health and diversity will be negativity impacted by wind energy development. Fortunately, threats to sensitive habitats and wildlife populations from wind energy may be alleviated through proper siting of wind energy facilities and compensation for unavoidable negative impacts.

A recently published paper by the Conservancy applied “avoid, minimize and mitigate” principles to commercial wind energy development in Kansas. The authors identified areas in the state where wind energy development is incompatible with ecological concerns (non-development or avoidance areas); other areas where wind energy development could occur with compensatory mitigation to offset negative ecological impacts; and still other areas where development could proceed without ecological impact concerns, and therefore, without mitigation.

0 50 10025 Miles

avoid areas ( 25%)unsuitable forwind development (17%)

high (11%)

low (4%)

medium (6%)none (16%)

very high (14%)

very low (7%)

includes airports, cities, lakes, wildlife refuges, & areas withlow wind speed and /or nolow wind speed and /or notransmission infrastructure

Estimated Mitigation Costs


In areas where wind energy would have minimal negative ecological impacts, the study estimates that as much as 6.6 million acres could be developed, equal to roughly 17 times the area necessary to meet an aggressive U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) wind power goal for Kansas.

A similar analysis found that approximately 7.4 million acres of Oklahoma’s viable wind resources were suitable for wind energy development after removing avoidance areas. If all wind development was restricted to lands where the analysis found no impacts would result, these areas could provide more than double the wind capacity needed to meet DOE’s goal. Both of these analyses demonstrate that DOE’s wind energy goals within the Central Great Plains can be fully realized without

compromising wildlife populations or ecological richness.

The Conservancy is also investigating the use of a voluntary certification process to guide and expedite wind energy development in areas of the Central Great Plains. Voluntary certification could aid expansion of wind energy by facilitating the

completion of individual and collective projects that avoid ecologically sensitive areas and by supporting the wind energy industry’s reputation as an ecologically friendly source of electricity. Endorsement of a certification process by electric utilities and financial backers would provide additional incentives for wind energy developers to seek certification. This approach, like the Conservancy’s work with the oil and gas industry, will require collaboration with industry leaders to develop a viable certification process and standards, as well as manage the program effectively. An independent third-party entity that oversees these functions is essential to the success of this effort. Only through collaboration will this effort result in a program that will effectively minimize the impacts of wind energy development.

Wind energy goals within the Central Great Plains can be fully realized without compromising

wildlife populations or ecological richness.


Pictured above is what was once an intact native landscape. If the wind energy development would have been properly sited, then fragmentation of this landscape could have been avoided.

Maintaining Fire’s Natural Role

Fire – both lightning-caused and man-made – has maintained prairies of the Central Great Plains for thousands of years. Fire is a key driver in the health and sustainability of grassland natural areas which are home to native plants and animals that require periodic fire in order to survive.

Since European settlement, fire has largely been suppressed in North American grasslands, contributing to ecological and economic degradation from woody plant encroachment. This is particularly evident in the grasslands of southcentral Kansas and western Oklahoma. Much of this eight-million-acre rangeland has been overrun by eastern red cedars and other trees and shrubs. Native to the area, cedars were historically restricted to deep canyons and waterways, where they were protected from fire. Today, cedars alone are taking over grasslands at a rate of 300,000 acres per year in some parts of this region.

The Conservancy is working to expand the use of fire across the Central Great Plains Grasslands project area by reducing barriers for landowners who want to burn, but are concerned about the risk of liability. An important part of this effort will focus on creating a program to provide insurance coverage for land managers who meet established criteria, such as having an approved burn plan. In addition, the Conservancy is facilitating the provision of fire training and equipment to landowners, managers and other stakeholders.

While fire suppression has allowed trees to invade major portions of the western prairie, further east, ranchers in the Kansas Flint Hills and Oklahoma Osage Hills have long used fire to manage rangelands. In this four-million-acre tallgrass region, burning supports economically important beef weight and prevents trees from crowding out prairie plants and wildlife. In some portions of the tallgrass region, changes in fire frequency could benefit both wildlife and livestock production.

The Conservancy is also developing innovative approaches to promoting fire as an ecologically and economically sound grassland management tool. For the Tallgrass zone, the Conservancy has worked with

partners to develop a “patch burn” approach – burning roughly one third of a ranch each year instead of the whole thing – as a way to promote a “patchy” landscape that is beneficial to native wildlife,

such as greater prairie chickens and other grassland birds. Research has shown not only the benefits of this approach to wildlife, but also that there are no losses to cattle weight gains. In addition, because grazers move toward recently burned areas to feed on the nutritious sprouts that follow a fire, this technique can be used to move cattle and reduce the need for internal fences. Other benefits include reduction of herbicide use and elimination of red cedars and noxious weeds. These solutions benefit both nature and people - ecology and economy.

The Conservancy works to maintain fire’s role where it benefits nature and people.


learn more at nature.org/greatplains

we needyour help

The Nature Conservancy remains at the forefront of conservation efforts that not only enrich and inspire people, but also develop solutions that can be applied globally. Accomplishing this work and maintaining our momentum

in the Central Great Plains require significant financial support. We are working hard to protect public funding for conservation and to build new and diverse support for the environment, but the role of private philanthropists

is increasingly critical. Even modest contributions can have major benefits to our on-the-ground work to conserve the grasslands of the Central Great Plains.

Please contact: Steve McGuffin, Director of Philanthropy, Oklahoma, 405-858-8557, [email protected]; Renee King, Associate Director of Philanthropy, Texas, 210-301-5621, [email protected];

or Rich Bailey, Director of Philanthropy, Kansas, 785-233-4400, [email protected].

Photo Credits: Front cover photo: Mike Fuhr; Pg 2: (background) National Geographic Society, (bottom-left) National Geographic Society, (bottom-center) Harvey Payne; (bottom-right) Danny Brown; Pg 4: Harvey Payne; Pg 5: Jay Pruett;

Pg 9: Jim Richardson; Pg 10: Kevin Sink; Pg 11: Harvey Payne; Back cover photo: National Geographic Society.

Central Great Plains Grasslands Initiative Headquarters2727 E. 21st St., Suite 102Tulsa, OK 74114

nature.org/greatplains

native grasslands are the least conserved and most altered landscapes … · and most altered...

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