Restoration of migratory grassland bird habitat on private
and communal lands in the Valles Centrales and Janos
Grassland Priority Conservation Areas
Implementation Partners
Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory
IMC – Vida Silvestre A.C.
Pronatura Noreste A.C.
American Bird Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy
Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León
Grupo Tecnigan
Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua
Especies, Sociedad y Hábitat A.C.
Universidad Autónoma de México
Profauna, Chihuahua A.C.
States participating -- Arizona, New Mexico
Funding Partners
USFWS (NMBCA)
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
Commission for Environmental Cooperation
WWF - Carlos Slim Foundation
CONANP Species at Risk Conservation Program
USFS International Programs
SAGARPA
WAFWA – Southern Wings
New Mexico Dept. of Game & Fish
Arizona Game & Fish Dept.
Bureau of Land Management
City of Fort Collins
Colorado State Land Board
Overview -- Grassland birds are declining more rapidly than any other group of North
American birds. Habitat loss and degradation on the wintering grounds is a common factor
among declining migratory species. The Chihuahuan Desert of northern Mexico is a
continentally important wintering area, supporting significant populations of more than 90% of
migratory grassland bird species breeding in western North America, including some, like
Baird’s Sparrow and Chestnut-collared Longspur, that winter nowhere else. Although people in
the Chihuahuan Desert have been ranching for centuries, a large portion of the grasslands once
found here has been lost to cropland conversion, shrub encroachment and desertification. To
reduce the threat of habitat degradation and conversion, partners aim to engage private and
communal landowners in range improvement and habitat restoration projects on their lands
through development of bird-friendly management plans and technical and financial assistance
in implementing rotational grazing systems (including needed infrastructure), protection of
sensitive habitat, shrub-removal, erosion control and other restoration techniques.
Management plans will utilize winter habitat prescriptions developed for priority grassland bird
species to set grazing levels, evaluate success and adjust management.
Threats -- Intensive cropland agriculture is rapidly expanding in the Mexican Chihuahuan
Desert, threatening to severely reduce the remaining low-slope native grassland habitat needed
by nearly 30 high-priority grasslands bird species. Nowhere has the recent agricultural
expansion been as rapid as in Valles Centrales of Chihuahua, the largest of the 12 Grassland
Priority Conservation Areas (GPCAs) in Mexico. Between 2006 and 2011, croplands in Valles
Centrales increased by 34%, destroying roughly 170,000 acres of grasslands and habitat for an
estimated 466,000 wintering grassland birds, including 171,000 Chestnut-collared Longspurs.
Croplands now occupy 63% of the former low-slope grasslands in this GPCA. Valles Centrales
support the only remaining native population of Chihuahuan Desert Aplomado Falcons, but
since 2005, 23 known falcon territories have been destroyed by agriculture and only four
remain. Pronghorn, prairie dogs and other grassland species are also at risk. Long-term
inappropriate grazing and a prolonged drought have reduced rangeland productivity and
increased financial strain on ranchers, forcing many to sell their land. In the Janos GPCA,
grassland conversion to agriculture and economic challenges to ranchers amidst the invasion of
shrubs and desertification are much the same as in Valles Centrales.
Goals
1. Improve grassland habitat on at least 28,000 acres in the Chihuahuan Desert over the
next three years by collaborating with private landowners.
2. Secure 15 year collaborative management agreements on these lands to protect
conservation investments.
3. Double carrying capacity on these lands for priority grassland species such as Sprague’s
Pipit, Baird’s Sparrow and Chestnut-collared Longspur and improve habitat for
endangered Mexican Pronghorn and Aplomado Falcon.
Birds -- The Valles Centrales and Janos regions support a diverse community of grassland
birds. Species found here include (in descending order of abundance): Chestnut-collared
Longspur, Vesper Sparrow, Brewer’s Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Horned Lark, Grasshopper
Sparrow, Lark Bunting, Chipping Sparrow, Mourning Dove, Clay-colored Sparrow, Baird’s
Sparrow, Eastern Meadowlark, Scaled Quail, Cassin’s Sparrow, Sprague’s Pipit, Loggerhead
Shrike, Say’s Phoebe, Short-eared Owl, North Harrier, Chihuahuan Raven, Western
Meadowlark, Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel, Mountain Bluebird, Burrowing Owl, Longbilled curlew, Aplomado Falcon, White-tailed Kite, Ferruginous Hawk, Prairie Falcon and
Golden Eagle.
Previous successes achieved -- RMBO and partners have been monitoring birds in the
region since 2007 and have developed a deep knowledge of grassland bird distributions and
habitat requirements in addition to working relationships with many landowners in the area to
improve grassland habitat. Pronatura Noreste has been improving wildlife habitat on
rangelands in Chihuahua since 2009 and has implemented more than 12 similar projects. IMC
– Vida Silvestre has a strong staff with range and wildlife management backgrounds and a long
history of working on bird and grassland conservation in the region. This project builds off the
scientific and strategic foundation established by these organizations and their collective
capacities and synergies to target some of the most valuable and vulnerable priority sites for
grassland conservation in northern Mexico with the management prescriptions designed
specifically to generate the most optimal response by priority grassland bird species.
Specific Actions Completed:
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Constructed and installed 33 nest platforms for Aplomado Falcons to increase suitable
breeding habitat and reproductive success.
Developed 15-yr collaborative agreements with 5 private landowners, covering
260,000 acres.
Developed integrated range management plans for 5 properties that address
grassland bird and habitat objectives on 79,072 acres. We have now begun
implementing shrub removal, rotational grazing, and prescribed grazing
during the growing season and then deferred grazing in winter in pastures with prime
habitat for grassland birds to create optimal structural conditions for Sprague’s
Pipit and other grassland species that remain suitable throughout the winter.
Constructed and installed 33 stock tank escape ladders in active and recently active
Aplomado Falcon territories to reduce risk of accidental drowning.
Removed shrubs on 1,969 acres of grassland, improving habitat for Sprague’s
Pipit, Aplomado Falcon, Baird’s Sparrow, Chestnut-collared Longspur and other grassland
species.
Conducted pre- and post-management monitoring of birds and vegetation
response on each project ranch, in addition to control sites with good management
practices already in place.
Retrofitted 20 km of barbed-wire fence with a smooth bottom wire, allowing for
greater movement of endangered Mexican Pronghorn.
Specific Activities supported -- Funding from Southern Wings will provide support to
landowners for incorporating bird and wildlife considerations into resource planning and
implement habitat improvements through a combination of habitat restoration and
enhancement techniques. These include rotational grazing, deferment, exclusion, erosion
control, reseeding and shrub-removal. These funds will be part of a “Habitat Fund” that is being
developed to help offset the costs of implementing conservation activities on private lands in the
Valles Centrales and Janos regions. On average landowners are providing of 20-30% cost-share
on these projects and occasionally much more. We aim to improve at least 28,000 acres of
grasslands in these areas over the next three years. The actual amount of habitat improved
could be substantially greater depending on implementation costs and additional funding
available. Although protecting grasslands through acquisition or easement is also desirable and
may occur in the future, keeping ranchers on the land by helping them improve their
management and profitability, while simultaneously improving wildlife habitat, is currently the
most immediate and cost-effective way to prevent further loss of grasslands. These actions will
also slow the spread of unsustainable cropland agriculture across a region without sufficient
ground water to support long-term intensive agriculture.
Additional funds are being invested in this project from various sources. With these counterpart
funds the project is: working with at least 11 landowners in the Valles Centrales and Janos
regions to implement grassland improvement and conservation projects on private and
communal lands; conducting outreach to private and communal lands ranchers to build a
foundation of knowledge and trust among landowners that helps engage them as active
participants in on-the-ground projects; identifying and recruiting new projects and landowners;
designing integrated wildlife and range management plans; and providing biological training
and technical support to landowners for implementing integrated management plans. Success
will be evaluated by monitoring grassland bird and vegetation response, among other metrics.
Project activities and budget for 2015 include:
Partner
Grassland
Restoration
NM G&F / Southern Wings
$5,000
RMBO/NMBCA/CEC/NFWF
$97,388
Range Infrastructure
Improvements
$83,652
Matching Funds: The project will leverage significant additional resources (up to 7:1) from
Mexican federal assistance programs (e.g., from CONANP, CONAZA, SAGARPA) and other
sources, including the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act, American Bird
Conservancy, and Commission for Environmental Cooperation, among others.