Resources

Annual meeting 2023

Annual meeting 2022

Annual meeting 2021

GPCN Prairie Webinars

Healthy Landscapes, Healthy Communities: The Significance and Status of Canada’s Prairie Grasslands — Jeremy Hogan, Director of Prairie Grassland Conservation, Nature Conservancy of Canada

Bison

Wes Olson: The Ecological Buffalo A book talk. Based on Wes’s 35 years of working intimately with bison — and featuring Johane’s stunning photography — The Ecological Buffalo takes a journey through the myriad connections this keystone species has with the Great Plains.

A study published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution found that widespread restoration of bison to Tribal lands throughout the Northern Great Plains can help restore the prairie ecosystem while improving the long-running issue of food insecurity and food sovereignty for Native Nations, and may help to mitigate adverse impacts to traditional agricultural systems due to climate change.

The Ecological Buffalo, University of Regina Press

Diet, Gut Microbiota and Management of American Bison in Conservation and Commercial Herds of the Great Plains

A new study published in Scientific Reports has revealed the strongest evidence to date that all bison in North America carry multiple small, but clearly identifiable, regions of DNA that
originated from domestic cattle.

A new study published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution finds that widespread restoration of bison to Tribal lands throughout the Northern Great Plains can help restore the prairie ecosystem while improving the long-running issue of food insecurity and food sovereignty for Native Nations, and may help to mitigate adverse impacts to traditional agricultural systems due to climate change. 

Long-term Viability of Department of the Interior Bison Under Current Management and Potential Metapopulation Management Strategies

Department of the Interior Bison Conservation Initiative 2020

What America Lost When it Lost Its Bison – The Atlantic (2019)

Bringing Bison Back to the Badlands – A PERC Case Study

Wild bison as ecological indicators of the effectiveness of management practices to increase forage quality on open rangeland Dustin H. Ranglacka, Johan T. du Toitb

Information on Bison and Brucellosis from Enhancing Montana’s Wildlife and Habitat website

Bison Conservation Management: Guidelines for Herd Managers

IUCN American Bison Status Survey and Conservation Guidelines 2010

Prairie Dogs and Ferrets

(New) Prairie Dog Action Packet: this document offers resources for advocates who want to help protect prairie dog colonies under threat.

(New) Creating Prairie Dog Management Plans: A Guide for Local Governments and Stakeholders: this document offers background and resources for communities that want to protect prairie dogs via the creation of humane management plans

 (New) A big data model integration approach for predicting epizootics and population recovery in a keystone species

Black-footed Ferret.org

National Public Radio story on reestablishing Black Footed Ferrets in Montana

Black-footed Ferret reintroduction tool

Homes on the Range — watch the GPCN webinar here

Birds

Review of Conservation Challenges and Possible Solution for Grassland Birds of the North American Great Plains (2023)

Large Landscape Level Conservation Projects

Curtis Freese lecture Back from the Collapse

North Central Climate Adaptation Science Centre has released two new reports (May 2023) as part of the Grasslands Synthesis Project. Synthesis of Climate and Ecological Science to Support Grassland Management Priorities in the North Central Region and Grassland Management Priorities. The findings and next steps webinar is available here.

Homes on the Range: Identifying Potential Landscapes for Conservation Across the Grasslands of North America

Ocean of Grass: A Conservation Assessment for the Northern Great Plains (11mb)

The report American Prairie Reserve: Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation through Large-Scale Grassland Conservation” discusses the effects of climate change on grassland ecosystems and the effect of land use in the Great Plains on green house gas emissions.

WWF Threats Assessment NGP Report December 2012

Wind Development and Low-Impact Areas to Wildlife, a 2012 report by The Nature Conservancy and WWF

An Ecological Risk Assessment of Wind Energy Development in Montana, 2009 study by The Nature Conservancy

Colorado’s Conservation Data Explorer (CODEX) — a one stop shop for synthesizing conservation data from the Colorado Natural Heritage Program, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, US Fish and WIldlife, NatureServe and many other sources.

 NatureServe: The Map of Biodiversity Importance

Great Plains Grassland Initiative on Cattlemen to Cattlemen show, the show explains why woody encroachment is such a detriment to grasslands, what ranchers and the NRCS are doing to combat this major threat, and why fighting back against invading trees is important to ranchers, wildlife, and anyone who appreciates the Great Plains grasslands.

Riparian Habitat

WWF’s Riverine Analysis identifies riverine conservation priority areas for the US portion of the Northern Great Plains

Grasslands

2026 – International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists

New collaborative publication by Plantlife, Equilibrium Research, and WWF just released at COP28 “Integrating Grasslands and Savannahs into National Biodiversity and Climate Committments.”

Bringing Back America’s Serengeti – Rewilding Earth (2019)

American Serengeti, by Dan Flores – University Press of Kansas

Trees Are Overrated – The Atlantic (2022)

Carbon Sequestration and Climate Change

The Southern Plains Land Trust has enrolled their two largest preserves in the Climate Action Reserve’s Grassland Protocol.

The Southern Plains Land Trust is using Grassland Carbon to Benefit Prairie Wildlife Refuges.

 Conferences and other proceedings

Transboundary Grassland Partnership–Global Vision, Local Action. October 19-21, 2021 (Northern Great Plains) — if you missed this workshop, most presentations were recorded and are at: Transboundary Grassland Partnership

The Central Grasslands Roadmap Summit was May 24-25 Click here for presentations.

Panel discussion on Grasslands and Savannahs at COP on Tuesday, November 9, 2021 Article and recording of the event available here

Salazar Centre 2022 Symposium on Conservation Impacts

Links to Other Great Plains Conservation Organizations

Alberta’s Prairie Conservation Forum provides an excellent collection of resources and links to organizations in that province. The Prairie Conservation Action Plan serves the same purpose in Saskatchewan. Check their site for a wide range of contacts.

American Bison Society

Badlands Conservation Alliance

Center for Great Plains Studies

Central Grasslands Roadmap

North Dakota Chapter of The Wildlife Society

Prairie Dog Coalition

Prairie Hills Audubon Society

Prairie Wildlife Research

Southern Plains Land Trust

Wildlife Conservation Society Great Plains

WWF Northern Great Plains