The sustainability of natural and cultural resources and landscapes are important to quality of life and local economies. Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs) address large scale natural resource challenges that transcend political and jurisdictional boundaries and require a networked approach to conservation— holistic, collaborative, and grounded in science – to ensure the sustainability of America’s land, water, wildlife and cultural resources.
The Plains and Prairie Potholes LCC is dedicated to the conservation of a landscape unparalleled in importance to a vast array of unique species whose populations are in steep decline. The Plains and Prairie Potholes LCC includes three main sub-units, the Prairie Pothole Region, Northern Great Plains, and the riparian corridors of several major river systems including the Missouri, the Yellowstone and the Red River of the North.
The Plains and Prairie Potholes Landscape LCC is poised to provide science needs from the perspective of land, resource and conservation decision making, and, provide support to partners to carry out impactful conservation actions.
Landscape conservation efforts are directed at maximizing habitat quality and meeting landscape level objectives within six key ecosystem features identified by the LCC. Those include 1) palustrine wetlands, native grasslands and restored grasslands of the potholes region, 2) sage prairie of the plains region, and 3) woody draws, riparian habitat and hydrologic systems of rivers.
LCCs collectively form a national network of land, water, wildlife, and cultural resource managers, scientists, and interested public and private organizations—within the U.S. and across our international borders—that share a common need for scientific information in conservation.
