1995-2005

The 1995 PPJV Implementation Plan continued to recognize the importance of working with private landowners and USDA Conservation programs.  A 0.6 recruitment rate overall for the PPJV and a 0.49 recruitment rate (population maintenance level) for all managed areas was adopted with an estimated fall flight production of about 9.5 million birds. 

The 1995 PPJV plan also recognized the need to develop increased knowledge about other bird species in the prairies.  Several species of grassland birds endemic to the PPR were showing steep population declines.  The PPJV Management Board approved a second objective of:    stabilizing or increasing populations of declining wetland/grassland-associated non-waterfowl migratory birds.  Because of the lack of basic information, no habitat or population objectives were set.

In 1995, a Technical Committee was created that brought together expertise in waterfowl and non-waterfowl migratory bird research and management.  The PPJV Management Board met with the Prairie Habitat Joint Venture Management Board to discuss common conservation issues and plan a joint technical exchange.

The period of 1995 - 2000 saw explosive growth in the conservation and joint venture world.  NAWCA continued to gain in dollars allocated to the partnership grant process. National plans for landbirds, waterbirds and shorebirds were being developed.  Information technology expanded with new tools becoming available for use in landscape planning and design.  The NAWMP was updated in 1998 and in 1999, the  PPJV Management Board in 1999 asked a group of Management Board members and the Coordinator to review the 1995 PPJV Implementation Plan to see if revisions were needed.  The group concluded that the 1995 Plan was ahead of the curve (particularly in the non-waterfowl arena). The Management Board accepted the recommendation to continue on course.

In the period of 1995 – 2005, the NAWMP Update was signed by Canada, Mexico and the United States. Partners In Flight’s Landbird Plan, the North American Waterbird Conservation Plan and the National Shorebird Conservation Plan were completed, the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act is in place, the North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI) has created a bird conservation forum, Joint Ventures have built new budget requests to delivery conservation treatments for “all birds”, and Bird Conservation Coalitions have been developed to seek funding.  These activities have stimulated a new wave of international cooperation.

In the PPJV, HAPET offices and partners have used the latest GIS technologies to create models to target conservation actions on the landscape for waterfowl.  Data is being collected and similar models are being developed for shorebirds, grassland birds and eventually, waterbirds.  Evaluation and monitoring programs are being implemented to refine models and guide management activities.  The PPJV is looking beyond its boundaries, cooperating with the PHJV and other Joint Ventures in the US and beginning to form linkages and connections with wintering sites in the Western Hemisphere that host birds that breed in the PPJV.

During the first 18 years of the PPJV, partners protected, restored or enhanced over six million acres of habitat through a combination of partner funding and the North American Wetlands Conservation Act.  The PPJV is enhanced and supported by a number of US Department of Agriculture conservation programs, most notably the Conservation Reserve Program.

However, the prairie pothole states continue to lose grasslands and wetlands at alarming rates, fueling serious declines in a wide range of bird species.  There is much still to be done.  Building on the lessons learned over the past 18 years, we have developed this 2005 PPJV Implementation Plan that strives to look ahead, building on our successes and continuing to anticipate future challenges