Oaks and Prairies Joint Venture Grassland Restoration Incentive Program was selected as a Texan by Nature Conservation Wrangler in 2019. During each Conservation Wrangler program cycle, Texan by Nature provides up to 6 projects with 12-18 months of tailored support in the form of program management, strategic planning, marketing messaging, metrics capture and analysis, professional content production, and partnership development – whatever is needed to accelerate the project. The information below includes results from the time the project was active in the Conservation Wrangler program. It may not reflect the most current program/project information. Please visit https://www.opjv.org/grip for the latest.

PROJECT SUMMARY:

THE CHIRPING OF BIRDS among the grasses and shrubs of the prairies, an expected and adored soundtrack for any outdoors person, are growing quiet. Over the past century no other group of birds in North America has shown a greater and more consistent decline than those associated with grassland shrub and savannah habitats. According to the Breeding Bird Survey, Northern Bobwhites have declined 89% since 1966, with many other grassland birds showing similar declines including Loggerhead Shrike (-92%), Eastern Meadowlark (-74%), Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (-52%), Painted Bunting (-32%), and Dickcissel (-29%). The fundamental cause of population declines has been a landscape-level loss of suitable habitat. Habitat degradation has been driven by livestock overgrazing, exotic and invasive grass planting, spraying of beneficial native forbs with herbicide, fire suppression, and conversion to cropland. To address these alarming declines, The Oaks and Prairies Joint Venture developed the Grassland Restoration Incentive Program (GRIP).

GRIP is a voluntary, landowner cost-share incentive program that pairs landowners in target counties with wildlife biologists and land management experts to develop efficient, effective, and long-term solutions to creating healthier grassland habitat. These projects vary widely, from prescribed fire, prescribed grazing management plans, brush management, or planting native grasses and forbs, and are tailored to complement an individual landowner’s land use objectives with wildlife habitat needs. Since the overwhelming majority of the land is privately owned in Texas, efforts that encourage private landowners to make management decisions to restore and increase habitat in ways that are compatible with their own objectives can provide the win-win situations that will ensure lasting changes in how our ecosystems function.

PROJECT MISSION:

The OPJV mission is to plan for and facilitate bird habitat conservation, research, and outreach in an effort to ensure sustainable populations of priority bird species in the Edwards Plateau and Oaks and Prairies Bird Conservation Regions in Oklahoma and Texas. OPJV is a regional, self-directed partnership of organizations working across administrative boundaries to deliver landscape-level planning and science-based conservation. GRIP links on-the-ground management with national bird population goals. The overarching goal of the OPJV is the restoration of breeding, wintering, and resident grassland bird populations and the habitats on which they depend for their full life cycle. This enormous effort by the partners of the OPJV  intends to provide population stabilization of priority grassland bird populations. Additionally, the projects provide improved habitat for monarch butterflies and other pollinators, as well as ecosystem services benefits through carbon sequestration, stormwater management, and more.

Texan by Nature is working with OPJV to enable GRIP to act as a model of landowner engagement that brings conservation to the forefront of prosperous land use. TxN will help by assisting with marketing and outreach, exploring new funding avenues and business partnership opportunities, and increasing communication capacity to wider audiences.

PARTNERS INCLUDE:

US Fish and Wildlife Service, USDA-NRCS, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation, Texas Wildlife Association, The Nature Conservancy, Pheasants Forever/Quail Forever, National Wild Turkey Federation, American Bird Conservancy, Texas Forest Service, ConcoPhillips (through NFWF Spirit of Conservation awards), Texas Quail Coalition, Audubon Texas, and Native Prairies Association of Texas.

PROJECT IMPACT:

OPJV partners are working to restore over 3 million acres of native grasslands across Texas and Oklahoma, or 5% of the Oaks and Prairies and Edwards Plateau regions. Currently, over 63,849 acres of native grasslands and prairies of the Texas plains have been restored and managed. The working lands within this landscape can be very productive for livestock when properly managed, and the OPJV partnership desires to ensure that it remains that way, while also providing sufficient habitat for declining wildlife species.

PROJECT NEEDS:

• New funding opportunities through private and corporate partnerships
• Greater public awareness of the importance of Oaks and Prairies habitat
• Increased landowner participation in GRIP program
• Corporate participation in restoration efforts on any company-held or leased lands