Wildlife Conservation Through Sustainable Ranching
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USDA Announces Historic Investment in Wildlife Conservation, Expands Partnership to Include Additional Programs
$500 MILLION FROM FARM BILL IS PART OF BROADER COMMITMENT FROM FSA AND NRCS TO WORKING LANDS CONSERVATION THAT BENEFITS WILDLIFE AND SUPPORTS AGRICULTURE AND RURAL COMMUNITIES
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently announced that it is expanding its work on wildlife conservation by investing at least $500 million over the next five years and by leveraging all available conservation programs, including the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), through its Working Lands for Wildlife (WLFW) effort. These commitments, which align with President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, will ramp up the conservation assistance for farmers, ranchers, private forest owners and tribes with a focus on working lands in key geographies across the country as well as hiring for key conservation positions. The funding will help deliver a series of cohesive Frameworks for Conservation Action, which establish a common vision across the partnership of public and private interests and goals for delivering conservation resources in a given ecosystem, combining cutting-edge science with local knowledge.
The new funding includes $250 million from the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) and $250 million from the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). This announcement builds off more than a decade of growing Farm Bill investments in wildlife habitat, and serves as a roadmap to leveraging both Farm Bill funding and the historic investments from the Inflation Reduction Act to guide conservation efforts. USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Farm Service Agency (FSA) will coordinate this work through WLFW, which focuses on voluntary, locally-led efforts that benefit wildlife and agricultural communities.
USDA is committed to investing a range of resources to implement WLFW Frameworks, including traditional Farm Bill and newly available funds from the Inflation Reduction Act. The Frameworks are an important part of NRCS’s work to implement the Inflation Reduction Act, as wildlife habitat conservation in forests, grasslands and sagebrush can also provide important carbon storage opportunities and climate-mitigation benefits. These dedicated funds will be invested alongside other USDA resources like CRP and leveraged by hundreds of conservation partners across the country.
This announcement will immediately benefit two of WLFW’s newest priorities. In the western U.S., at least $40 million of EQIP and ACEP funding will go toward USDA’s ongoing efforts to help conserve migratory big game habitat, allowing a continuation of an existing partnership with the state of Wyoming and an expansion to the neighboring states of Idaho and Montana. In 25 central and eastern U.S. states, an additional $14 million in new EQIP funding will be dedicated to conservation of bobwhite quail and associated species in the grasslands and savannas of the central and eastern U.S. Additionally, Inflation Reduction Act funding will also build outcomes for northern bobwhite recovery as over 3.5 million acres will help mitigate greenhouse gases.
“The Conservation Reserve Program gives producers the tools and support to help integrate wildlife habitat and wildlife-friendly practices into the agricultural landscape,” said FSA Administrator Zach Ducheneaux. “We’re excited to partner with our sister agency and offer CRP’s signup options as part of this broader, strategic effort to support long-term wildlife conservation.”
“Working Lands for Wildlife is living proof that we can do better work when we work with our partners,” said NRCS Chief Terry Cosby. “Partnerships have been the building blocks of success over the years, and we look forward to our continued work with partners to help grow and shape voluntary conservation on private lands.”
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Updated 2023 Great Basin Fire Probability Maps Available
CURRENT-YEAR MAPS HELP GREAT BASIN FIRE MANAGERS PREPARE FOR FIRE SEASON
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WLFW scientists have released the 2023 fire probability map layers for the Great Basin. These datasets forecast the potential for wildfires throughout the Great Basin.
The lead researcher for this effort, Joe Smith, was recently featured on the Living With Fire podcast where he discussed the research that helps him create these maps, wildfires in the Great Basin, and what he expects from the 2023 fire season.
Check out the podcast here and find the updated fire probability maps via the button below.
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| WLFW Launches LinkedIn Channel
NEW PLATFORM FOCUSES ON WLFW SCIENCE, PARTNERS, LANDOWNERS, AND PRACTITIONERS
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WLFW is excited to announce the launch of our LinkedIn channel to better connect with scientists, practitioners, landowners, and others interested in more detailed information about our research, conservation practices, and conservation outcomes.
The new channel provides opportunities for deeper conversations and connections around our win-win, proactive, science-backed, landowner-led approach.
The channel already includes engaging and informative posts about research and topics related to our efforts in the sagebrush and Great Plains grassland biomes.Check it out and give it a follow!
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Ask an Expert: To Protect Intact Grasslands, Start With the Seed
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RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS THE IMPORTANCE OF SEED SOURCES AS A DRIVER OF GRASSLAND VULNERABILITY TO ENCROACHMENT
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As woody plants like eastern redcedar continue to expand into treeless grasslands, it is critical for land managers to understand what underlying processes drive encroachment. When trees move into formerly tree-free grasslands a cascade of negative effects follow, including lost forage production, reduced water supplies, increased risk of severe wildfire, increased risk of vector-borne disease, and significant losses of grassland biodiversity.
Fortunately, new science and emerging conservation strategies are helping managers better protect the large, intact grasslands that remain, including the world’s second-largest intact grassland found in Nebraska’s Sandhills.
Two recent papers from WLFW-affiliated researcher Dillon Fogarty and colleagues at the University of Nebraska shed light on how eastern redcedar trees (Juniperus virginiana), one of the most prevalent woody species encroaching into grasslands across the Great Plains, spread across grasslands and whether precipitation precludes woody encroachment in more arid grasslands as previously believed.
We sat down with Fogarty to better understand his research and its implications for managing woody plant encroachment in the Great Plains in this Ask an Expert.
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Low-Tech Restoration of Wet Meadows Workshop Materials Now Available
ALL COURSE MATERIALS FROM VIRTUAL WORKSHOP NOW FREELY AVAILABLE
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On May 24, partners including WLFW, sponsored a Utah-based, one-day virtual workshop focused on low-tech wet meadow restoration practices that help kickstart natural recovery processes in these important, and rare, habitats.
By installing simple, low-cost Zeedyk, or one-rock dam, structures that slow down water, practitioners can jumpstart wet meadow recovery.
Thanks to the Intermountain West Joint Venture, all the workshop materials, modules and resources are now available for free.
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| Zeedyk Structure Time-Lapse Video Is the Coolest
ONE-ROCK DAMS, OR ZEEDYK STRUCTURES, SLOW DOWN WATER AND HELP RESTORE WET MEADOWS
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This powerful time-lapse video from our friends at the Sublette County Conservation District shows how Zeedyk structures slow down water and allow vegetation to rebound in a wet meadow, providing critical green groceries for wildlife. Watch as the wet meadow heals itself, eventually filling in with green grasses and other vegetation.
Not surprisingly, a TON of wildlife visit the restoration site to take advantage of the new vegetation. It's especially cool when sage grouse show up in early September to dine on the vegetation after upland food sources have dried out!
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Find more news and resources at WLFW.org
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Offers for new land in this General CRP signup totaled about 295,000 acres nationwide. Producers submitted re-enrollment offers for 891,000 expiring acres, reflecting the successes of participating in CRP longer term. The total number of CRP acres will continue to climb in the coming weeks once FSA accepts acres from the Grassland CRP signup, which closed May 26. Additionally, so far this year, FSA has received 761,000 offered acres for the Continuous CRP signup, for which FSA accepts applications year-round.
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The NRCS's Regional Conservation Partnership Program, or RCPP, brings together diverse partners who help pool resources and expertise for on-the-ground conservation projects that improve wildlife habitat, working lands, and empower communities. Learn how partners in Montana are leveraging RCPP funding to expand projects and help big game in the Prairie Pothole region of the northern Plains in this engaging and informative storymap from our friends at the Intermountain West Joint Venture.
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In the arid West, wet habitats like wetlands, prairie potholes, wet meadows, and small creeks provide critical life-giving resources to wildlife and livestock. A new online mapping tool developed by the Intermountain West Joint Venture delivers valuable insights about wetlands throughout the West. Learn more about this powerful new tool through training videos, factsheets, and tutorials available through the IWJV.
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The Natural Resources Conservation Service invites potential partners to join an information session to hear about Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) easements. The session will focus on easement-related aspects of RCPP project proposal development, project planning and implementation.
DATE: Wednesday, July 12, 2023, 2:00 pm ET
Join Meeting (Zoom)
Meeting ID: 160 940 1378
Passcode: 803806
Organizations, institutions, conservation districts, States, Indian Tribes, and other groups are invited to partner with us through RCPP. For more information about RCPP and how to apply, visit our website.
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Partnerscapes 2023 Private Lands Partners Day is October 3-5 in Missoula, Montana. A Save the Date is now available for download and sharing. Sponsor opportunities, sponsor registration and room block information are all available at the Partnerscapes website here.
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Working Lands for Wildlife is the 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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