Presentation given at the Texas Ag Land Trust's Saving Family Lands Seminar in Alpine, Texas on November 6, 2018.

1. Chihuahuan Desert Habitat Conservation
Landowner Incentive Program
American Bird Conservancy
National Fish & Wildlife Foundation
Sul Ross State University
Texas Parks & Wildlife Department
Texas Parks & Wildlife Foundation
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
& Other Partners

3. PARTNERING FOR WILDLIFE
 Wildlife and natural resource managers have partnered with private
landowners in the Trans-Pecos region for decades.
 We know we can accomplish more together than we can alone, so
conservation efforts have become more cooperative and collaborative.
 Our partnership is inspired by a shared vision of a Chihuahuan Desert
region where diverse populations of native fish and wildlife thrive.
 We believe the well-being of our communities depends upon the health
of our landscapes, waterways, and wildlife.

4. Functional Native
Grassland Ecosystems
Provide Services That:
 Provide forage for livestock
and wildlife
 Provide wildlife habitat
 Disperse seeds
 Mitigate drought and floods
 Cycle and move nutrients
 Detoxify and decompose
waste
 Control agricultural pests
 Maintain biodiversity
 Generate and preserve soils
and renew their fertility
 Contribute to climate
stability
 Regulate disease-carrying
organisms
 Protect soil from erosion
 Protect watersheds, and
stream and river channels
 Pollinate crops and natural
vegetation
 Provide aesthetic beauty
 Provide wetlands, playas
 Provide recreation
 Provide research
opportunities

5. Central Grassland Birds
 Grassland birds are declining with
a 33% loss since 1970.
 Birds that breed in the Great Plains
& winter in Chihuahuan Desert
grasslands are declining even more
steeply at a nearly 70% loss!
 Plow Print on the Breeding
Grounds: We’ve lost more than 90%
of original prairie acreage to the
plow.
5
Photo by Gerrit Vyn

6. Why are we concerned about
grasslands?
 Land conversion – loss of grasslands
 Native grasslands in central Chihuahua will disappear completely by 2025 at
the current rate of development and cropland conversion (2016).
 By no means are we anti-agriculture! We are interested in working with
farmers to employee practices that benefit wildlife.
 Historic land use and other factors have led to degradation of rangelands,
including brush encroachment and soil erosion.

7. Managing for Healthy Grasslands
 Technical assistance on management practices, including:
 Chemical brush control (e.g., spike, Sendero/Remedy)
 Mechanical brush control (e.g., grubbing, roller chopping,
chaining)
 Seeding of native grasses and forbs
 Prescribed fire
 Financial assistance based on NRCS practice rates
 25-50% cost share provided by landowner
 Landowner agrees to implement deferred or prescribed grazing
for a minimum of 2 growing seasons post-treatment to provide
optimal conditions for grass growth

8. What is a “functional” stream?
Streams and riparian areas function properly when
there is adequate vegetation, landscape
formations, or large wood to:
Dissipate stream energy
Protect banks/stabilize channel
Reduce erosion
Slow the velocity of floodwaters
Sediment dropped
Sediment trapped, and stabilized
Build floodplains
Provide floodwater retention
Enlarge riparian sponge
Improve groundwater recharge
More water for sustained base-flow
Steve Nelle, 2009

9. Why are we concerned about
streams?
 Historical accounts tell us that most riparian forests
were logged to provide wood for mercury mines, fuel,
and other needs.
 Streams are often directly connected to aquifers.
 Streams are known to be incised and disconnected from
the floodplain.
 Streams provide habitat and water for many fish and
wildlife species.

10. Managing for Healthy Streams
 Technical assistance available on management practices,
including:
 Fencing/removing livestock or implementing rotational
grazing allows young trees to establish
 In wet reaches, planting willow, cottonwoods, and other
native riparian species (riparian buffer)
 Control of invasive species
 In wet or mostly wet reaches we can build beaver dam
analogs
 Financial assistance available
 Cost share provided by landowner varies
Reforest
Rehydrate
Rebuild

11. Complimenting Other
Landowner Programs
 Texas Parks & Wildlife Department
 Landowner Incentive Program – other funding initiatives
 U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
 Partners for Fish & Wildlife
 Natural Resources Conservation Service
 Environmental Quality Incentives Program

12. Our Chihuahuan Desert Region
12
• Large tracts of unfragmented land
• Private & public land stewardship
• Impacted by increasing extraordinary drought,
resource and land development
• Strong public-private conservation partnerships
• Ecosystems & habitats in need of improvements
• Grasslands
• Riparian & aquatic habitats
• Without planning & action, we risk:
• Damaging and/or losing grasslands and streams
(wildlife, livestock, ranching, tourism)
• Damaging areas that recharge aquifers
(municipalities, agricultural, ecosystems &
wildlife)
• Reduced quality of life

13.  Jeff Bennett
 JBennett@ABCbirds.org
 (432) 837-7335
 Aimee Roberson
 ARoberson@ABCbirds.org
 (432) 294-2026
 Texas Parks & Wildlife Department
 Local biologists
CONTACTS