As a Migratory Bird Joint Venture, our goal is to conserve habitat to benefit birds, other wildlife, and people. That message – bird conservation benefits wildlife, people, and entire ecosystems – is the focus of the 2022 U.S. State of the Birds Report. The report shows birds in the United States are declining overall in every habitat except wetlands, with grassland birds experiencing the fastest decline with 34% loss since 1970. However, the report demonstrates there are many opportunities to not only conserve birds and their habitats but also benefit people and strengthen economies.

PLJV welcomes Lindsay Shorter, the new Grassland Conservation Marketing Manager, to our team. Lindsay has a unique understanding of the needs and experiences of farmers and ranchers in the PLJV region — in part because she is one. As one of her main priorities, Lindsay will work alongside PLJV social scientists as part of an NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant project to develop an effective outreach model by integrating social science insights into targeted strategic communications that increase brush management and prescribed fire on rangelands in six conservation districts in Oklahoma and Kansas.

As the 2022 PLJV ConocoPhillips Capacity Grant recipient, Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust (CCALT) will use the multi-year funding to expand their conservation and stewardship efforts in Colorado’s eastern plains and advance their additive conservation program, which is designed to achieve additional conservation outcomes on conserved lands, and increase the resiliency and integrity of interconnected conserved landscapes.