Wildlife Conservation Through Sustainable Ranching
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Working Lands for Wildlife's 2023 Workshop Recap
NEARLY 300 PARTICIPANTS JOINED WLFW AND NRCS STAFF IN MANHATTAN, KANSAS FOR A TWO-DAY WORKSHOP FOCUSED ON DEFENDING AMERICA’S GRASSLANDS
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A geographically diverse group from across the American West gathered July 12 and 13 in Manhattan, Kansas, for the 2023 Western Working Lands for Wildlife Workshop. With a focus on conserving Great Plains grasslands, the workshop brought together ranchers, field staff, national and state leadership, and conservation practitioners and partners to collaborate around the workshop’s theme: “Defending America’s Grasslands.”
“Conserving America’s last Great Plains grasslands is critical for ranchers, wildlife, and a wide array of ecosystem services,” said Tim Griffiths, western WLFW lead. “This is the first workshop we’ve held in the Great Plains, and it was entirely focused on grassland conservation. We couldn’t have found a more perfect location and a better group of professionals to bring together.”
The two-day workshop kicked off with a keynote address from Robert Bonnie, USDA Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation, who highlighted the critical role voluntary conservation by private landowners plays in landscape-scale conservation efforts. As more than 90 percent of the Great Plains is privately owned, Bonnie’s message resonated with the packed room.
Other presentations debuted new technologies and products developed by WLFW and partners, like the Landscape Explorer and a new field-ready resource for addressing woody encroachment in grasslands called the “Reducing Woody Encroachment in Grasslands: A Pocket Guide for Planning & Design.” (See below for more information on both of these products.)
The second day of the workshop included a three-stop field tour in the southern Flint Hills of Kansas. Participants explored the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, Spring Creek Ranch, and Mushrush Red Angus Ranch. At each stop, participants learned more about the state of grasslands in the Great Plains and conservation practices like woody plant removal and prescribed fire.
“From the conference facilities and the field tour to the number of landowners in attendance, it was a fantastic workshop,” Griffiths said. “This was our first workshop since 2019 and our first in the Great Plains. We’re looking forward to coming back and continuing our work defending America’s grasslands.”
Learn more about the workshop in a blog from Steve Jester, executive director of Partnerscapes, here.
Hear from Griffiths and Dave Naugle, Western WLFW Science Advisor, through this interview from KMAN here.
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New Pocket Guide for Reducing Woody Encroachment in Grasslands Available
FIELD-READY GUIDE PROVIDES UPDATED, UNIFIED PLANNING, INVENTORY, AND IMPLEMENTATION GUIDELINES
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Working Lands for Wildlife and the Great Plains Grasslands Extension Partnership recently published the “Reducing Woody Encroachment in Grasslands: A Pocket Guide for Planning and Design,” a comprehensive, science-based tool for conservation planners working to save America’s grasslands.
The guide uses informative, easy-to-understand graphics, illustrations, and text to explain key principles around the underlying processes of woody encroachment, how seeds and seed sources make grasslands vulnerable to woody encroachment, what different phases of encroachment look like on the ground, and what rangeland planners and landowners can do to conserve, restore, and protect America’s grasslands, all informed by the latest scientific understanding of woody encroachment in grasslands.
Additionally, it includes detailed steps on inventorying landscapes, decision-support flow charts and processes, guidance on implementing the right practices, and tips on managing special cases like windbreaks and tree plantings.
The guide is available digitally through Working Lands for Wildlife. Limited field-ready, water- and UV-resistant hard copies are available by request from Dillon Fogarty.
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| New "Landscape Explorer" Highlights Changes in Western Lands Since 1950s
EASILY COMPARE HISTORIC AND MODERN AERIAL IMAGERY TO SEE CHANGES OVER PAST 70 YEARS
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Landscape Explorer is a new, interactive map application that shows historic and current imagery from the Great Plains to the Pacific Coast, allowing anyone to quickly visualize threats to these landscapes.
This brand-new free online map application displays past and present aerial imagery across 17 western states. An easy-to-use slider seamlessly toggles between historic and current imagery in a Google-powered map. In just a few seconds, anyone can zoom in to see the changes anywhere across the West – a ranch, a town, a major city, or an entire region – then zoom out to visualize what’s changed across an entire state.
Western grasslands and shrublands provide our country with food, fiber, recreation opportunities and wildlife habitat. But they are at risk of disappearing. This interactive new map and website clearly shows how and where three main threats have altered these imperiled landscapes since the 1950s: woody encroachment, cropland expansion, and urbanization.
The site is both educational and fun to use, providing everyone from children to grandparents a chance to look back in time.
Check out how your neighborhood, ranch, or favorite place has changed over the years!
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Great Plains Grasslands Extension Partnership Launches with Pocket Guide and Grassland Factsheets
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NEW PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN ALL 10 GREAT PLAINS EXTENSION GROUPS AND NRCS-WLFW AIMS TO ADVANCE GRASSLANDS CONSERVATION
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The Great Plains Grasslands Extension Partnership is comprised of rangeland scientists and extension faculty collaborating across universities to provide science-based information and expertise that supports citizen efforts to confront the impending collapse of the Great Plains grassland biome due to woody encroachment. The Partnership embraces a vision of sustainable grasslands that support the livelihoods and communities which depend upon them.
The university extension groups comprising the partnership include: Kansas State University, Montana State University, University of Nebraska, New Mexico State University, North Dakota State University, Oklahoma State University, Texas A&M, South Dakota State University, University of Wyoming, and Colorado State University.
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The first product produced by the Partnership is the “Reducing Woody Encroachment in Grasslands: A Pocket Guide for Planning and Design.”(See above for more information and link to the Pocket Guide.)
Additionally, the Partnership has just released three factsheets:
According to Dirac Twidwell, WLFW's Great Plains science advisor and University of Nebraska professor, "The Great Plains Grasslands Extension Partnership marks the first time all 10 Great Plains Extension groups are working together to help conserve America's last remaining grasslands."
Stay tuned for more products and information from this exciting partnership.
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is accepting offers for nearly 2.7 million acres from agricultural producers and private landowners through this year’s Grassland Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) signup, which received a record setting sign-up of 4.6 million acres in offers. This working lands program allows producers and landowners to continue grazing and haying practices while protecting grasslands and further the CRP’s impacts. Grassland CRP is part of the Biden-Harris administration’s broader effort to address climate change and conserve natural resources.
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Charlie Rewa, Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) Wildlife Assessments Leader, was recently recognized with an individual award honoring collaborations between his portfolio and the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units National Network in the coproduction of science to inform effective wildlife conservation delivery. CEAP has long supported Working Lands for Wildlife's science and research efforts. Congratulations Charlie!
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Our friends at the Intermountain West Joint Venture put together this great blog and photo gallery of spring wildflowers in Montana. Take a few moments to learn more and appreciate these beautiful and important parts of sagebrush country!
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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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