Texas coastal prairies and the slightly more inland fayette prairies are highly diverse ecosystems with hundreds of plant species e.g. smeins and diamond 1983 diamond and smeins 1985 1988 rosen 2007

The U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service awarded a $346,692 Formula Grant through the State Wildlife Grants (CFDA 15.634) program to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD). The grant will fund a 3-year project from January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2027 to survey and assess the condition of high-quality coastal and Fayette prairies in Texas. The project will focus on mapping prairie habitats, identifying species of greatest conservation need (SGCN) birds that utilize these prairies, and sharing the resulting data with partner organizations to guide prairie protection and management efforts. TPWD will collaborate with The Nature Conservancy, who received a $7,287 sub-award to conduct avian monitoring within the targeted prairie sites.

These prairies are also crucial habitat for grasslandobligate birds e.g. rudolph ET AL. 2014 saalfeld ET AL. 2016 ferrato ET AL. 2021. Sgcn birds found in these prairies include the endangered attwaters prairiechicken and northern aplomado falcon as well as northern bobwhite spragues pipit LE contes sparrow and seaside sparrow see complete list in table 3. We will build on a previous prairie survey effort by the native prairie association of texas that mapped highquality prairies using roadside surveys. We will revisit previously identified prairies on private lands to assess their condition and identify sgcn birds that use the sites. We will also attempt to identify additional highquality sites by making connections with landowners to access sites not visible from roads. The resulting information will be shared with partner organizations who may be interested in working with landowners on protection and land management and will help guide the nature conservancys efforts to work with privatelandowners on prairie management.