Wildlife Conservation Through Sustainable Ranching
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USDA Expands Conservation Practices Qualifying for Climate-Smart Funding
NRCS ADDS KEY GRASS AND SHRUBLAND PRACTICES TO LIST OF CLIMATE-SMART AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY ACTIVITIES ELIGIBLE FOR FY 2024 IRA FUNDING
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Working Lands for Wildlife (WLFW) supports voluntary, incentive-based conservation practices that address landscape-scale threats, specifically in the sagebrush and Great Plains grasslands biomes. Key to this work are USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) technical assistance and cost-share funding programs like the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP). NRCS recently announced an expansion to the list of practices eligible for climate-smart agriculture and forestry activities, adding additional funding for these practices in fiscal year 2024 through the Inflation Reduction Act.
A number of the added practices reflect the conservation priorities of ranchers and landowners in the American West, supported by WLFW’s frameworks for conservation action that outline threat-based strategies based on years of experience in the field. These practices are backed by WLFW’s cutting-edge science, which is co-produced with universities, landowners, the USDA-NRCS Conservation Effects Assessment Project, and the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service.
Newly eligible practices help address key threats identified in WLFW’s frameworks for conservation action, including combating invasive annual grasses, woody species encroachment, land-use conversion, and riparian and wet meadow degradation.
Conservation practitioners and planners should explore the expanded list of practices and activities eligible for funding through NRCS. This infusion of resources will allow landowners and partners to further scale up climate-smart mitigation and adaptation actions on imperiled grass and shrublands.
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Biden-Harris Administration Makes Available Historic $3 Billion for Climate-Smart Practices on Agricultural Lands Through Investing in America Agenda
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| USDA’s Conservation Reserve Program Pays More Than $1.77 Billion to America’s Producers in Support of Conservation and Climate-Smart Agriculture
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has issued more than $1.77 billion this year to agricultural producers and landowners through its Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), a critical piece of the Department’s efforts to support climate-smart agriculture and forestry on working lands. Right now, CRP’s more than 667,000 participants received payments from USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) for their voluntary conservation efforts on more than 23 million acres of private land. Since 2021, CRP has grown by 21 percent in terms of acres enrolled.
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WLFW Segments Featured on NCBA's Cattlemen to Cattlemen
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MISS THE TWO LATEST WLFW SEGMENTS ON CATTLEMEN TO CATTLEMEN?
WATCH THEM ANYTIME VIA THE SHOW'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL
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In September, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association's flagship TV show, Cattlemen to Cattlemen, featured two segments about WLFW's work in the the Great Plains.
If you missed the episodes when they aired on RFD-TV, no worries! They're now available on Cattlemen to Cattlemen's YouTube Channel, so you can watch them anytime.
The first segment featured Chris and Cole Mushrush of Mushrush Ranches in Kansas. Through an innovative research program, the Mushrushes are experimenting with new virtual fencing technology as part of their Defend the Core and climate adaptation strategies that are aimed at keeping their ranch productive and resilient.
⇒Watch Virtual Fencing as a Climate Adaptation Strategy⇐
The second segment focuses how the NRCS, through Working Lands for Wildlife, is helping ranchers and producers in the Great Plains protect the grasslands that make the Great Plains both an important cattle-producing region and a stronghold for unique wildlife. Through the Great Plains Grassland Initiatives, the NRCS, producers, and partners are implementing proactive, win-win, voluntary conservation solutions that benefit private landowners and the wildlife that share their land. This model of conservation is rancher driven, science informed, and agency supported. Learn more about WLFW's approach in the segment.
⇒Watch How NRCS Helps Protect Grasslands in the Great Plains⇐
With expanded NRCS conservation practices qualifying for Climate-Smart funding through the Inflation Reduction Act, now is the perfect time to explore how these programs can help protect grasslands and benefit both landowners and wildlife.
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WLFW Research Details How Wildfire Follows Cheatgrass In the Great Basin
RESEARCH SHOWS THAT 77% OF INVASIVE ANNUAL GRASS TRANSITION IN THE GREAT BASIN OCCURRED WITHOUT FIRE.
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In the Great Basin, it’s not a question of chickens and eggs, but which leads to more of what – wildfires or invasive annual grasses.
New research from Joe Smith, a WLFW-affiliated researcher at the University of Montana, and the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, flips the assumption that wildfires are the primary driver of annual grasses becoming dominant by showing that most invasive annual grass state transitions in the Great Basin have occurred in areas that haven’t experienced recent fire.
This information helps inform a more comprehensive conservation strategy to better protect sagebrush country rather than relying solely on fire management.
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| Study Finds Wildfire Isn't Primary Factor in Invasive Annual Grass Expansion in Great Basin
MORE DETAILS ON INVASIVE ANNUAL GRASS FROM THE AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH SERVICE
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For more details on WLFW's latest research check out this news release from the USDA-Agricultural Research Service (ARS).
"We found that wildfire is not the predominant driver of invasive annual grass expansion in the Great Basin, but it is still a major issue that can promote annual grass abundance and negatively impact a wide variety of ecosystem services and values..." said Chad Boyd, co-author, and research leader at the USDA-ARS Range and Meadow Forage Management Research Unit.
"However, annual grass management focused solely on wildfire suppression and post-fire restoration is unlikely to reverse widespread conversion to invasive annual grasses."
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Landscape Explorer Recognized with Geo for Good Impact Award from Google
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LANDSCAPE EXPLORER, A NEW ONLINE MAPPING APPLICATION, RECOGNIZED AT GOOGLE EARTH CONFERENCE
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Landscape Explorer, a powerful new online mapping application developed by WLFW and the University of Montana (UM) with support from Montana-NRCS, the Intermountain West Joint Venture's Partners in the Sage, and Nvidia, received an Impact Award recognition at the recent Geo for Good conference hosted by Google Earth.
The mapping application stemmed from a research project led by UM and WLFW researcher, Scott Morford. Morford and his team first obtained hundreds of thousands of historical aerial images produced by the U.S. Army. The team then geo and ortho-rectified this massive set of images before integrating them into one seamless set that covers the entire western U.S.
Landscape Explorer uses this incredible dataset and overlays it with modern aerial imagery allowing users to swipe between the historical and modern imagery to see how our western landscapes have changed over time. The resource is a compelling communications tool, and the data are available to researchers and practitioners for further research and analysis.
The University of Montana recently highlighted Landscape Explorer in a great article that details how the project came together.
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Join WLFW Science Advisor and University of Montana professor of wildlife biology, Dr. David Naugle, for a webinar hosted by the NRCS Conservation Effects Assessment Project. Dr. Naugle will present on the strategic implementation of science-based Farm Bill conservation through the Sage Grouse Initiative/Working Lands for Wildlife. No registration needed. Simply follow this link to join the webinar at 10 am MT on the 16th.
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This position will help federal, state, and private land managers use science tools to deliver on-the-ground conservation more effectively across Montana. Initial efforts will focus on scaling up management of woodland encroachment, a biome-level threat affecting sustainability of >15% of Montana’s rangelands. New hire will be part of our team of scientists who know these partnerships, maintain a legacy of science coproduction, and have created and maintain many of the outreach tools of interest. Deadline Sunday, November 26. Details and application process here.
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This great article from Working Ranch magazine focuses on woody species encroachment in the Great Plains and its effects on forage production and producers. The article features several WLFW staff and affiliated research. It's well worth a read.
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Montana-NRCS highlights the work of siblings, Staci Ketchum and Erik Peterson, who are just two of the landowners in Custer County working to reduce conifer encroachment into rangelands through a locally led Targeted Implementation Plan. Together with the Montana NRCS and partners, the siblings are addressing encroaching woody species to improve rangeland health and help protect their ranch from wildfire.
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A local cattleman who owns and manages property near Sheridan, Montana, Terry Todd is no stranger to working on the land in the beautiful Ruby Valley. By working with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Southwest Montana Sagebrush Partnership, and Ruby Valley Conservation District, he is taking on conifer encroachment to help reduce wildfires, increase water quantity for stream flows, create a better space for wildlife, and to grow more grass for his 500 cattle.
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In the Nebraska Sandhills, a new conservation easement protects the H-Bar Ranch and ensures the 6,000-acre property will remain intact and working for generations to come. A portion of the funding for the easement came from the NRCS' Agricultural Lands Easement program, and the owners also worked with the NRCS to develop an eastern redcedar management plan. Land-use conversion is one of the biggest threats to intact grasslands and conservation easements are one of the best tools for keeping working lands intact and in working hands.
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A multi-year study involving University of Idaho researchers has found allowing late-fall and winter grazing on rangeland heavily infested with invasive Medusahead grass could provide extra forage for cattlemen while reducing wildfire fuel.
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Oregon's Sagebrush Conservation Partnership and Oregon State University's Institute for Natural Resources have partnered to produce a new resource for rangeland managers and conservation practitioners that provides "a generalized snapshot of broad vegetation conditions across rangelands in Oregon and beyond." The Ecostate maps produced through the partnership highlight three main threats to Oregon's rangelands: encroaching woody species, invasive annual grasses, and how they interact to increase the threat of wildfire.
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When Katie Blunk, DVM, took over management of her family's ranch in Oklahoma, the land was starting to heal from years of eastern redcedar encroachment. With conservation goals a focus, Blunk's mother, Rose, had turned to the NRCS, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and to local prescribed burn associations. Together, the partners worked with Blunk to implement prescribed burn treatments that restored rangeland health and forage production. Today, it's a thriving operation thanks, in part, to the family's continued use of prescribed fire.
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This great article from the Cornell Lab dives into the threat eastern redcedar trees pose to Nebraska's grasslands and to the birds who rely on grasses, not trees, to thrive. The article features some familiar WLFW faces, research, and products. Packed with great photography a informative graphics, it's worth checking out.
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This inspiring Fridays on the Farm story from Farmers.gov shares how Harold and Mary Wheeler of Holdenville, Oklahoma worked with the NRCS to help turn the old cotton farm they purchased into a thriving operation. They worked so closely with the NRCS that Harold started working for the agency as a technician after experiencing for himself the benefits of partnering with the NRCS!
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In Nevada, ranchers and ranch managers are shifting how they think of, and work with, beavers. In this arid state, beaver and beaver mimicking structures that slow down water, help keep riparian areas greener and more productive. This story highlights several spots in the state where beavers have made a big, positive, impact on the health and productivity of riparian areas, and by extension, the ranches that have welcomed these critters back onto their working lands.
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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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