News Room
PRESS RELEASE • July 29, 2022
Social Media Campaign Launched
to Promote the Importance of Grasslands
For Immediate Release
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The Central Grasslands Roadmap is embarking on an 8-week social media campaign called “Grasslands and You” that enlists the collective, coordinated voices of organizations and individuals to help spread the word about the importance of grasslands and the benefits they provide for both people and wildlife.
The Central Grasslands span hundreds of millions of acres across Indigenous Nation Lands, Canada, the United States and Mexico, and are one of North America's largest and most vital ecosystems. Grasslands support critical environmental functions including water supply, soil health and biodiversity, and are also essential for agriculture, food security and supporting rural communities.
For example, healthy grasslands filter sediment, nutrients, and bacteria that end up in waterways, threatening fish and drinking water. Grasslands improve air quality and help mitigate the effects of climate change by sequestering carbon and increasing resilience against drought, fire and wind erosion. Healthy grasslands also provide vital habitat for wildlife including grazing animals like bison and pronghorn as well as livestock.
As grasslands disappear, so do many of the benefits they provide—and more than 50 million acres of grassland have been lost in the last 10 years. Many people are unaware of the benefits that grasslands provide or the implications of their declines and what it means to current and future generations.
A key engagement area for the Grasslands and You campaign is urban and suburban audiences, groups that are more likely to be geographically disconnected from grasslands and less aware of their personal relevance. The campaign features a collection of beautifully-designed graphics and accompanying messages, available in both Spanish and English, that were created to help inform and inspire connection and action. These materials are freely available for others to download and share on their personal and organizational social media feeds.
Organizations are invited to use Grasslands and You as an engagement tool to spread the word to their supporters, followers and fans to raise awareness about grasslands and what they are doing to support grassland conservation. Posts may include calls-to-action and provide ways for people to get involved—from volunteering, to making donations in support of conservation initiatives, and more.
Small, everyday actions can help, such as making grasslands-friendly consumer choices. Examples include buying bird-friendly meat from locally-owned, conservation-focused ranches and purchasing organically-grown produce to reduce the use of pesticides that can harm grassland pollinators.
Grasslands and You is the first of many outreach and engagement initiatives that the Central Grasslands Roadmap is pursuing in an effort to engage stakeholders far-and-wide. Roadmap partners are also leading important national policy and legislative initiatives, such as the North American Grasslands Conservation Act, which is anticipated to come before Congress for a vote in the near future.
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ABOUT THE CENTRAL GRASSLANDS ROADMAP
The Central Grasslands Roadmap aims to guide and inform innovative and connected conservation for the benefit of grassland birds, pollinators and mammals, as well as to ensure viable human communities across the landscape of one of North America's most biogeographically unique areas. The Roadmap community includes a cross-section of leaders and experts that live and work in the Central Grasslands— including producers on working land, Indigenous/First Nations, federal, state and provincial agencies, foundations, industry, and nongovernmental organizations including; land trusts, conservation organizations, and academia.
Additional resources:
Grasslands and You campaign materials available at grasslandsroadmap.org/grasslandsandyou
PRESS RELEASE • May 25, 2022
Grasslands Roadmap Planning Committee hosts international summit to conserve North America’s Central Grasslands
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – More than 200 organizations across eight sectors representing Mexico, Canada, the U.S., and Indigenous Nations, came together for two days in May for a multi-national summit to commit conserve North America’s Central Grasslands and deliver benefits for people, wildlife, the environment, and rural economies.
The Central Grasslands, which span hundreds of millions of acres across Indigenous Lands, Canada, the United States and Mexico, are one of North America's largest and most vital ecosystems. Grasslands support crucial environmental functions like water supply, soil health and biodiversity, and are also essential for agriculture, food security and supporting rural communities.
In recent decades, the tension between conserving and developing grasslands to meet the needs of a growing population has only increased, exacerbated further by the impacts of climate change. More than 50 million acres of grassland have been lost in the last 10 years alone.
The Central Grasslands are critical for pollinators, provide habitat for wildlife and support millions of people. Healthy grasslands filter sediment, nutrients, and bacteria that otherwise end up in waterways, threatening fish and drinking water. Grasslands improve our air quality and help mitigate the effects of climate change by sequestering carbon and increasing resilience against drought, fire and wind erosion. As our grasslands disappear, many of the benefits they provide are lost.
Birds are good indicators of environmental health. Since 1970, grassland bird species have seen a 53-percent reduction in their populations — more than 720 million birds. This early warning sign reveals that our diminishing grasslands are being so severely impacted by human activities that they no longer support the same robust wildlife populations they once did.
What can be done to reverse the trends? What will it take to achieve a resilient and sustainable future for our continent's grasslands? What actions can people take to help? Those questions are the driving force behind the Central Grasslands Roadmap.
The Central Grasslands Roadmap was launched in 2020 to guide and inform innovative and connected conservation for the benefit of grassland birds, pollinators and mammals, as well as to ensure viable human communities across the landscape of one of North America's most biogeographically unique areas.
The Roadmap community includes a cross-section of leaders and experts that live and work in the Central Grasslands— including producers on working land, Indigenous/First Nations, federal, state and provincial agencies, foundations, industry, and nongovernmental organizations including; land trusts, tribal representatives, and academia.
“Many people and partners are working to conserve our grasslands but our disparate efforts are not adding up to change the trajectory and ensure resilient grasslands for the future. We have to prioritize
what needs to happen, from funding and policy to partnerships and engagement, to science and conservation delivery—all aligned for the future. Collectively, we are working to make a movement to save our grasslands and the people and wildlife that depend upon them. Together we can ensure access, opportunities and dedicated resources that is relevant and honors cultural values and knowledge across our three countries and tribal lands. We can ensure sovereignty, private property rights, food security, resilient landscapes and thriving wildlife populations. People have changed our grassland landscape and people are key to its future.”
For two years, Roadmap working groups have been collaborating on policy, communications, metrics and biological and science tools that are needed to help save our grassland landscapes and connected communities. These metrics focus on greater return on conservation investment and ensuring actions are adding-up to sustain North America’s Grasslands for generations to come.
The 2022 Summit brings together the Roadmap community to affirm and commit to these goals and objectives. This two-day meeting is designed to meaningfully engage participants, encourage interaction, increase trust and collaborative will, and build shared understanding through story circles, roundtable conversations, and opportunities for networking and dialogue that will propel the collective work forward.
“The Central Grasslands Roadmap has been a model exercise in bringing diverse sectors together to chart a path for conservation of the North American Central Grasslands. The complex and painstaking process of giving everyone voice in the Roadmap development will pay huge dividends as all stakeholders will see themselves in the process and be ready to act. The vision is to not only call attention to the plight of the Central Grasslands and key grassland species, but to inspire action to conserve this unique landscape. JV8, representing the combined efforts of the eight Joint Ventures of the Central Grasslands, is committed to this process. Successful conservation is dependent on true collaboration and thoughtful planning. Together we will succeed.”
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The Roadmap community is remarkable for its diversity of people and perspectives, collaborative nature and the ways it leverages the strengths of each participating organization. Roadmap partners are involved in important policy and legislative initiatives, such as the North American Grasslands Conservation Act, and working to ensure alignment with the goals and objectives described in the Roadmap. Indigenous peoples are restoring time-honored traditions that provide benefits for grasslands and their communities. NGOs, private landowners and industry representatives are working together to create voluntary, proactive conservation actions that improve the health of ‘working’ grasslands.
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CONTACT
Email us directly at info@grasslandsroadmap.org
EXPERTS FOR INTERVIEW
Tammy VerCauteren
Executive Director, Bird Conservancy of the Rockies / Convener, Central Grasslands Roadmap
Dirac Twidwell
Associate Professor, Large-Scale Rangeland Conservation Lab - University of Nebraska
Martha Kauffman
Vice-president, World Wildlife Fund Northern Great Plains
Dr. W. Alice Boyle
Associate Professor, Division of Biology - Kansas State University
Carolyn Callaghan
Senior Conservation Biologist, Canadian Wildlife Federation
Christian Artuso
Wildlife Biologist, Migratory Birds Division of the Canadian Wildlife Service
Jim Giocomo
Central Region Director, American Bird Conservancy
DIGITAL MEDIA / RESOURCES
Click here for a Spanish language version of the press release.
Visit this page for downloadable images for use in relation to the Central Grasslands Roadmap.
SPREAD THE WORD!
The Grasslands and You campaign aims to inform and inspire people of all backgrounds about the many benefits that grasslands provide for human and wildlife communities. Visit the campaign resources page for downloadable images, posters and information that can be shared with friends, family and supporters.
Top photo: Burrowing Owl by by Greg Levandoski/Bird Conservancy of the Rockies