The Plains and Prairie Potholes Landscape Conservation Cooperative - Addressing Aquatic Concerns in 2012 and Beyond

The emerging conservation challenges of the 21^st Century are unlike any faced by the conservation community in the past.  Landscape level stressors such as climate change increase scientific uncertainties and require a new model for conservation that builds on past successes while acknowledging the need for improved conservation delivery.  The Plains and Prairie Potholes Landscape Conservation Cooperative (PPP-LCC) is working to reduce the uncertainties associated with landscape scale stressors impacting aquatic systems in the Northern Great Plains.  This presentation will discuss the initial establishment of the PPP-LCC, the rationale for the expanded nature of partnerships being developed by LCCs as a new conservation model and examine how we are using some of the on-going aquatic research projects funded by the cooperative during our first 18 months.  These projects include, but are not limited to, research on pattern tile drainage of isolated wetlands, fish passage research used to develop appropriate road building criteria near small prairie streams, and specific to this symposium, aquatic habitat models used to set restoration targets for fish.   Other aquatic projects recently funded by the PPP-LCC fill data gaps in existing datasets such as the National Wetlands Inventory and LiDAR data layers of the James River valley in North Dakota and South Dakota.  The PPP LCC is committed to the delivery of landscape scale science that will “increase conservation delivery by reducing scientific uncertainty related to landscape level stressors which are important to our partnership”.  The PPP LCC will continue to focus on aquatic resources and the science needed by managers to effectively address myriad 21^st Century challenges.