Featured Ranchers

Working Lands for Wildlife only works when we have willing partners who own or manage the landscapes where we work. These stories highlight their partnerships and the successes we share together.

Healthy Grass Equals Profitable Ranches
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Healthy Grass Equals Profitable Ranches

The Blair family has worked hard to make their ranch profitable and resilient which benefits wildlife and the next generation. Read all about their work with SGI and other ...
Sustainable Ranching in Utah: A Boon For Wildlife And Livestock
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Sustainable Ranching in Utah: A Boon For Wildlife And Livestock

Sustainable Ranching in Utah: A Boon for Wildlife and Livestock | Read how Stephen and Kris Ellis keep their family tradition alive and strong on the Circle Bar ...
Our Amazing Grasslands Video – The Conner Ranch
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Our Amazing Grasslands Video – The Conner Ranch

New video highlights the Conner Ranch in Belle Fourche, South Dakota where Dan and Cindi Conner have worked with SGI and other partners to improve their ranch for sage grouse ...
Oregon Ranchers Sustain “Heart Of The Desert”
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Oregon Ranchers Sustain “Heart Of The Desert”

Maintaining an “emerald island” in the middle of the desert is no small task. Here’s how the Fitzgeralds do it on their Oregon ...
Combatting Cheatgrass On Private Ranch Lands In Wyoming Benefits Sage Grouse
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Combatting Cheatgrass On Private Ranch Lands In Wyoming Benefits Sage Grouse

Learn how Wyoming landowner DeWitt Morris is working with the NRCS-led Sage Grouse Initiative to create a model for other ranchers on how to thwart invasive cheatgrass on ...
#FridaysOnTheFarm: Restoring Sagebrush Country With ‘Modern Wildfire’
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#FridaysOnTheFarm: Restoring Sagebrush Country With ‘Modern Wildfire’

Through the Sage Grouse Initiative (SGI), private landowners across Eastern Oregon are volunteering to perform proactive conservation treatments on their rangeland to promote ...
BEEF Magazine | Thomas Brothers Make The Ground Better In Idaho
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BEEF Magazine | Thomas Brothers Make The Ground Better In Idaho

By Brianna Randall | Partnering with the USDA-led Sage Grouse Initiative helps young ranchers improve the land for both sage grouse and ...
VIDEOS | Meet The Thomas Family, Sustainable Ranchers in Idaho
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VIDEOS | Meet The Thomas Family, Sustainable Ranchers in Idaho

Watch short videos to hear how and why two young ranchers have put in place conservation practices that benefit the bird and their ...
#HabitatHero Mike Fenn: Leaving A Legacy For Wildlife In Wyoming
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#HabitatHero Mike Fenn: Leaving A Legacy For Wildlife In Wyoming

by Brianna Randall | Landowners like Mike Fenn in western Wyoming are voluntarily stepping up to protect and restore the sagebrush country that supports their way of ...
Meet Greg: A Sagebush Habitat Hero
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Meet Greg: A Sagebush Habitat Hero

by Jodi Stemler | Check out this multimedia story about how an SGI-enrolled rancher is leading the way in stewarding working lands and wildlife on his ranch in Colorado's ...
Rancher K.D. Leander Leaves A Conservation Legacy in Eastern Washington
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Rancher K.D. Leander Leaves A Conservation Legacy in Eastern Washington

This late rancher's early adoption of range conservation practices encouraged his neighbors to also enroll in Sage Grouse Initiative programs. Learn ...
Oregon Rancher Mike Greeley Enhances Mahogany Mountain For The Bird And The Herd
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Oregon Rancher Mike Greeley Enhances Mahogany Mountain For The Bird And The Herd

Rancher Mike Greeley uses conservation-minded management to sustain his working lands in eastern Oregon for wildlife and livestock. Check out this video of Mike on his ...
Kennedy Ranch Conservation Improvements Benefit Both Livestock And Wildlife In Utah
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Kennedy Ranch Conservation Improvements Benefit Both Livestock And Wildlife In Utah

In northeastern Utah, the Kennedy family's land ethic and commitment to improving natural resources has led them to expand their ranch. Learn how SGI helped them install water ...
Helmick Family Conserves Vital Habitat For Sage Grouse In Idaho
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Helmick Family Conserves Vital Habitat For Sage Grouse In Idaho

To this multi-generational family, conservation and ranching are one and the same. Learn how they've worked with SGI to increase carrying capacity and grass production for the ...
Rockin’ TD Ranch Champions Rangeland Conservation in Nevada
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Rockin’ TD Ranch Champions Rangeland Conservation in Nevada

Tony and Diane Stobiecki partner with the Sage Grouse Initiative to improve habitat for wildlife and their ranch's bottom line by putting in place projects that improve water ...
Oregon Ranchers Raise Cattle With A Conservation Vision
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Oregon Ranchers Raise Cattle With A Conservation Vision

"Our belief is that we need to make things better, and leave a legacy for our kids and our grandkids and the neighborhood as a whole," says Oregon rancher Mark Bennett. Read ...
Pokorny Family Benefits Birds and Range on Wyoming Ranch
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Pokorny Family Benefits Birds and Range on Wyoming Ranch

Sage grouse like the habitat around the Pokorny Ranch, and the Pokornys like the conservation improvements SGI helped them make on their Wyoming ranch. "They were the first ...
South Dakota rancher adds value to his operation and improves wildlife habitat
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South Dakota rancher adds value to his operation and improves wildlife habitat

South Dakota Rancher Ron Steineke makes water delivery and grazing improvements that benefit his cattle along with sage grouse and other ...
Five Dot Ranch Sustains Sage Grouse & Produces Natural Beef in California
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Five Dot Ranch Sustains Sage Grouse & Produces Natural Beef in California

The Swickard family takes pride in a pasture to plate operation. Their natural beef customers support a ranch dedicated to healthy cattle and plentiful wildlife, with a focus ...
Delaney 44 Ranch Helps Preserve Essential Sage Grouse Habitat in Montana
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Delaney 44 Ranch Helps Preserve Essential Sage Grouse Habitat in Montana

Big Sky Journal's Winter Edition- 2014, features a Sage Grouse Initiative Rancher Success Story. Meet Deb and Mike Delaney. (a version of this article first appeared in Beef ...
Masini family Preserves Lush Oasis for Bi-State Sage Grouse in Nevada
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Masini family Preserves Lush Oasis for Bi-State Sage Grouse in Nevada

Bi-State (Nevada/California) sage grouse thrive on Masini Ranch, participants in Sage Grouse Initiative conservation easements and ...
Tanner Family Improves Habitat For Cattle and Sage Grouse in Prime Habitat Area: NW Utah’s Box Elder County
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Tanner Family Improves Habitat For Cattle and Sage Grouse in Prime Habitat Area: NW Utah’s Box Elder County

Sage grouse, ranching, research, and wildlife viewers are all part of the award-winning Tanner Ranch in NW Utah - a Sage Grouse Initiative success ...
Dawn Nottingham: Colorado rancher improves sage grouse habitat with juniper control, wildlife-friendly fencing near Dinosaur National Monument
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Dawn Nottingham: Colorado rancher improves sage grouse habitat with juniper control, wildlife-friendly fencing near Dinosaur National Monument

"We've had a good little crop of sage chickens (grouse) for years and years," says Nottingham, a third-generation rancher. "No one realized we had them. I figured it might not ...
Central Idaho Rancher Tom Page: Big Creek Ranch Applies “All Lands Management” to Benefit Sage Grouse, other Wildlife
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Central Idaho Rancher Tom Page: Big Creek Ranch Applies “All Lands Management” to Benefit Sage Grouse, other Wildlife

"I love working with SGI -- the flexibility is the really great thing," Tom Page ...
Oregon Rancher Gary Bedortha Removes Juniper Trees to Create a Safe Haven for Sage Grouse
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Oregon Rancher Gary Bedortha Removes Juniper Trees to Create a Safe Haven for Sage Grouse

Rancher Gary Bedortha shares his story of juniper removal on 12,000 acres of his private ranchland near Paulina to benefit sage grouse and the sagebrush-steppe ...
Washington: Big-scale Conservation Starts at Rancher Allen Miller’s Kitchen Table
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Washington: Big-scale Conservation Starts at Rancher Allen Miller’s Kitchen Table

This article appears in the June/July 2014 issue of Working Ranch ...
North Dakota Sage Grouse Initiative Partnership: Planting Wyoming Big Sage on Brooks Ranch Enhances Sage Grouse Habitat
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North Dakota Sage Grouse Initiative Partnership: Planting Wyoming Big Sage on Brooks Ranch Enhances Sage Grouse Habitat

North Dakota cattle rancher Rob Brooks is supportive and participating in restoring sagebrush to his land to give sage grouse a chance here at the fringe of his range. The ...