Wildlife Conservation Through Sustainable Ranching
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Rangeland Analysis Platform Expands to Cover Lower 48 States
New datasets provide vegetation and production data from the Pacific to the Atlantic
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Recent updates to the Rangeland Analysis Platform, often referred to as RAP, mean that land managers, rangeland practitioners, landowners, and scientists from across the country can take advantage of the powerful data and intuitive interface that RAP has offered to Western-based practitioners since its 2018 launch.
In addition to adding rangeland data for the eastern U.S., RAP 3.0 includes other important updates:
- Use of Landsat Collection 2
- Addition of the National Park Service Northern Colorado Plateau Network (NCPN) monitoring data for cover training
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Identification of agriculture, development, and water
These updates make RAP an even more powerful and relevant tool to monitor and manage rangelands alongside local data and knowledge. Combined, this knowledge and tools like RAP are creating more informed and stragetic sustainable rangeland management strategies throughout the country.
A new RAP Fact Sheet and an updated support site with tutorials, how-tos, and best practices for using RAP rounds out this big update.
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Restoration Through Fire
Ecological Solutions and Evidence journal digs deeper into WLFW-affiliated research from the Great Plains
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In the Loess Canyons of Nebraska, landowners have teamed up to reclaim productive grasslands by using prescribed fire.
Research into their efforts - which was supported by WLFW, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, the U.S. Geological Survey, and others - highlights how restoring grasslands at scale boosts grassland bird species diversity.
Learn more about this study and get a "behind the research" view in this post from Applied Ecology Resources.
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| Research from WLFW Top Cited in 2020-2021
Joe Smith's work highlights how WLFW-supported research is making an impact
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Sound, high-quality, peer-reviewed science is a cornerstone of all of WLFW's efforts across the country.
That's why we're especially proud to highlight that Joe Smith's paper "Are Sage-Grouse Fine-Scale Specialists or Shrub-Steppe Generalists?" was one of the most cited papers in the influential Journal of Wildlife Management from 2020-2021.
Smith's paper argues that instead of focusing on these fine-scale habitat metrics, there are larger, landscape-level threats like conifer encroachment, invasive annual grass invasions, and land-use conversion that deserve conservation and management attention. Congrats Joe!
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USDA-NRCS Releases Framework to Guide Conservation Action on America’s Central and Eastern Grasslands and Savannas
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Framework builds on previous efforts to further benefit producers and northern bobwhite quail
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has unveiled a new plan to help guide voluntary conservation work over the next five years across 25 states, including over seven million acres of new conservation practices on productive, working lands, and will contribute to the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to make our nation a leader on climate change mitigation, adaptation and resilience.
The plan will accelerate voluntary conservation efforts for the Northern bobwhite quail and the grassland and savanna landscapes that the species calls home. This plan, the Northern Bobwhite, Grasslands and Savannas Framework for Conservation Action, outlines how USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) will work with agricultural producers and partners like Quail Forever to increase adoption of targeted conservation practices that are good for farmers, ranchers, the bobwhite and natural resources. This framework leverages conservation efforts on working lands and supports the Biden Administration’s America the Beautiful initiative.
“When we manage for bobwhite habitat, we’re creating healthier forests and forage, which is good for livestock producers, landowners, and natural resources,” NRCS Chief Terry Cosby said. “This new framework builds on what we know – that America’s agricultural producers using conservation practices are helping declining species like the bobwhite while also providing food and fiber and conserving our resources for future generations. In the face of climate change, as well as habitat loss and fragmentation, expanding efforts to conserve landscapes and wildlife communities is more important than ever.”
The framework:
- Reduces threats, like drought and wildfire, to grassland and savanna landscapes that northern bobwhite and other species call home.
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Establishes native warm season grasses to reduce erosion, recharge aquifers and supplement forage during summer slump periods.
- Focuses on key conservation practices, including prescribed grazing, brush management, prescribed burning, herbaceous weed treatment, forage and biomass planting, contour buffer strips and forest stand improvement.
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Leverages support from partners like Quail Forever to help producers with planning and implementing practices.
- Monitors and measures the response of northern bobwhite and other wildlife species through the Northern Bobwhite Technical Committee (NBTC) and Quail Forever.
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Develops landscape-wide models to track wildlife and economic outcomes by researchers at the University of Georgia and Mississippi State University.
- Develops outcomes assessments that include quantifying tons of carbon stored because of conservation efforts to mitigate harmful greenhouse gases.
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Innovation in Sagebrush Country
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The Nature Conservancy is teaming up with partners, including the USDA Agricultural Research Service, to pioneer innovative methods for restoring native plants in sagebrush country
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Invasive annual grasses, like cheatgrass, medusahead and ventenata, are a major threat to healthy and resilient sagebrush rangelands. In addition to robbing native plants of moisture and nutrients by greening up faster in the spring, these invaders fuel larger and more destructive wildfires in rangelands.
The Nature Conservancy, a longtime partner of Working Lands for Wildlife, is working with groups like the USDA Agricultural Research Service to create innovative solutions to planting native sagebrush vegetation when resources are limited.
By utilizing herbicide protection technology, the partners are able to produce native seeds that can grow after herbicides are first applied to the landscape, killing off the invasive annual grasses. These seeds can be sown in the same season as the herbicide is applied, saving valuable time, money, and people power, which helps scale up restoration efforts following large-scale and damaging wildfires.
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Find more news and resources at SageGrouseInitiative.com
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This great article from the Native Land Information System takes a deep dive into how RAP can be used on the 16 million acres of rangeland that lies on tribal land across the country.
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When Bill Browning signed up for NRCS assistance in 2021 to help manage invading trees on his Kansas ranch, he became the first producer in the state to participate in the Kansas Great Plains Grassland Initiative. This effort is one of several state-led initiatives that are putting the strategies outlined in WLFW's Framework for Conservation Action in the Great Plains Biome on the ground and into practice.
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Learn more about the USDA-NRCS's commitment to increase funding available for the type of partnership-driven, voluntary conservation efforts like Working Lands for Wildlife.
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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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