Management Opportunities and Research Priorities for Great Plains Grasslands

The Great Plains Grassland Summit: Challenges and Opportunities from North to South was held April 10-11, 2018 in Denver, Colorado to provide syntheses of information about key grassland topics of interest in the Great Plains; networking and learning channels for managers, researchers, and stakeholders; and working sessions for sharing ideas about challenges and future research and management opportunities. The summit was convened to better understand stressors and resource demands throughout the Great Plains and how to manage them, and to discuss methods for improved collaboration among natural resource managers, scientists, and stakeholders. Over 200 stakeholders, who collectively were affiliated with all of the Great Plains States, attended the summit. Attendees included university researchers, government scientists, and individuals affiliated with Federal and State agencies, tribes, the private sector, and nongovernmental organizations. Plenary speakers provided syntheses of current knowledge on key topics to help stage working sessions on working lands, native wildlife and biological diversity, native plants and pollinators, invasive species, wildland and prescribed fire, energy development, and weather, water, and climate. The summit steering committee designed a suite of questions that were asked of participants in each working session. This report is a digest of the input from those who attended the seven working sessions and responded to the structured questions.