The National Audubon Society recently released a report, North American Grasslands and Birds, that evaluates the sensitivity of grassland bird species to climate change and identifies which grasslands are strongholds against both climate change and land use conversion and which are vulnerable to those processes. PLJV collaborated on the chapter addressing the southern Great Plains […]

PLJV’s 2018 annual report is now available, and we’d like to thank all of our partners! 2018 marked a great year of accomplishments for the Joint Venture and demonstrated our effectiveness as a partnership-driven organization. In addition to developing new tools for the benefit of our partnership and regional communities, such as the Kansas Water […]

Pictured (left to right): Jeff Raasch, TPWD; Mike Carter, PLJV; Mrs. Laura Bush; Bob Locke, Ducks Unlimited; and Don Kahl, TPWD. In October, the Texas Playa Conservation Initiative was one of six conservation projects featured at the first annual Conservation Wrangler Summit and Celebration hosted by Texan by Nature, an organization founded by Former First […]

Before and after the removal of invasive non-native plants including Russian olive and tamarisk. Courtesy of Kansas Partners for Fish and Wildlife. Over the last couple of years, the USFWS Kansas Partners for Fish & Wildlife Program along with numerous partners have been successfully leveraging funding sources — including a NAWCA small grant and a […]

For anyone planning to restore native tallgrass prairie, a visit to the Matador Wildlife Management Area (WMA), located near the southeastern corner of the Texas panhandle, may be in order. Over the past 14 years, the Matador WMA, which was purchased in 1959 by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) as a research and demonstration […]

In September, the USDA Farm Service Agency accepted 167 offers, totally 8,988 acres of playas and surrounding uplands, into the Migratory Bird, Butterfly, and Pollinator Habitat State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement (Migratory Bird SAFE) practice. Of those offers, 125 of them were in western Kansas and 42 in western Nebraska. “It’s really gratifying to watch […]

For the past several years, PLJV has had the opportunity to work with city leaders and prominent landowners in Clovis, New Mexico, on a visionary plan that features playa conservation as an important aspect of ensuring ongoing groundwater recharge and a sustainable future for their community — and a key component of that plan is […]

This year, the North American Wetlands Conservation Council funded five projects within the PLJV region to receive North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) grants. Together, these five projects will provide $1.4 million in federal funds and another $2,206,303 in matching funds to support long-term wetland acquisition, restoration, and enhancement of more than 13,126 acres, benefiting […]

On Tuesday, June 19, the City of Clovis and Playa Lakes Joint Venture (PLJV) formalized their partnership with a joint resolution to provide public education about the significance of playas to groundwater recharge and wildlife habitat and to restore playas in Curry County, New Mexico, so they can better provide those benefits. The resolution was […]

Texas Parks and Wildlife (TPWD) staff have been busy recruiting landowners to participate in the Texas Playa Conservation Initiative, which is designed to restore the natural function of playas by backfilling pits and trenches in playas surrounded by grass—at no cost to landowners. The partners currently have contracts to restore approximately 400 acres of playas […]