Wildlife Conservation Through Sustainable Ranching
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CEAP Outcomes Webinar:
Reducing Woody Encroachment to Conserve Rangeland Production in the Great Plains
Join WLFW's science advisor, Dirac Twidwell, for a one-hour webinar focused on how woody plants reduce grassland productivity and what can be done about it
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Woody encroachment and associated large-scale collapse of rangeland in the Great Plains may contribute to increased wildfire events, declines in livestock production, heightened risks to water resources, and reduced biodiversity.
Dirac Twidwell, WLFW science advisor and professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, will present on the rapid adoption of new strategies to reduce woody encroachment on rangelands, driven by the emergence of new science documenting how woody plant expansion is causing nationwide declines in rangeland production.
This presentation will focus on new large-scale conservation efforts on working lands and will detail use of the Rangeland Analysis Platform, a tool that supports rangeland monitoring, decision-making, and more effective management. By effectively reducing woody encroachment, land managers across the Great Plains can restore healthy grasslands ecosystems and improve forage production.
The webinar is hosted and sponsored by the USDA-NRCS Conservation Effects Assessment Project.
⇒ Tune in December 8 at 1:00 pm Eastern ⇐
Simply go to this website a few minutes before the webinar starts and follow the prompts.
No registration required.
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NCBA Television Program Features
Great Plains Grasslands Initiative
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Watch the episode on RFD-TV on Tuesday, November 29, 2022, at 8:30 p.m. Eastern.
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Led by state NRCS offices and Working Lands for Wildlife, the Great Plains Grasslands Initiative is a strategic approach to battling the encroachment of trees into grasslands, focusing not on where trees are the worst, but instead on protecting core areas of intact rangelands. Ranchers - are key partners in this effort as working lands are the linchpin to connecting this conservation work across state-identified target areas.
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The National Cattlemen's Beef Association has dedicated an entire hour-long episode of the Cattlemen to Cattlemen show to this work. The full one-hour episode will air on Tuesday, Nov 29 at 8:30 pm on RFD-TV and later on the Cattlemen to Cattlemen YouTube Channel. Reruns of the show air on RFD-TV on Wednesdays at 12:30 am and Saturday mornings at 9 am (all times Eastern).
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Assistance for WY Producers Now Available Via Big Game Conservation Partnership
Signups are open through the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) until January 18, 2023.
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The USDA is now accepting applications from Wyoming agricultural producers for assistance through the new Big Game Conservation Partnership. Through this partnership with the State of Wyoming, USDA is investing additional, dedicated funds in Wyoming for big game conservation, adding additional staffing and streamlining processes for producers.
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| Saving Time, Money and Wildlife in WY
Jeff Boardman, one of the first producers to sign up with the NRCS through the Big Game Conservation Partnership, is thrilled with new wildlife-friendly fences installed through the program.
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Eastern Wyoming’s wide-open grasslands offer valuable forage for Jeff Boardman's livestock. This shortgrass prairie also provides food for migrating herds of pronghorn antelope, elk, and mule deer.
With help from the NRCS Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), Boardman recently replaced a few of the aging five-strand barbed wire fences with wildlife-friendly designs. He's such a fan of the new design and plans to upgrade more of his aging fences next year.
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WIRED: America's Billion-Dollar Tree Problem Is Spreading
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WIRED.com story focuses on WLFW's pioneering research into forage production losses from tree expansion in the western U.S.
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A just-published article on Wired.com highlights WLFW researcher Scott Morford's recent work detailing the economic losses to rangelands caused by encroaching woody species. Morford's work, and the WIRED story, detail how encroaching trees have robbed ranchers and wildlife of nearly $5 billion worth of forage since 1990.
As the article notes: According to University of Montana researcher Scott Morford, who led the study on rangeland forage loss, tree cover has increased by 50 percent across the western half of the US over the past 30 years, with tree cover expanding steadily year on year. In total, close to 150,000 km2 of once tree-free grasslands have been converted into woodland. “That means we’ve already lost an area the size of Iowa to trees,” says Morford, who emphasizes that an additional 200,000 km2 of tree-free rangelands—an area larger than the state of Nebraska—are “under immediate threat” because they are close to seed sources."
Through a proactive "Defend the Core" approach, the NRCS state-led Great Plains Grasslands Initiative, and the biome-level frameworks for conservation action, WLFW is working with landowners across the West to protect the last remaining grasslands in the world.
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NRCS Publishes Score Cards for WLFW Initiatives
Learn more about how the NRCS is benefiting these umbrella species
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The NRCS recently released updated score cards that provide a progress report for WLFW species-focused initiatives, including sage grouse, lesser prairie-chicken, and Southwestern Willow Flycatcher. The score cards outline conservation investments, outputs, and outcomes.
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USDA Soliciting Input on Implementation of Inflation Reduction Act Funding
NRCS is asking for public input on priorities for conservation programs
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NRCS will use the investments provided through IRA-funded conservation programs to support farmers and ranchers in adopting and expanding climate-smart activities and systems. NRCS is now soliciting comments on how to target program benefits, quantify impact, and improve program delivery and outreach.
Comments are due Dec. 21, 2022.
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The benefits that beavers, and more specifically their dam-building prowess, provide for western landscapes continues to receive more and more attention and research. This great story from Talker.com dives into new findings on how beavers can help landscapes better weather the effects of our changing climate.
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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently announced $10 million in fiscal year 2023 funds from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to support over 50 projects in western states to restore and conserve strategic areas within the sagebrush ecosystem. Projects were based on the Sagebrush Conservation Design, which calls for a ‘Defend and Grow the Core’ approach to conserving and restoring sagebrush rangeland.
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The recent premiere (and online release) of three short films produced by the Wyoming Migration Institute highlight the critical importance of protecting big game migration corridors in Wyoming. Both ranchers and wildlife benefit when conservation easements help keep ranches whole and intact and ranchers on their land. Check out all three films at the link above.
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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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