Playa Conservation Initiative--Playa Wetland Restoration

**THIS IS A SINGLE-SOURCE AWARD NOTICE POSTING** Playa wetlands are the most important ecological feature in the southern shortgrass prairie (Haukos and Smith 1994). They are extremely ephemeral and, when flooded, very shallow. They provide critical fall, winter, and spring habitat to migrant birds, particularly waterfowl, shorebirds and Sandhill Cranes (Davis and Smith 1998, Smith 2003, Baar et al. 2008). Playa wetlands have suffered tremendous loss from sedimentation (that is, siltation from erosion of surrounding croplands), agricultural related excavation (e.g., construction of tail-water pits), and other modifications (Lou et al. 1997, Smith 2003). Federal, state, and non-government partners recently embarked on a modeling effort to develop a decision support tool for playa conservation, and embarked on a subsequent conservation initiative to conserve and restore playas. The decision support tool was used to identify high value ���clusters��� of playas; the initial phase of conservation delivery within these high value ���clusters���, or playa focal areas, is addressed through this proposal. Playa wetlands will be restored by backfilling pits on private lands in both Floyd and Castro Counties, Texas. Back-filling pits is a cost effective means to restore playas. Castro County is a historically important area for wintering waterfowl and Floyd County has the highest density of playa wetlands in North America. Restoration will occur on playas that have 1) established vegetation buffers and 2) minimal siltation (that is, hydrology can be restored without sediment removal). Playa wetlands that meet these criteria will be identified by the award recipient using the decision support tool. The Playa Lakes Joint Venture was the organizational lead on developing and refining the decision support tool, although there was strong input from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and other conservation partners. Further prioritization of playas that meet these categories, if needed, will be performed by the award recipient���s GIS staff with cooperation from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staff and other partners.