Partnership Projects in the Southwest Region

Project Titles:

Invasive Species Control - Cienegas (FFS #R2EA)
Restore Native Ecosystems (FFS #R2EB)
Prairie Chicken Habitat Restoration (FFS #R2EC)
Prairie Chicken Ecosystem Restoration (FFS #R2ED)
Hardwood Reforestation (FFS #R2EE)

State: Regionwide

Project Description: The Southwest Region has entered into several partnerships to complete projects that will benefit ecosystems and economies in New Mexico, Arizona, Oklahoma, and Texas. These projects will have positive impacts on many species native to the Southwest Region, including the Louisiana black bear and the lesser prairie chicken. Read the updates below to find out what the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its partners are accomplishing with Recovery Act funding in your state!

Conservation Partnership Projects in New Mexico

Six conservation projects designed to improve wildlife habitat on privately owned land in New Mexico will take place in cooperation with the Service’s Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program. The projects use Recovery Act funds and cooperative funding from the Service’s partners to create jobs, protect the nation’s fish and wildlife resources, and complete long-standing priority needs. More specifically, the projects will restore habitat for the lesser prairie chicken, restore desert grassland habitat, restore parts of the Burro Cienega and its tributaries, and generally restore native ecosystems.

The New Mexico projects include:

A cooperative agreement with the Center of Excellence for Hazardous Materials Management in Carlsbad. The Center will work with private landowners to develop conservation measures that benefit habitat for the lesser prairie chicken, a species that exists in only five states and whose population has declined. Conservation measures will include removal of old fencing and control of invasive species such as mesquite to promote nesting.
A partnership with a landowner north of Las Vegas to improve habitat for the Rio Grande cutthroat trout, a candidate species under the Endangered Species Act.
Two agreements with private landowners southwest of Silver City for in-stream channel and riparian wetlands habitat improvements to restore the Burro Cienaga and its tributaries.
An agreement with the Whittington Center in Raton to thin pinon and juniper on private lands to benefit migratory birds.
A cooperative agreement with Earth Works Institute in Santa Fe to partner with private landowners to improve in-stream and riparian wetlands habitat in the Galisteo Creek Watershed.

Photos:

The dirt tank pictured here will be rehabbed with Recovery Act funds to support watershed improvement

This private land in New Mexico was thinned of Juniper and Pinion to provide habitat for migratory birds

The lesser prairie chicken, shown here, will benefit from the habitat restoration being funded by the Recovery Act

Conservation Partnership Projects in Arizona

The Recovery Act enabled the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to enter into agreements for three conservation projects designed to improve wildlife habitat on privately owned land in Arizona. The projects will target invasive species, habitat restoration, and wetland restoration.

The Arizona projects include:

Restoration projects in cooperation with the Arizona Game and Fish Department and private landowners to benefit threatened and endangered species, neotropical migratory birds and water quality. The Arizona Game and Fish Department will work with private landowners to restore riparian, wetland or grassland ecosystems through measures such as planting vegetation, controlling invasive species and restoring streams. The department estimates that as many as 450 acres of private land could be restored through the projects.
Invasive species control projects that improve wildlife habitat, decrease the potential for wildfires, and help raise soil moisture content. The Arizona Game and Fish Department will assist private landowners with the implementation of projects designed to control and eradicate invasive species.
Implementation of a Rapid Response Program in Cochise County that targets invasive species such as Russian knapweed, yellow starthistle, Malta starthistle and onionweed. In partnership with the Coronado Resource Conservation & Development Area, the rapid response system is being developed with five natural resource conservation districts and offers private landowners the opportunity work with local conservation districts to identify and eradicate invasive plants. Problems associated with invasive plants include decreased diversity in native plants and animal species, increased potential for wildfires, depletion of soil moisture content and the availability of food for wildlife. Approximately 500 acres infested with invasive plants will be treated through the program.

Photos:

Yellow star thistle, pictured here, is an invasive species detrimental to many habitats in the Southwest Region

Conservation Parnership Projects in Oklahoma

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service signed agreements for five conservation projects designed to improve ecosystems and wildlife habitat on privately owned land in Oklahoma. As part of the Service’s Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program, the projects use Recovery Act funding to create work and protect the nation’s fish and wildlife resources.

The Oklahoma projects are part of the Lower Mississippi Valley Joint Venture, a cooperative effort between federal and state agencies. Three of the projects are being completed in partnership with the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, including:

Removal of invasive species, such as red cedar, in the northwest part of the state. The project will improve habitat for the lesser prairie chicken, a species that exists in only five states and whose population is declining.
Improvement of habitat through removal of invasive species from private lands.
Restoration of bottomland hardwood in eastern Oklahoma.

News Release: Using Recovery Act Funds, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Creates Partnerships for Conservation Projects in Oklahoma

Photos: These photos depict “before and after” results similar to those that the Service expects to achieve through the Recovery Act projects.

Habitat before restoration

Habitat after removal of invasive red cedar

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Conservation Partnership Projects in Texas

Four conservation projects funded by the Recovery Act will be completed in Texas in association with the Nature Conservancy. These projects will improve wildlife habitat on privately owned land throughout the state. The Nature Conservancy projects in Texas include prescribed burning on private lands in East Texas for Louisiana black bear recovery efforts. In addition, invasive vegetation control and wildlife habitat restoration projects will be completed in the Edwards Plateau and Trans-Pecos areas, as well as other locations statewide. The projects will enhance more than 4,000 acres by eradicating invasive vegetation such as juniper. Woody plants such as juniper increase the risk of wildfire and soil erosion, impact wildlife habitat diversity, and may have negative implications for water conservation.

Another of the projects in Texas focuses on the restoration of the Federally listed endangered Lesser Prairie Chicken’s ecosystem in the Texas Panhandle. The project will include about 13,000 acres of private land in Cochran, Hockley, Wheeler and Collingsworth counties. The last project features an agreement between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Coastal Prairies Coalition of the Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative (GLCI) will restore habitat for Attwater’s Prairie Chicken, a federally listed endangered species. The agreement provides Recovery Act funding, as well as cooperative funding, to work with private landowners on the Texas coastal prairie to restore or enhance more than 900 acres of habitat for the Attwater’s Prairie Chicken and other grassland-dependent birds in Refugio and Goliad counties.

Attwater’s Prairie Chicken

Special Feature: Restoring Habitat for Louisiana Black Bears in Texas

R2EE_Black Bear Black bears and a host of other species will benefit from a cooperative agreement between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Black Bear Conservation Coalition (BBCC) that utilizes Recovery Act funding to improve bottomland hardwood habitat. Approximately 1,400 acres of forested habitat will be restored or enhanced as part of the program.

Bottomland hardwood forests in the West Gulf Coastal Plain of East Texas, like their counterparts further east, extended expansively along river basins, but have been reduced greatly due to such factors as reservoir creation and conversion to pine plantations, pasturelands and agricultural lands.

These forests provided rich habitat for a number of species, including 17 species of animals and plants identified as endangered, threatened or as a candidate species under the Endangered Species Act.The Louisiana black bear, pictured here, will benefit from the hardwood reforestation project funded by the Recovery Act

News Releases and Photos:

Recovery Act Funds Used by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for Partnership to Restore Chihuahuan Desert

Landscape in the Chihuahuan Desert

Using Recovery Act Funds, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Creates Partnerships for Conservation Projects in Texas Panhandle

Prescribed burn techniques, pictured above, will be used during Recovery Act habitat restoration projects in Texas.

Originally posted 09/11/2009
Updated 09/30/2009
Updated 10/07/2009

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