Wildlife Conservation Through Sustainable Ranching
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WLFW Contributes to Open-Access Textbook Guiding Future of Rangeland Conservation
“RANGELAND WILDLIFE ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION” IS THE NEW GO-TO RESOURCE FOR RANGELAND PROFESSIONALS, PRACTITIONERS, AND STUDENTS + THREE OF THE CHAPTERS WERE COAUTHORED BY WLFW RESEARCHERS AND STAFF
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Today, new technologies, new conservation approaches, and new ways of coproducing science have changed how rangelands are managed. Working Lands for Wildlife has been at the forefront of this shift. From the outset, WLFW has been grounded in practical science that has improved our collective understanding of the threats facing the West’s rangelands and the proactive conservation solutions that best address them.
This shift is captured in a new textbook that will help train the next generation of rangeland managers called “Rangeland Wildlife Ecology and Conservation.” With more than 100 coauthors and 30 chapters that cover a diversity of rangeland subjects, the book is the new go-to resource for rangeland professionals, practitioners, and students. Critically, the book fuses the ecology of rangelands with wildlife conservation, and it explicitly recognizes the critical importance that private, working lands play in rangeland conservation.
The book is freely available to download thanks, in part, to WLFW’s financial contributions. But perhaps more importantly, WLFW staff and science advisors are coauthors of three of the book’s chapters, highlighting their commitment to rangeland management and to producing solutions-focused science that moves management forward.
It’s not surprising that WLFW invested in making a digital version of this book free. Paywalls don’t move ecosystem management forward, which is why we make nearly all the science our affiliated researchers and agency colleagues produce available to researchers, practitioners, landowners, and others through open access and direct sharing.
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Yield Gap Analysis Updated Through 2022
UPDATED ANALYSIS SHOWS FORAGE PRODUCTION LOST TO TREES AT REGIONAL, STATE, AND COUNTY SCALES ACROSS THE WEST
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One of the most direct impacts of woody species moving into grass and shrublands is lost forage. When trees move in, they displace native vegetation that wildlife and livestock producers rely on.
WLFW researchers at the University of Montana recently updated these "yield gap" numbers through 2022, adding another three years to the original analysis. In 2022, rangelands in the West lost more than $200 million in forage value due to encroaching woody species.
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| New "Scorecards" Detail Conservation Investments
SCORECARDS HIGHLIGHT CONSERVATION OUTCOMES FOR SAGE GROUSE, LESSER PRAIRIE-CHICKENS AND SOUTHWESTERN WILLOW FLYCATCHER
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The USDA-NRCS recently released a set of scorecards that detail conservation investments and outcomes made for Sage Grouse, Lesser Prairie-Chickens, and Southwestern Willow Flycatchers.
In FY 2022, NRCS investments through EQIP conserved more than 500,000 acres of land in the southern Great Plains, sagebrush country, and the desert southwest, and an additional 38,000 acres of sagebrush range through conservation easements.
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Ask an Expert: NRCS and Partners Work Together to Help Families Keep Their Land Green-Side Up
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LEARN ABOUT HOW PARTNERS WORK WITH THE NRCS TO CRAFT SUCCESSFUL CONSERVATION EASEMENTS AND HOW EXPANDED ELIGIBILITY THROUGH THE INFLATION REDUCTION ACT MAKES IT A GREAT TIME TO CONSIDER AN EASEMENT
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Strategically placed conservation easements are one of the best tools available for protecting working lands. The USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has long provided funding support, technical assistance, and conservation planning to help facilitate conservation easements.
The USDA-NRCS supports conservation easements across the West in several ways. The Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) provides financial and technical assistance to help conserve agricultural lands and wetlands and their related benefits. Under the Agricultural Land Easements component, NRCS helps tribes, state and local governments, and non-governmental organizations protect working agricultural lands and limit non-agricultural uses of the land. Under the Wetlands Reserve Easements component, NRCS helps to restore, protect, and enhance enrolled wetlands.
The Inflation Reduction Act added an additional $1.4 billion in funding for ACEP over five years and revised ACEP authority, providing specific funding for easements that will most reduce, capture, avoid, or sequester greenhouse gas emissions. For more information, see the NRCS fact sheet, “ACEP and the Inflation Reduction Act.”
To better understand how NRCS and partners work together with landowners to put conservation easements in place, we sat down with Brian Martin, the grassland conservation director with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in Montana. Over his three decades with TNC, Brian’s efforts have helped make Montana a leader in conservation easements. According to NRCS data, Montana has led the nation in acres conserved under the Agricultural Land Easement program from 2006-2023 with more than 250,000 acres.
Few people have as much passion for the conservation legacy easements produce as Brian. Fewer still have Brian’s expertise in how conservation easements work, how land trusts work with the NRCS and other federal agencies to create easements, and why and how easements benefit working families.
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Science News: Landscape Explorer Shows how Much the American West Has Changed
NEW ARTICLE FEATURES WLFW'S LANDSCAPE EXPLORER
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A new article in Science News features the Landscape Explorer interactive web application, developed by WLFW researchers at the University of Montana to help people visualize how the West's landscapes are changing.
The story details how the researchers developed the application and how it's being used to benefit conservation in Montana where conservation partnerships are taking advantage of the tool's easy-to-use functionality to see how the landscapes they work on have changed since the 1950's.
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| New York Times: A "Green Glacier" is Dismantling the Great Plains
POWERFUL OPINION PIECE HIGHLIGHTS HOW TREES ARE IMPACTING THE GREAT PLAINS
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Journalist and Nebraska native, Carson Vaughan, uses the 150th birthday of Willa Cather to highlight how encroaching woody species are dramatically changing how the Great Plains look and function in this opinion piece published in the New York Times.
The piece features WLFW's Great Plains Grassland science advisor, Dirac Twidwell, and specifically mentions WLFW's Framework for Conservation Action in the Great Plains Grassland Biome as the type of solutions-focused conservation effort needed to address this threat.
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Did you miss November's Conservation Outcomes Webinar featuring WLFW science advisor for the sagebrush biome, Dr. David Naugle? Or maybe you just want to watch it again? Click on this link to a recording of the webinar.
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The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) is soliciting proposals to voluntarily conserve and restore grasslands and wildlife species in the Northern Great Plains, specifically in the following focal areas; Dakota Grasslands, Missouri-Milk River Grasslands, Nebraska Sandhills, and the Powder River-Thunder Basin Grasslands. NFWF included the following in the announcement: "Strategies that complement the NRCS Great Plains Biome Framework are encouraged." An applicant webinar will be held on 1/11/24 and full proposals are due 3/12/24. Follow the link above for full details.
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Check out this great webinar from the Western Landowners Alliance about low-tech stream restoration. These are the same practices that WLFW promotes and this on-demand webinar is packed with useful information geared for a landowner audience including a deep-dive into key considerations for landowners and water rights holders as they evaluate and implement these techniques on their lands.
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Grand Teton National Park and the Wyoming Migration Initiative recently released a powerful new documentary about the animals that move in and out of Grand Teton National Park over the course of the year. The film highlights how private, working lands play a critical role in sustaining these migrations and wildlife populations. This 25-minute film is well worth a watch, and we're thrilled that it will be shown in the Park's visitor center through the 2024 summer season.
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Have you had the chance to connect with Working Lands for Wildlife on LinkedIn yet? LinkedIn is the newest WLFW channel, and it's already packed with informative posts about our science, our researchers, and our conservation work across the West. From sage grouse to satellites, the channel delivers engaging and accessible udpates aimed at conservation practitioners, scientists, and anyone interested in WLFW's work. Connect today via the link above or the icon below.
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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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