Lesser Prairie-Chicken. Photo courtesy of Noppadol Paothong.
In order to maintain and increase its numbers, Lesser Prairie-Chickens need large areas of grassland habitat restored and conserved. The Restore New Mexico partnership is expanding its habitat in five priority areas of southeastern New Mexico through aerial and mechanical treatments to remove invasive mesquite, which provides perches for predators. Efforts aim to improve current occupied habitat and open previously occupied habitat so that Lesser Prairie-Chickens have the opportunity to expand when conditions are right. Every spring, Restore New Mexico partners pool resources and identify large areas of grassland (up to 25,000 acres) to be treated to remove invasive mesquite.
Playa Lakes Joint Venture (PLJV) is working with Restore New Mexico partners to better understand and communicate the effectiveness of mesquite control treatments and the response of vegetation and grassland birds to these treatments. As part of this project, we are conducting outreach to Bureau of Land Management (BLM) permittees with grazing allotments in the Pecos District and coordinating mesquite control treatments on their leased land; conducting bird and plant surveys to evaluate the effectiveness of the treatments; and coordinating with new and existing conservation partners.
Project activities will be centered in the Mescalero Sands region of southeastern New Mexico, a narrow band of unique habitat with rolling sand dunes, shinnery oak communities, and shortgrass prairie. This area is home to the Lesser Prairie-Chicken and the Sand Dune Lizard, which only occurs in this region.
Ultimately, this coordination, monitoring, and communications effort will increase understanding of how treatments are contributing to the recovery of Lesser Prairie-Chicken and other grassland bird species, and where restoration and management can be most effective for creating and maintaining large areas of suitable grassland habitat. It will also build support for such actions among a broad partnership of stakeholders.
Below is a more detailed description of each project component.
- Work with land managers, owners, and permittees to implement mesquite management and control treatments to create large continuous areas of grassland. The partnership is focusing their efforts within five priority areas where mesquite can be effectively treated and the recovering grasslands maintained. In order to better understand the barriers to mesquite removal and grassland restoration programs, field surveys of producers and permittees will be conducted.
- Incorporate current spatial data, vegetation monitoring, and bird surveys into effectiveness monitoring and future treatment planning. A widely used and recently revised model to estimate the amount of mesquite cover in the BLM Pecos District in southeastern New Mexico will be used to target new priority areas. We will evaluate effectiveness of the treatments through pre-and post-treatment vegetation surveys and by using the Integrated Monitoring in Bird Conservation Regions protocol to collect bird data on treated and untreated areas.
- Provide communications and outreach materials to support the project. We will be creating communications and outreach messages and materials to engage land managers, owners and permittees in mesquite removal and grassland restoration to support Lesser Prairie-Chicken and other grassland bird species found in eastern New Mexico.
Project Partners
The following partners are contributing to this project as part of the grant; however, the partnership continues to grow.
- Bureau of Land Management
- CEHMM
- National Grazing Lands Coalition
- New Mexico Association of Conservation Districts
- New Mexico Department of Game and Fish
- New Mexico State Land Office
- USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
- Western Landowners Alliance
- Working Lands Conservation
LEARN MORE
To learn more about the project or how you can get involved, contact Alex Nelson, the project manager.