Wildlife Conservation Through Sustainable Ranching
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USDA Commits to Big Game Conservation
New USDA-NRCS partnership with Wyoming will focus on conserving big game migratory habitat on private lands.
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On Friday May 20, USDA announced a new partnership that uses diverse Farm Bill investments to support voluntary conservation of private working lands and migratory big game populations in Wyoming. Using lessons learned from this pilot, USDA seeks to scale up this model across the West as part of President Biden’s commitment to support voluntary, locally-led conservation efforts to reach the administration’s national conservation goals.
USDA participated in extensive engagement and listening sessions with stakeholders throughout Wyoming and developed this pilot in response to their feedback. Those listening sessions helped guide the pilot’s concepts and principles: recognition of the large scale of this issue in key landscapes, coordination with state agencies, consistency with state policy and direction and support of existing partnerships wherever possible.
The pilot will take a systems approach to voluntary conservation and draw on several USDA programs, including the Grassland Conservation Reserve Program (Grassland CRP), Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) and the Agricultural Conservation Easements Program (ACEP) to provide financial and technical assistance for landowners who want to participate.
USDA is committing an initial $15 million in investment through EQIP and ACEP for Wyoming, in addition to the rental payments that will go to producers who enroll in Grasslands CRP.
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USDA-NRCS Opens EQIP Application Window for Big Game Habitat on Private Lands in Wyoming
Interested landowners have until June 22, 2022 to apply for EQIP funding.
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USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Wyoming is currently accepting applications for EQIP Big Game Conservation. EQIP is a voluntary Farm Bill program which provides financial assistance to address priority resource concerns. This sign up is to address resource concerns related to conserving wildlife and migration corridors and to keep working lands working.
Producers interested in implementing conservation practices to conserve, restore, and enhance wildlife habitat important for migratory big game populations on their private lands have until Wednesday June 22, 2022, to submit applications.
The EQIP Big Game Conservation sign-up provides benefits for Wyoming producers through incentivizing conservation practices such as Wildlife Friendly Fencing, Upland Wildlife Habitat Management, Brush Management, Fence Removal, Pest Management, Wet Meadow Restoration, Prescribed Grazing, Herbaceous Weed Treatment, and Brush or Aspen treatments. Supporting practices are not listed but may be included as needed to support terrestrial wildlife habitat projects.
This opportunity is available to all producers who own or manage private agricultural land within the State of Wyoming.
High Priority Areas include:
- Private Land located within State Designated Migration Corridors
- Private Land located in Fremont, Hot Springs, Lincoln, Park, Sublette, and Teton County.
- These counties were targeted in the Grassland CRP program to enhance wildlife habitat in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and are part of a pilot that allows producers to stack CRP and EQIP contracts, provided the producer will not receive cost-share payments for the same practice from both agencies, on the same land.
Applications are accepted at all Wyoming NRCS offices located in USDA Service Centers across the state. To find out more information about EQIP please visit the Wyoming EQIP webpage. To locate an NRCS field office near you, please visit the Wyoming USDA Service Center webpage.
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Creating Jobs Through Conservation in SW Montana
SW MT Sagebrush Partnership restores the sagebrush sea and builds local workforce
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The Southwest Montana Sagebrush Partnership (SMSP) was formed in 2018 by ranchers, business owners, federal and state agencies, local conservation districts and non-profit organizations looking to improve range health for people and wildlife.
The most exciting part of SMSP is that it’s also creating conservation-related jobs. This includes new start-up businesses focused on selling wood products, contractors doing year-round restoration work, and a local youth workforce.
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| Fort Defends Lands from Invasive Trees
Research highlights how early warning signals can help prevent grasslands from transitioning to woodlands.
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Since 1853, Fort Riley has been an important part of the Flint Hills in Kansas.
In addition to soldiers, Fort Riley is home to some of the continent's last best tallgrass prairie, including thriving populations of grassland birds like greater prairie-chickens.
New research supported by WLFW highlights how the Rangeland Analysis Platform is helping provide early warning signals that show where trees are moving across the fort, before they're actually visible. This early warning signal is helping managers protect prairie-chickens and has broad applicability to other landscapes.
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Central Grassland Roadmap Summit Focused on Conserving Grasslands from Canada to Mexico
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Working Lands for Wildlife providing key science and expertise for this broad, collaborative effort.
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The Central Grasslands Roadmap was launched in 2020 to guide and inform innovative and connected conservation for the benefit of grassland birds, pollinators and mammals, as well as to ensure viable human communities across the landscape of one of North America's most biogeographically unique areas.
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The Roadmap community includes a cross-section of leaders and experts that live and work in the Central Grasslands— including producers on working land, Indigenous/First Nations, federal, state and provincial agencies, foundations, industry, and nongovernmental organizations including; land trusts, tribal representatives, and academia.
USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the Working Lands for Wildlife partnership have been helping Roadmap partners integrate cutting-edge science and maps to guide proactive, voluntary conservation of intact grasslands across the biome. Dirac Twidwell, University of Nebraska-Lincoln rangeland ecologist and NRCS science advisor, was on hand at the Summit as a leading technical expert to share insights on how to tackle the two greatest threats to grasslands: woody encroachment and land use conversion. National and state leadership from NRCS and the Farm Service Agency (FSA) also attended to discuss the role of working agricultural lands, strategic delivery of voluntary Farm Bill programs, the WLFW Framework for Conservation Action, and how states are implementing the Framework through locally led Great Plains Grassland Initiatives.
The WLFW Framework for Conservation Action serves as NRCS’ official contribution to the Roadmap, designed to deliver enough of the right practices to the right places to achieve landscape level outcomes by empowering agricultural producers to defend and grow core grasslands.
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Find more news and resources at SageGrouseInitiative.com
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Learn more about the partnership (featured above) between the USDA-NRCS and the State of Wyoming aimed at protecting big game migratory corridors on private lands through this story from the Cody Enterprise.
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Check out this new video produced by the Idaho Rangeland Resources Commission that highlights the Cheatgrass Challenge, a multi-agency, cross-boundary effort launched in Idaho by the NRCS aimed at protecting core areas from cheatgrass invasion.
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Join invasive annual weed management specialists, including the NRCS' Jeremy Maestas, on this webinar from April 28, 2022. Learn about the latest invasive annual grass management tools and strategies, including medusahead, ventenata, and cheatgrass.
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Learn more about the NRCS's Snow Survey and Farm Bill programs that help land managers, private landowners, and the public understand water availability through the summer in this in-depth article by the Progressive Rancher magazine.
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Great conservation news out of Wyoming! With support from the NRCS and other partners, the Wyoming Stock Growers Land Trust recently secured a conservation easement on 1,042 acres of the Richie Ranch near Boulder, Wyoming. The property is entirely within core sage grouse habitat and within the Sublette Mule Deer migration corridor.
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The Nature Conservancy is partnering with Kansas State University, National Park Service, Kansas Grazing Lands Coalition, and private producers to determine if virtual fencing can help managers improve conservation, business and soil carbon outcomes on working cattle ranches in the United States.
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The film, directed by Carol Evans and produced by Little Wild with support from the Intermountain West Joint Venture, the USDA-NRCS Working Lands for Wildlife, and the BLM, recently received the Biodiversity Institute Conservation Award at the inaugural Wild and Working Lands Film Festival, hosted by the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Wyoming. Congrats to all involved!
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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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