Beavers Take Center Stage In Movies And On Western Ranches 

NORTH AMERICA'S LARGEST RODENTS ARE HEROES ON FILM AND IN REAL LIFE, RENOWNED FOR THEIR ABILITY TO STORE WATER 

A beaver might seem like an unlikely heroine. They’re round, furry, they waddle awkwardly on land, and have ever-growing overbites; North America’s largest rodents aren’t exactly dashing. But beavers’ superpowers as ecosystem engineers have brought the aquatic critters recent fame. 

The new animated Pixar movie Hoppers is a great example of beavers’ growing popularity. In this spring box-office hit, the mammals and their dams play a central role in the movie’s plot. When a city’s highway construction project destroys a wetland and pond, a host of forest animals have to move elsewhere. 

Not all of Hoppers is fiction. Beavers are, in fact, a keystone species important to the survival of many other animals. And the wet, green habitat their dams create does actually fire-proof parts of the landscape. 

Beavers’ role in creating “emerald islands” that serve as fire refugia is especially important in the dry American West, where water is very scarce.

Managing For Invasive Annual Grasses?

Check Out The Invasion Severity Index

NEWEST WLFW MAPPING AND WEB APPLICATION SUPPORTS INVASIVE ANNUAL GRASS MANAGEMENT ACROSS THE SAGEBRUSH BIOME

Invasive annual grasses (IAG) pose one of the most significant and rapidly expanding threats to rangeland health across the western United States. These exotic grasses include cheatgrass, medusahead, and ventenata, and when they overtake rangelands, they alter fire regimes, reduce habitat quality, and diminish long-term productivity.

Developing effective management strategies and treatment prescriptions requires an understanding of the degree of invasion in an ecological context, including site potential, competitive balance with perennial grasses and forbs, and overall productivity.

The Invasion Severity Index (ISI) maps and web app provide a simple, interactive platform to help conservation planners and land managers prioritize and plan invasive annual grass treatments across the sagebrush biome. Using cutting-edge Rangeland Analysis Platform (RAP) 10-meter resolution data, ISI maps depict five invasion levels linked to specific management strategies and actions.

The ISI assesses the severity of annual grass invasion relative to perennial forb and grass cover and bare ground, providing an ecologically grounded framework for prioritizing management and aligning treatment techniques with site resilience and recovery potential. Other reference layers and features allow users to understand landscape context, consider trends through time, visualize specific vegetative thresholds, and generate time series charts.

New Cheatgrass Film: Safeguarding Our Lands For The Future

LATEST FILM FROM IMAGINE HIGHLIGHTS SUBLETTE COUNTY'S COOPERATIVE APPROACH

 Over the roughly 15 years, a group of dedicated landowners, practitioners, and partners have slowly chipped away at managing cheatgrass in Sublette County, WY. 

This film highlights how committing to small, steady, and strategic efforts can make a major impact over time. Their success has not come without challenges, including federal regulations and fires beyond their control, but the working group’s commitment to protecting the landscape has kept cheatgrass at bay, providing a model for other communities to follow.

IMAGINE's 2026 Virtual Workshop Webinar Available

WATCH IMAGINE'S APRIL VIRTUAL WORKSHOP NOW

IMAGINE (the Institute for Managing Invasive Grasses Invading Natural Ecosystems) just posted the recordings from their April 8, 2026 Virtual Workshop.

The day-long workshop is broken into different sections, including: Update on Indaziflam, new spatial tools (including the ISI), mule deer and IAG research, land management, and technical transfer.

IMAGINE's workshops are among the best and this one has practical and important info you shouldn't miss.

Data-Driven Wildfire Recovery 

NEW WEBSITE, DEVELOPED BY WLFW'S GREAT PLAINS GRASSLANDS SCIENCE ADVISOR, USES CUTTING-EDGE TECH TO SUPPORT POST-FIRE RECOVERY

Spring is typically a time of growth, renewal, and regeneration. In parts of Nebraska, however, the spring of 2026 was different. On March 12th, the Morrill Fire began its destructive, 13-day march across the state, ultimately burning more than 640,000 acres in the Nebraska Sandhills, making it the largest single fire in the state’s history. Three other wildfires – the Cottonwood Fire (128,000 acres), the Road 203 Fire (35,912 acres), and the Anderson Bridge Fire (17,400 acres) – also burned in Nebraska this spring.

The series of large wildfires created an urgent need to understand how rangelands respond and recover. In a matter of days, multiple fires burned more than 842,000 acres of Nebraska, raising important questions about vegetation recovery, forage production, and long-term resilience of working lands.

In response, a new resource led by Working Lands for Wildlife’s Great Plains science advisor and professor of rangeland and fire ecology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln is taking a research-focused approach to answering these questions and more.

We sat down with Dr. Twidwell to learn more about these recent wildfires and the website he helped develop.

Tell us about the Wildfire Recovery site…

The site translates decades of rangeland and fire ecology research into a decision-support resource that can be applied in real time following wildfire. At its core is the Rangeland Analysis Platform (RAP), a satellite-based system that quantifies vegetation dynamics across the Great Plains. RAP allows users to evaluate post-fire recovery trajectories, compare current events with historical fires, and interpret vegetation responses within a broader ecological context.

Job Alert: PLJV

THE PLAYA LAKES JOINT

VENTURE IS HIRING! 

The primary role of the Conservation Delivery Manager is to support partners and coordinate habitat conservation and restoration efforts to meet PLJV’s wetland and grassland habitat goals.

The position works closely with partners in local, state, and federal agencies as well as private and nonprofit organizations to restore and conserve playas and other wetlands, grasslands and other priority bird habitats. The position may also work directly with agricultural producers and landowners on occasion. Closes May 15. 

Job Alert: STF

THE SANDHILLS TASK FORCE

IS HIRING!

he Sandhills Task Force is hiring an Outreach Coordinator. This full-time or part-time staff position will be responsible for advancing the mission, goals, and growth of the Sandhills Task Force through strategic outreach and engagement.

This role will focus on developing, implementing, and overseeing outreach initiatives that build understanding of Sandhills ranching, culture, conservation, and economics among land stewards, partners, and the general public. Closes May 8. 

Eastern WLFW Webinar Series - May 14: How Do USDA Agencies Work Together? 

Join WLFW in the East on Thursday, May 14th at 11:30 a.m. Central for their new webinar series "The Land Manager's Toolbox." Our second webinar will be a live Zoom webinar focused on “How do USDA Agencies Work Together?” presented by Gordon Counts with USDA NRCS. This session will break down how USDA agencies like NRCS and FSA (and their partners) work together to help landowners get conservation on the ground. Register via the link above in title

Wyoming Game And Fish: Spring Is The Time For Viewing Sage Grouse Leks

This great article from Wyoming Fish and Game shares tips and best practices for viewing sage grouse leks in the spring. While April is generally the best month for lek viewing, you may be able to find some grouse into the first bit of May as well. Check out their list of viewing locations and either head out soon or mark your calendar for next spring. 

The Funnest Creatures To Watch: Burrowing Owls Return To East Idaho

This great post from East Idaho News digs into the antics of burrowing owls. There's no doubt that these seasonal residents of sagebrush and grassland habitats are cute and fun to watch. But are they really the funnest?  

The Working Lands for Wildlife partnership supports the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service's premier approach for conserving America's working lands to benefit people, wildlife, and rural communities. In the West, WLFW is guided by two, action-based frameworks for conservation. The framework approach is designed to increase conservation and restoration of rangelands by addressing major threats to rangeland health and through the implementation of conservation measures that limit soil disturbance, support sustainable grazing management, promote the strategic use of prescribed fire, and support native grassland species. Together, the frameworks leverage the power of voluntary, win-win conservation solutions to benefit people and wildlife from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean.

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