Grasslands are among the most threatened ecosystems on the planet (Hoekstra et al 2004). Recently, the bird conservation and grasslands communities have united around a forward looking approach to conservation planning. To accomplish this the following information is needed:
1) The location, quantity, and quality of desert grasslands,
2) the regional risks associated with loss or degradation of grasslands,
3) the vulnerability of those grasslands and the species that depend on them to environmental and climate stressors,
4) where and what types of programs or partnerships exist on the landscape to address system stressors and implement further conservation programs, and
5) what capacity for conservation do these entities support on the landscape so that we can understand the magnitude of risk compared to the capacity for offsetting conservation actions.
