We provide scientific reports, project profiles, technical tools, videos, photos, field guides, and links that tell the story of how cooperative conservation is making a difference for working lands and wildlife across the West.
The latest Greater Sage-Grouse Scorecard details NRCS investments and conservation milestones in sagebrush country for fiscal year 2022 and cumulatively since ...
Check out the latest Lesser Prairie-Chicken Scorecard which details NRCS investments and conservation milestones in the southern Plains states for fiscal year 2022 and ...
The Vickrey Family hosts one of the largest mule deer migrations in the country and has worked with the NRCS to make their ranch's fences easier for the deer to ...
Hear how Jessica Crowder's role as executive director of the Wyoming Stock Growers Land Trust has been so important to the conservation easement culture in the Green River ...
Historically, beavers created vast wetlands that provided critically important habitat for a diverse array of wildlife and plant species. Now, conservationists are restoring ...
A new report highlights how landowners in the Loess Canyons of Nebraska have successfully reversed tree encroachment in grasslands while also facilitating co-produced science ...
The Etchart Family worked with the NRCS, TNC, and the CO Cattlemen's Agricultural Land Trust to place much of the ranch in a conservation easement protecting this prime ...
New conservation easement in Washington state preserves more than 2,000 acres of native sagebrush range in critical sage grouse habitat, adding to a 6,800-acre easement the ...
The Burke Family's long partnership with NRCS has led to better forage for livestock and wildlife and, in 2017, their ranch was protected in perpetuity through a ...
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 ...
Mitch Faulkner, 2020 NRCS Rangeland Management Specialist of the Year, talks about the partnerships that have advanced rangeland conservation across boundaries in South ...
Read about how Working Lands for Wildlife is benefiting the golden-winged warbler and the greater sage grouse, two bird species that have more in common than ...
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 ...
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 ...
As 2018 comes to a close, the Sage Grouse Initiative caught up with Tim Griffiths, NRCS’s Western Working Lands for Wildlife Coordinator, for a glance back and a peek ...
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 ...
The 2018 SGI field tour and presentations focused on cooperative, science-based conservation that's working to thwart fire and invasives in sagebrush ...
Through the Sage Grouse Initiative (SGI), private landowners across Eastern Oregon are volunteering to perform proactive conservation treatments on their rangeland to promote ...
by Brianna Randall | Conserving our natural resources is one of the ways we can give back to our children, communities, and economy for years to come. And the gift that keeps ...
by Josh Millspaugh | This feature in the December 2017 issue of Fair Chase Magazine highlights how sage grouse conservation benefits hunters and a host of wildlife ...
Bugle Magazine, a publication of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, published this feature story on the value of conserving sagebrush country in its Nov/Dec 2017 ...
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 ...
SGI field conservationist Mandi Hirsch shares emerging "beaver dam analogue" technology with local partners, which is paying dividends for working lands and wildlife near ...
The NRCS-led Sage Grouse Initiative partners with the Dept. of Defense and others to conserve the Smith Creek Ranch in the heart of Nevada’s sagebrush ...
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 ...
LPCI NEWS RELEASE: Why did the lesser prairie-chicken cross the state line? If Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) biologists are successful, the answer will be to ...
As a valued partner in the Sage Grouse Initiative, The Nature Conservancy works with landowners across the range on innovative grazing systems, conservation easements, and ...
Innovative conservation easement with ranchers, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Nevada Dept. of Wildlife, and NRCS preserves agricultural working lands, wildlife habitat, and ...
This late rancher's early adoption of range conservation practices encouraged his neighbors to also enroll in Sage Grouse Initiative programs. Learn ...
Both the Bi-State population of greater sage-grouse and agricultural ranchlands will benefit from a just-announced $8 million USDA investment in California and ...
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 ...
The NRCS-led Sage Grouse Initiative continues to build field capacity, expand our science team, and strengthen partnerships across the sagebrush landscape. Read our latest ...
Sage grouse and lesser prairie-chickens both need healthy rangeland to thrive. So do cattle. Learn more about how NRCS is supporting range conservation practices that help ...
A new joint report and story map highlight continued sagebrush conservation partnerships that are working for wildlife and ranchers in the West. Learn more about "Greater ...
by Brianna Randall | This multi-media story about the Sage Grouse Initiative is the feature in the new issue of Wildlife Photographic Magazine. Learn more about SGI's ...
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 ...
by Lori Valdez | In Lavina, Montana, the Wessel Ranch worked with the Sage Grouse Initiative to improve rangeland for their cattle and prime habitat for wildlife like sage ...
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 ...
The Nature Conservancy has secured conservation easements that preserve both the West's ranching heritage and sage-grass habitat on 25,000 acres of the Carroll Ranch. The ...
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 ...
"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 ...
Pat and Sharon O’Toole make their living by ranching on the sagebrush sea along the Wyoming-Colorado border. They raise sheep and cattle, sage grouse and trout, as well as ...
Landowners on the East Coast brought about a major success today with their voluntary conservation efforts for the New England cottontail. Partners announced that foresters ...
LPCI PRESS RELEASE: Rancher Bill Barby of southwest Kansas weathered recent severe drought with the help of federal wildlife habitat enhancement programs. Read his story ...
We are pleased to announce the arrival of the Sand County Foundation's publication "Stories From The Range," which features six different ranchers' sage grouse conservation ...
The NRCS-led Sage Grouse Initiative partners with private landowners to put in place conservation projects like these examples, which will protect the sagebrush sea, western ...
Oregon Public Broadcasting ran an excellent video story about sage grouse on Oregon Field Guide, which is nominated for a Northwest Regional Emmy Award. The video, produced by ...
Seeing sage grouse inspires the Colorado Cattlemen's Agricultural Land Trust ---a Sage Grouse Initiative partner. CCALT has protected more than 45,000 acres of sage grouse ...
This story on voluntary range improvements by Montana ranchers Patrick and Christy Lohof appears in the new Spring edition of John Deere’s The Furrow magazine. Read on to ...
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) today issued a report showing that since 2010 USDA and its partners in the Sage Grouse Initiative (SGI) have worked with ...
The area between the Pioneer Mountains and Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho is vitally important to sage-grouse and other wildlife. SGI has worked with 26 ...
The collaborative Centennial Valley Collaborative Grazing Project in southwest Montana is a great example of how sage grouse conservation can be strategically met with ...
This webinar from NRCS Chief Jason Weller shows maps and metrics detailing the remarkable conservation success story of the Sage Grouse Initiative to ...
A colossal voluntary effort is keeping the Intermountain West's sagebrush steppe intact, which protects one of the highest density populations of greater sage grouse ...
Sen. Michael Bennet and Gov. John Hickenlooper praise voluntary conservation that's keeping working ranches and the state's prime sage grouse habitat intact. The new ...
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 ...
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 ...
Sage Grouse Initiative conservation easement success story: Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today that the Pioneers Alliance of Carey, Idaho, received the ...
"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 ...
NRCS Utah is making available 250,000 fence markers this year—enough to mark approximately 128 miles of fencing with a single row of markers. These dedicated volunteers ...
Read this inspiring story about the award-winning Bootstraps program - reported in the Reno Gazette Journal last month, with additional new photos (by Genevieve Mason) ...
The North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association spent a hot August day giving back to the birds they care for. A dozen volunteers marked five miles of fence to prevent ...
Cache Valley Boy Scout Kaden Hart selected marking 5-miles of fence in Rich County, Utah, as his Eagle Scout Project. He worked with Taylor Payne, Sage Grouse Initiative ...
The August 5th edition of Beef Magazine online features an article about the Sage Grouse Initiative and the inspiring stewardship of the Delaneys, a multi-generational ranch ...
A forward-looking landowner working with several partners has $300,000 in grants to enhance habitat on a precious parcel for sage grouse in Douglas County, ...
North Dakota Outdoors featured one of the Sage Grouse Initiative rancher success stories in its July, 2014 issue, authored by Steve Stuebner. Rancher Rob Brooks and partners ...
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 ...
Hayes Goosey is leading a unique four-year study near Roundup, Montana, to investigate a key part of sage grouse diet in spring and summer, particularly for the growing ...
Dave Bequette couldn’t be happier with the conservation results on his family ranch south of Laurel, after the May 11th “Hero for a Day” volunteer project that will ...
Across 11 western states in sage grouse strongholds, 24 biologists and range conservationists funded to carry out the Sage Grouse Initiative are making a tangible difference.
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 ...
Removing junipers and other conifers that are early invaders of sagebrush-steppe is less costly, and much more likely to be effective, than a delay-and-repair approach that ...
When Sage Grouse Initiative (SGI) range conservationist Mandi Hirsch heads out into the sagebrush from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) office in Lander, ...
Eastern Montana rancher Bill Milton is pleased to see a new sodsaver provision in the Farm Bill of 2014, signed by the President today. He runs a grass-fed cattle operation ...
The next time you hunt a big mule deer buck in Wyoming, you might want to thank a sage grouse. That’s because a major initiative to conserve sage grouse populations in the ...
"This is as good as it gets. We're quite proud of it. Unless you have something to hide, there's nothing to be scared of. Because in the end, the resource will show what's ...
Sage grouse and wetland habitats are conserved together along with the future of a working ranch in Northwest Colorado. The closing of the Coyte Ranch conservation easement ...
Ray Owens is a ranch manager of the Bord Gulch Ranch, north of Craig, Colorado, in Moffat County. He may also be one of the most vigilant observers of sagebrush land, and an ...
The state’s first fence-marking partnership project to prevent sage grouse collisions started not in Ekalaka, but another hour and a half drive from there into a vast sea of ...
"It is important to preserve and maintain the history of the area and the legacy of the cattle. The only way to protect the land is to not put houses on it." - Mark Lacey, ...
Ranchers Scott and Alan Chew know what it’s like to work across borders. The Utah and Colorado boundary literally crosses through their property that’s part of vast ...
Joe Painter credits his grandfather for his appreciation of the sage grouse, sharptails, pheasants, ducks, wild turkeys and Hungarian partridge that share his windswept cattle ...
“Establishing these pastures and rotational grazing has improved our bottom line. We’ve had more grass, so our livestock does better. We’re selling a higher weight ...
Matt Light, a Boy Scout from Billings, Montana, completed an ambitious project last spring for his Eagle Scout Service Project, one that he hopes will make a difference for ...
Sage Grouse Initiative field staff Gillian Brooks and Scott Scroggie earned prestigious awards from Pheasants Forever at a recent national staff meeting in Estes Park, ...
Proactive conservation that removes encroaching trees helps maintain sage grouse populations within their remaining strongholds, according to a study published today in the ...
When Owyhee County rancher Chris Black walked into the Mountain Home Service Center last November, he seemed to have read my mind. He’d been high on my list to contact about ...
Dennis Sun, owner of the Sun Ranch west of Casper, Wyo., and publisher/owner of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup, knows sage grouse better than most people. After all, he has ...
Twenty-one California ranchers in Lassen and Modoc Counties have signed up for SGI programs to remove juniper that has encroached on sage grouse habitat and reduced forage for ...
“You don’t own the ranch. The ranch owns you," says John Peavey, a third generation rancher and former state senator. He joins other voices of Idaho ranchers taking ...
Thanks to a generous grant from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Montana Association of Conservation Districts was able to award four more grants to help conserve sage ...
“We’re on the gain here for sage grouse,” says rancher Kay D. Leander, who lives in Douglas County near Leahy Junction, about 30 miles west of Grand Coulee Dam, ...
Ely, Nevada – Cattle ranchers Don and Sheila Phillips want to help out sage grouse on their ranch, but Don wasn’t convinced those new white vinyl markers he’d agreed to ...
BOZEMAN – Two teen leaders from California and Michigan along with six volunteers from Bozeman pitched in to collect plant species important to sage ...
Canada's only viable population of sage grouse depends on habitats in two countries. The revelation that the birds migrate 70 to 120 miles south each winter came from USDA ...
n early 2012, the Colorado Cattlemen's Agricultural Land Trust (CCALT) teamed up with partners to protect 2,240 acres of the historic Coyte Ranch in North Park, the largest ...