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Colorado's Grasslands Draw Mongolian ConservationistsUnique Nature Conservancy Program Promotes Information ExchangeDenver, CO—October 3, 2005—What do Mongolia and Colorado share in common? Large swaths of grasslands and an innovative partnership designed to protect these rapidly disappearing lands. A hands-on exchange program will inform conservation practices on both continents by promoting the exchange of information and techniques for protecting these grassy landscapes. Delegates from Mongolia will tour grasslands across Colorado from Oct. 9 through 23 by helicopter, horse and foot to learn about the Conservancy's planning approach. “The similarity between our prairie landscapes and the threats they face, including development, mining and oil and gas extraction make the partnership a natural,” says Chris Pague, senior conservation ecologist for The Nature Conservancy, who took part in the exchange program and spent May exploring a small part of Mongolia’s vast grasslands and sharing conservation tools that might be used to effectively conserve Mongolia’s vast grasslands. Colorado conservationists hope to learn more about community-based conservation and sustainable grazing while Mongolian participants will draw on The Nature Conservancy’s experience in conservation planning and measures, a science-based process called Conservation by Design, and tour grasslands throughout Colorado to understand how this science-based approach translates into on-the-ground conservation practices. Pague notes, “The Mongolian people have been living on their land with grazing animals for thousands of years and we stand to learn a great deal about long-term land use and conservation issues”. The Mongolian researchers will tour North Park’s Michigan River Ranch by helicopter, explore the Laramie Foothills, the Western High Plains, the Pawnee National Grasslands, the Bohart Ranch in Colorado Springs, and complete their tour at the Conservancy’s Medano Zapata Ranch in the San Luis Valley. The exchange program began in 2002 when Mongolian Prime Minister Enkhbayar personally invited The Nature Conservancy to work in Mongolia with the goal of placing 30% of their territory in to protected area status. Since that time Conservancy staff has been working with colleagues in Mongolian to assist them in identifying key sites for conservation and helping them find creative ways of balancing the sustainable use of grasslands with the degradation of this irreplaceable natural resource. “Grassland conservation, like all conservation, is ultimately about our future, what our world will look like in five or 10 or 50 years,” says Charles Bedford, state director of The Nature Conservancy of Colorado. “By using all the tools of conservation—science, partnerships, acquisition, land management and restoration, the Conservancy is committed to ensuring the long-term protection and preservation of grassland landscapes and the way of life they protect, from the plains of Colorado to the steppes of Mongolia.” Around the world, more than 1.8 million square miles or 46 percent of all temperate grasslands have been converted to agriculture. Temperate grasslands are among the least protected habitat types on Earth. Only about 40 percent of Colorado’s short grass prairie still remains and large areas of the remaining grasslands are degraded due to fragmentation, invasive species, and challenges of sustainable use. True grassland birds that inhabit the prairie have shown steeper, more consistent and more geographically widespread declines than any other group of vertebrate animals in North America. Our native grasslands, inhabited by over 600 species of plants, once covered 40 percent of the continent. Less than one percent of it remains today. “Finding and maintaining a balance for our grasslands here and around the world is crucial for the long-term preservation of our grasslands and the way of life they support” said Bedford, adding, “This is precisely the type of cooperative effort we need if we are to protect our native lands and the wildlife species that depend on them.” As part of the Conservancy’s exchange program, Mongolian conservationists will also be visiting Idaho, Arizona, and New Mexico this fall. Mongolia has some of the largest remaining grasslands on earth, and is also one of the world’s least populated countries. Much of the country’s interior is without roads, and much of the population still lives as a nomadic, herding culture. Mongolians have been known as legendary horsemen since the time of Genghis Khan. The country has a tremendous variety of large mammals, including snow leopard, ibex, argali, wisheep, brown bear, wild camel and gazelle. ***Hi-resolution images of Colorado’s & Mongolia’s grasslands are available. Please phone Chris Broda-Bahm at (720) 974-7002.***
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