Waterfowl habitat conservation in the U.S. Prairie Pothole Region benefits more than ducks: evaluating overlaps and gaps across geographies and bird species

The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) is a working landscape of grasslands, cropland, and wetlands that supports some of the highest numbers of breeding waterfowl, waterbirds, shorebirds, and grassland birds in North America. Consequently, the PPR was identified as a high priority for waterfowl conservation by the North American Waterfowl Management Plan. Partners in the Prairie Pothole Joint Venture (PPJV) have used spatial decision-support tools to guide extensive land conservation efforts, primarily acquisition of wetland easements, grassland easements, and fee-title lands, to conserve waterfowl populations. However, effects of waterfowl conservation actions on waterfowl and non-waterfowl species groups across geographies are poorly understood. We used spatial predictions from models developed by eBird along with land protection data to assess effects of conservation on 77 species of birds across the PPJV. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service fee-title and easement lands covered <5% of the landscape, but have generally protected much larger percentages of species’ populations, thus demonstrating the value of spatial targeting tools and how conservationists can disproportionately move the needle for priority species through strategic protection. Proportions of PPJV populations supported by lands protected through waterfowl conservation varied within and among waterfowl (range 0.07 to 0.39), wetland-dependent (0.02 to 0.42), and grassland bird groups (0.01 to 0.28), as well as among geographies. Proportions of populations supported by waterfowl conservation lands were generally lower in the eastern and western portions of the PPJV, where less habitat protection has occurred than in the central PPJV. Protected lands not acquired for waterfowl conservation added to proportions of populations protected, particularly in the western PPJV, which has large amounts of public agency land relative to other portions of the PPJV. Fee-title lands and grassland easements protected through waterfowl conservation were estimated to support more than three times as many individuals of non-waterfowl species as waterfowl; wetland easements were estimated to support more than twice as many individuals of non-waterfowl species as waterfowl. Our results demonstrate that waterfowl conservation in the PPJV benefits many species of birds; variation in benefits can be used to guide future conservation efforts to address gaps in protection.