The Southern Plains Land Trust recognizes the immense and immediate need to preserve the declining shortgrass prairie ecosystems of the Great Plains. We utilize the strategy of land acquisition and restoration coupled with a strong outreach program and support for public lands reform.

SPLT celebrated the purchase of our first block of this reserve network in November 1998: a 1,280 acre parcel in Baca County, Colorado three miles north of the Comanche National Grassland. We named this property "Fresh Tracks" to acknowledge the welcomed sight of native animal tracks on the land and to signify a new path toward land management on the Plains, one where wildlife is respected for it own intrinsic value.

Currently, there are 3,200 acres of protected land within SPLT's Prairie Reserve Network.