Wildlife Conservation Through Sustainable Ranching
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New Film from IMAGINE Explores How Invasive Annual Grasses Are Impacting the West
FILM HIGHLIGHTS SUCCESSFUL EFFORTS TO COMBAT INVASIVE GRASSES FROM COLORADO, NEVADA, IDAHO, AND WYOMING
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Imagine a landscape that is completely dominated by cheatgrass. Instead of native grasses, wildflowers, sagebrush, and the call of songbirds, picture a monoculture of dried non-native grasses, mostly devoid of life and ready to ignite from the smallest spark. If we do not act, this could be the future of much of our
western rangelands.
Invasive annual grasses (IAGs)—such as cheatgrass, ventenata, and medusahead—are rapidly degrading western rangelands and aggressively outcompeting native vegetation, fueling catastrophic wildfires, and threatening the future of working lands.
This film, produced by the University of Wyoming's Institute for Managing Annual Grasses Invading Natural Ecosystems (IMAGINE) with support from Working Lands for Wildlife and others, highlights these negative impacts on landscapes in Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, and Wyoming and explores the ecological, ranching, and economic impacts of IAGs in western rangelands.
Learn about the best management tools and strategies, like herbicide application, restoration, and monitoring, for tackling this threat across different geographies.
Defend Your Core!
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Largest Working Ranch Donation in Montana History
38,000-ACRE RANCH DONATED TO THE RANCHERS STEWARDSHIP ALLIANCE
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When it comes to defining his family legacy, Dale Veseth is unwavering: Veseth Cattle Co. will remain a working ranch that strengthens opportunities for local ranchers, champions education and community-led conservation, and upholds Montana’s ranching heritage.
To ensure that legacy endures beyond their lifetimes, Dale and his wife, Janet, have announced that they will gift their 38,300-acre ranch to the Ranchers Stewardship Alliance (RSA), a rancher-founded and rancher-led nonprofit Dale has helped build for more than 20 years. The gift, valued at $21.6 million, represents the largest recorded working ranch donation in Montana history.
The Veseths’ decision ensures that their land, their work, and their vision will continue shaping the future of ranching and conservation in north-central Montana. It is a nontraditional choice rooted in tradition, a stand to keep ranching families on the land, communities resilient, and the working landscape intact.
Read more about this incredible gift from the Western Ag Network's story, linked below. Photo of Dale and Janet Veseth, Western Ag Network.
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| New Film Highlights How Ranchers are Key to Saving Lesser Prairie-Chickens
WORKING LANDS ARE THE BEST HOPE FOR THE ICONIC SPECIES
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Most of the grasslands in the Great Plains exist as rangelands – managed and stewarded by private landowners. Yet rising costs and the fact that ranching earns less than any other land use have cut rancher numbers in half since the 1980s.
As we lose these ranchers, we lose the valuable grassland ecosystems that support their livelihoods, rural communities, water and wildlife. The Lesser Prairie-Chicken – an iconic grassland bird famous for its spring dances – has lost 97% of its population since the 1800s.
With 95% of remaining birds living on private lands, their future depends on the success of ranchers.
This film co-produced by the Lesser Prairie Chicken Landowner Alliance (LPCLA) and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology highlights this challenge and shares how the LPCLA is finding innovative ways for ranchers to sustain their livelihoods while restoring health to the land. When ranchers can keep their operations viable, the grasslands and wildlife that depend on them also thrive.
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Sagebrush Experts Say It's Time to Flip the Script for Sagebrush Conservation
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LEARN HOW RANGELAND PRACTITIONERS ARE CHANGING SAGEBRUSH CONSERVATION BY DEFENDING CORE SAGEBRUSH FROM THREATS LIKE TREES AND INVASIVE GRASSES
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Research from 2024 shows that only 20% of conservation funding in sagebrush country goes towards protecting intact sagebrush cores and the remaining 80% goes to restoring areas that have already been degraded.
That may seem logical, but, as this story from the National Wildlife Magazine highlights, it's not proving effective at halting sagebrush degradation across the biome. Instead, researchers, and a growing cadre of rangeland practitioners, are suggesting that we "flip the script" and use the bulk of conservation funding in sagebrush country to defend intact sagebrush cores from degradation in the first place. The approach, called "Defend the Core" is championed by WLFW, and it's gaining traction across the West as woody species and invasive annual grasses continue to impact once-healthy sagebrush rangelands.
This easy-to-read and informative article dives into the details on why flipping the script, and defending core sagebrush habitat is the best way to save sagebrush country.
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Come Meet WLFW at the Montana Stockgrowers Association's 2025 Convention & Trade Show
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WORKING LANDS FOR WILDLIFE AND THE MT NRCS WILL BE ON THE TRADE SHOW FLOOR FOR THE DURATION OF THE EVENT
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Connecting with the stewards of the West's working lands is a critical component of WLFW's approach to conservation. That's why we're so excited to join the Montana Stockgrowers Association at their annual Convention and Trade show this December 10-12 in Billings, Montana.
Come visit us at Booths 24-27 and learn about how encroaching trees are impacting ranches across the Big Sky State. From lost forage to reduced water supplies, trees are seriously impacting ranch profitability and jeopardizing the future of Montana's working lands. Private forestry consultants and the NRCS are in nearby booths, ready to help tackle this problem on your ranch before it becomes prohibitively expensive.
On Friday, December 12th from 1:30 pm to 2:30 pm, don't miss the chance to learn from WLFW-affiliated researchers from the University of Montana, Scott Morford and Shea Coons, who will present on how woody encroachment is impacting Montana's forage and water supplies - and what can be done about it.
We hope to see you there!
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Explore Big Sky recently reported on WLFW-affiliated research showing that mule deer avoid areas where invasive annual grass cover approaches 20%. The study, conducted by a team led by WLFW's Big Game Migratory Conservation science advisor, Jerod Merkle from the University of Wyoming, showed that half of northeastern Wyoming's mule deer habitat is at risk from invasive annual grasses. The good news? There's still time to act.
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Researchers from Oklahoma studied disease-carrying tick abundance in grasslands and grasslands experiencing different stages of tree encroachment. They found that disease-carrying ticks were more abundant in grasslands experiencing early stages of woody encroachment. The authors conclude that defending intact grassland cores from encroachment is the best way to reduce disease-carrying tick abundance.
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The Utah Watershed Restoration Initiative is a state-led effort focused on restoring degraded sagebrush habitats and sagebrush rangelands impacted by wildfire. In fiscal year 2024-2025, the group, with funding support from the NRCS and other partners, restored more than 144,000 acres of Utah sagebrush. Since the WRI began in 2006, the group has restored nearly 3 million acres across Utah's public and private rangelands.
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A new model of sage grouse conservation has launched in Oregon. According to this story from the East Oregonian, "Developers who want to build solar or wind farms, mine for gold or lithium, or pursue other projects that harm sage grouse habitat have a new option to satisfy Oregon’s requirements to protect the chicken-size bird. A group of investors have bought about 32,000 acres in northern Malheur County and 8,000 acres in southern Baker County and created the state’s first “conservation bank” specifically for sage grouse."
The investors completed numerous sage grouse-focused conservation projects on the land, which is a working cattle ranch. This work, along with sage-grouse focused management, helps ensure the habitat continues to support sage grouse long into the future.
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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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