Proactive Conservation describes voluntary efforts with the goal of conserving or restoring biodiversity and habitats, focusing on conservation of species before they need to be protected through government regulations. Voluntary conservation actions benefit species that are at-risk to become threatened or endangered in the future as well as species already designated. Our efforts are designed to create positive outcomes by reducing impact on biodiversity or nature and by contributing to its restoration.

In 2021, ConocoPhillips continued collaboration with strategic partners including government agencies, nonprofit organizations, institutions and conservation groups to:

  • Track and reduce barriers essential for migratory bird and terrestrial species survival.
  • Conserve and restore habitat crucial for species survival.
We have been collaborating with our conservation partners1 to cumulatively:
   · Conserve, protect or restore over 13.4 million acres.
   · Improve or benefit almost 0.7 million acres. 

Migration

Understanding and tracking wildlife migration is crucial for conserving habitats essential to species survival. Without understanding migratory connectivity, conservation investments can often be ineffective because they are implemented at the wrong place or time, or for the wrong purpose. Further, regulatory or policy decisions based on missing or inconclusive scientific data have the potential to negatively impact our industry.

We support species migration programs including:

Habitat Conservation and Restoration

We focus our habitat conservation and restoration efforts on:

  • Activities to improve and expand habitat size, connectivity and quality.
  • Removing encroaching vegetation that negatively impacts grassland-nesting or sage-steppe habitat nesting birds.
  • Reducing invasive species.
  • Restoring wetland function and restoring important breeding, wintering or stopover sites.
  • Working to protect key habitats for birds through support of fee title or conservation easement acquisitions.

ConocoPhillips continues to work with strategic conservation partners to help preserve and protect important habitat for species survival. In 2021, significant progress was made to improve data sharing among conservation groups and conserving grassland and wetlands habitat.

  • Central Grasslands Roadmap is a collaborative habitat conservation initiative between conservation nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), Indigenous tribes, governmental agencies, policy makers and corporations. In 2021, an interactive web map was developed to compile landscape level data pertinent to effective on-the-ground conservation efforts.
  • JV8 Central Grasslands Initiative, represented by more than 63 federal, state, provincial, nonprofit and industry conservation partners, eight of the Migratory Bird Joint Ventures, known as the JV82, have joined forces to stem grassland losses and negative impacts to migratory bird habitat across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. To date, approximately 1 million acres have been conserved. 
  • National Fish & Wildlife Foundation: ConocoPhillips’ SPIRIT of Conservation program provided $1.3 million in direct funding to support the conservation of more than 28,000 acres of breeding, stopover and wintering bird habitat crucial for migratory grassland and wetland birds. A preliminary estimate using NFWF’s proprietary carbon benefit estimator indicated these projects are anticipated to generate a cumulative carbon benefit of more than 36,000 metric tonnes by 2052. Since 2005, the SPIRIT of Conservation program has helped to conserve, restore or enhance more than 531,000 acres.  
  • National Fish & Wildlife Foundation: Pecos Watershed Conservation Initiative is dedicated to restoring and sustaining healthy rivers, streams and grasslands that provide important wildlife habitat in the Pecos River watershed and adjacent areas of New Mexico and Texas. In 2021, $1.45 million was awarded to support seven watershed conservation projects that resulted in the enhancement and restoration of 11,000 grassland acres, improved instream flow and restored riverine, riparian and wetland habitat benefiting Pecos gambusia, Texas hornshell mussels and multiple avian species. Since the program’s inception in 2017, $6.5 million has been invested into 34 conservation projects.

As the largest private owner of wetlands in Louisiana, we collaborate with Ducks Unlimited to conserve and restore wetlands habitats that threatened and endangered species depend on to live and thrive. Through these efforts, more than 2,700 wetland acres were restored and over 350 acres benefitted in 2021. These efforts also provide greater societal benefits by:

  • Preserving the land’s ability to protect and nourish the habitats of many wildlife species.
  • Protecting the nation’s seafood, maritime trade, and natural gas and oil industries.
  • Protecting local homes and businesses.
  • Increasing the quality of commercial and recreational fishing.

Since 2012, these efforts have helped to restore, conserve or enhance over 26,800 acres. Read more about ConocoPhillips’ conservation activities in Louisiana.

In addition to wetlands in Louisiana, we are stewards of almost 200,000 acres in the Permian Basin where we strive to balance energy production with stewardship of natural resources. Through conservation planning and collaboration with partners including the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, Borderlands Research Institute, and Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, we have restored grasslands across over 4,000 acres. Our efforts are focused on Playa Lakes and adjacent uplands, enhancing habitat quality and connectivity for pronghorn, black-tailed prairie dogs, western burrowing owls, and other grassland dependent species.

We partner with the Intermountain West Joint Venture to support the Sage Grouse Initiative, an effort by regulators, NGOs, universities and industry to conserve native rangelands for the species. We are co-funding a three-year, landscape-scale assessment project to develop a grassland birds conservation plan. Modeled after the successful Sage Grouse Initiative, the goal of the project administered by the Prairie Pothole Joint Venture is to develop a set of recommendations for a grasslands conservation framework to stabilize grassland bird populations and minimize impacts across the Great Plains.

1Figures aggregated from impact reports provided by Ducks Unlimited, National Fish & Wildlife Foundation, Smithsonian Institution, and the “JV8” Migratory Bird Joint Ventures.
2ConocoPhillips supports five of the JV8 partners: Northern Great Plains, Oaks and Prairies, Prairie Pothole, Playa Lakes and Rio Grande.