A partnership between renewable energy company Ørsted and Playa Lakes Joint Venture (PLJV) is helping restore an important wetland in eastern New Mexico, bringing benefits to migratory birds, wildlife, and local water resources. Earlier this year, Ørsted contributed $100,000 to PLJV to restore and conserve an 8.8-acre playa near Blackwater Solar, their new 200-MW project [...]
Pacific Birds Habitat Joint Venture (PBHJV) is featured in BirdLife International's Global Flyways video series! This series highlights the extraordinary journeys of migratory birds and the global efforts to protect the interconnected chain of habitats they rely upon. Each video focuses on a different conservation project from across the globe to illustrate both what’s at [...]
A Recent Review by Prairie Habitat Joint Venture Conservation Partners Crop and livestock production provide food necessary for people, however some farming practices can be devastating for natural ecosystems. The conversion of wetlands to agricultural landscapes has cascading impacts on wildlife and the ecological services those habitats provide, such as flood mitigation, maintaining water quality [...]
In western Kansas, water isn’t a background issue. It’s the issue. It determines whether crops can be grown, whether livestock operations can operate or even expand, and whether small towns can count on a reliable drinking water supply. And for a region with limited surface water, it also determines what the next generation inherits. That’s [...]
On any given agricultural operation, water conservation can look very different. That flexibility is exactly the point of the Groundwater Recharge and Sustainability Project (GRASP) in Wichita and Greeley counties, Kansas. This project is part of the NRCS Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) which funds solutions to natural resource challenges. Rather than pushing a single [...]
Shorebirds in the Prairie Region of Canada have experienced long-term declines, including the threatened Lesser Yellowlegs, which has declined by 70% since 1970. Partners in our Prairie Habitat Joint Venture (PHJV) Science Committee are working to ensure that target landscapes include much needed habitat for Lesser Yellowlegs and other shorebird species. Lesser Yellowlegs breed in [...]
It’s a clear, May morning, on the plains of eastern Montana. The dawn chorus of birds welcomes the sun as it crests over hills of waving bunch grass. You can’t turn in any direction here without seeing a meadowlark singing atop a shrub or fencepost. You also can’t look anywhere without seeing, or hearing, cows. [...]
In 2026, the Prairie Habitat Joint Venture (PHJV) is celebrating 40 years of wetland and waterfowl conservation. However, many of these conservation successes have taken place behind the scenes and largely out of the public eye. We’re working to change that. The PHJV was one of the first joint ventures established after the North American [...]
Since 2021, the Sea Duck Joint Venture has supported a large-scale collaborative research project to deploy Argos satellite tracking devices on American Common Eiders (Somateria mollissima dresseri). Eider populations have been declining across the southern part of their breeding range since the early 21st century. These changes are hypothesized to be caused by the rapid [...]
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the North American Migratory Bird Joint Ventures. Since the North American Waterfowl Management Plan called for their creation in 1986, the Joint Ventures have become widely accepted as the model for cooperative conservation. On February 25, 2026, the Association of Joint Venture Management Boards (AJVMB), Ducks Unlimited, American [...]