Welcoming Lauri Hanauska-Brown, Our New JV Coordinator

The PPJV is excited to announce that Lauri Hanauska-Brown has been selected to take up the mantle as the JV Coordinator after a monthslong search. With the PPJV partnership celebrating its 35th Anniversary in 2022, the coordinator plays a vital role in keeping this conservation engine running. Hanauska-Brown joins the team in a period of … Read more

35 Years of Conservation in the PPJV

This year marks the 35th Anniversary of the Prairie Pothole Joint Venture! Throughout our history, PPJV partners have skillfully navigated the dynamic nature of the Prairie Pothole Region to deliver voluntary wetland and grassland conservation programs that maintain the unique social and environmental character of this landscape. While the journey has had its fair share … Read more

Small Wetlands Program Balances Wetland Conservation with Societal Needs

“One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds.” – Aldo Leopold. The ecologically educated must have been especially distraught to see the large-scale wetland drainage that occurred throughout Prairie Pothole Region in the period after World War II.  The widespread erasure of small wetlands, much … Read more

The North Dakota Junior Duck Stamp Contest

Inspiring Awareness and Appreciation for Conservation through Science and Art The Junior Duck Stamp Program is a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service science and art curriculum designed to teach students K-12 about wetland and waterfowl conservation. The program, established in 1989, is centered around an annual art contest and encourages students to explore their natural … Read more

Conservation planning for grassland and shrubland pollinators: considerations of context, treatments, and scale

As most people are aware, populations of many species of grassland-associated butterflies, moths, and bumblebees in the Great Plains of North America are experiencing steep declines due to habitat loss and degradation.  These declines are exacerbated by the generally limited dispersal ability of insects, which make local populations susceptible to extirpation following habitat fragmentation.  What … Read more

PPJV Supports Youth and Teacher Education

Connecting kids with the outdoors in a culture where being “plugged-in” has become the norm is an ever-growing challenge. A quick internet search on “ways to connect kids with the outdoors” produces literally thousands of ideas and advertisements for how this is best achieved. Thanks to long-standing efforts by the Prairie Pothole Joint Venture and … Read more

Meadowlark Initiative Update

Even as Old Man Winter stubbornly holds his icy grip on the Northern Great Plains, the cheery chortle of the Western meadowlark heralds with enthusiastic exuberance and absolute certainty, the arrival of another prairie spring. Greeting the return of this well-known, yellow-clad crooner to its fence post podiums across North Dakota’s landscape is a broad … Read more

Enrollment is Open for Montana Declining Grassland Birds SAFE

The State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement (SAFE) Initiative restores vital habitat to meet high-priority state wildlife conservation goals by enabling producers to establish grasses, forbs, and shrubs that benefit wildlife. SAFE practices must be used to address wildlife habitat that can be enhanced through the restoration of eligible cropland through the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). … Read more