Southern Wings partners with American Bird Conservancy (ABC), Pronatura Noreste, the Autonomous University of Nuevo León, and ejidos to promote and facilitate the conservation of shared grasslands bird species, through the protection and conservation of the Chihuahuan Desert grasslands in Mexico.

The El Tokio Grassland Priority Conservation Area (GPCA) in northeast Mexico has been identified as a critical location for conserving desert grasslands and the migratory grassland birds that overwinter in them. El Tokio is one of the largest GPCAs in North America’s Chihuahuan Desert. It comprises nearly 3,615 mi2 and is located on the edges of the Mexican states of Coahuila, Nuevo León, Zacatecas, and San Luis Potosí. ABC includes this region in ABC’s BirdScape initiative as the El Tokio BirdScape (Figure 1). El Tokio is critical for many species of greatest conservation need, particularly long-billed curlews, mountain plover, and Sprague's pipit, as well as the resident Worthen’s sparrow.

The main threats to grasslands in El Tokio include soil desertification due to poor livestock practices and industrial agriculture and climate change. Partners are working to restore key grassland remnants and promote and implement bird-friendly best management practices for cattle grazing (Figure 2), as well as to manage and maintain private reserves. The conservation actions include the removal of invasive plant species, soil restoration, improvement of cattle ranching infrastructure to practice rotational grazing and reduce soil desertification, the creation of a Cattle Management and Grassland Restoration Plans for each of the participating properties, and environmental education workshops (Figure 3).

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