Grassland birds are the group with the greatest decline of birds of any terrestrial biome since 1970 within this group, marra (2022) lists mountain plover (mopl) in the very high urgency category,…

The Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Region 9 Headquarters awarded a $678,797 Project Grant to Habitats Resilientes, A.C. under the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation grant program (CFDA 15.635). The grant will support conservation activities for the Mountain Plover, a bird species experiencing significant population declines, at its wintering habitat sites in the Ascension region of Chihuahua, Mexico. Specifically, the grantee will (1) secure long-term protection of 21,200 hectares of important habitat through an ejido agreement, (2) perform habitat restoration including soil and water infrastructure improvements, (3) conduct biannual grassland bird monitoring, (4) develop climate change modeling to identify sensitive areas, and (5) provide outreach and technical support to local producers on sustainable land management practices. All generated information will be shared with stakeholders to facilitate conservation decision making. The two-year project aims to help reverse declining population trends of migratory birds and protect critical wintering habitats in Chihuahua grasslands.

Grassland birds are the group with the greatest decline of birds of any terrestrial biome since 1970 within this group, marra (2022) lists mountain plover (mopl) in the very high urgency category, as IT is a species with a very large long-term population loss ( 75 ) and an accelerated decline. However, field work by our partners has shown that there are sites with sightings of more than 1000 individuals of mopl in the region of ascensin, chihuahua outside of natural protected areas, making its protection urgent. The present proposal is designed to revert the negative curve in the population trend of mopl, focusing on protection and conservation activities of the wintering habitat, with particular interest in the community- owned land of the ascension region and the laguna DE LAS hormigas, located within the priority grasslands zone of the state of chihuahua. The ascension region is of great importance because IT serves as a connection point between the janos NPA, the janos-ascension gpca and the valles centrales gpca. Due to the urgency to carry out actions that reverse the negative trends of migratory neotropical bird populations and their wintering habitats in the grasslands of chihuahua (specially in those not yet protected), IT is proposed to develop actions derived from the specific action plans for the mopl and the grasslands (andres, 2009 DE LA maza 2014 DE LA maza, 2015 marra, 2020 nabici 2022): (1) protection: secure through a legal ejido agreement 21,200 HA 52,364 AC within ejido constitucin, which guarantee the long-term conservation (10 years) of this site and the species that use IT. (2) restoration and enhancement of the habitat quality: soil restoration works such as bordor at contour lines, gully stabilization, installation of infrastructure such as perimeter fencing and creation of new water sources match generation of a cattle ranching and conservation management plan that allows maintaining primary productive activities in harmony with the environmental conservation of the site. (3) research and monitoring: biannual monitoring program of grassland birds in the project sites to evaluate the presence of populations, habitat use parameters availability and quality of food, during the winter season we also include a component for climate change mitigation, developing a modeling to identify environmentally sensitive areas to desertification that will establish actions to reduce the impact of climate change effects, such as droughts. And finally, (4) outreach: technical support will be provided to ejidatarios and producers on the best management practices of pastures, as well as the involvement of local inhabitants in the development of habitat management and restoration activities, which will strengthen their knowledge and awareness of the area they share with migratory birds. All informationgenerated will be shared with key stakeholders and local authorities to facilitate decision making and will be published in diverse digital platforms.