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August 15, 2024A Land Conservation Model To Follow: Green River Valley, Wyoming
In southwest Wyoming, landowners have protected 212 square-miles of intact sagebrush rangelands through conservation easements, funded in part by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. Wildlife and ranchers are thriving here, and the rest of the West is taking note of ways to replicate their success.
A Model To Follow
Two decades ago, landowners, scientists, conservationists, and agency staff in Sublette County, Wyoming began conserving core sagebrush rangelands through private land easements in the Green River Basin.
Today, more than 136,000 acres of core sagebrush rangelands have been conserved.*
The easements in the Green River Basin protect one of the last, most intact corners of sagebrush country in the world. Through its Sage Grouse Initiative, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service provides 50% of the funding for many of these projects, catalyzing easements that prevent fragmentation and destruction of productive working lands.
Investments in conserving the Green River Basin support livelihoods, wildlife, and ecosystem services.
* Dark blue areas on this map represent core sagebrush areas, while light blue areas are opportunities to expand and grow core areas.
Green River By The Numbers:
136,000 acres protected
23% of all private lands conserved in Sublette County
$38,000,000 invested by NRCS
5 big game species benefiting
Wyoming values its sagebrush rangelands
The region’s roots are in fur trading, homesteading, and ranching. But a natural gas development boom in the early 2000s brought new pressures and more people to the Green River Basin.
Ranchers took notice of the potential risks to their grazing operations as well as the abundant wildlife that shares Wyoming’s rangelands.
Meanwhile, Wyoming’s leaders and residents have taken sagebrush conservation seriously for decades, with governors from both sides of the aisle making it a top priority in the last 15 years.
In 2008, the state’s proactive core area policy set the stage for a strategic approach to sage grouse recovery, where investments have been targeted at defending and growing core habitat, the areas in deep blue on the map above.
When the Sage Grouse Initiative was launched in 2010 to support private landowners who voluntarily reduce threats to sage grouse, there was already a strong cultural will in the Green River Basin to conserve habitat and prevent an endangered species listing.
Today, the NRCS Working Lands for Wildlife's Framework for Conservation Action in the Sagebrush Biome lays out the science and strategy for partners to prioritize where and how to keep places like the Green River intact. Meanwhile, the Sage Grouse Initiative continues to funnel federal funds into Wyoming that help local partners invest in a healthy future for people and wildlife.
A Stronghold For Sage Grouse
Southwest Wyoming has the densest population of the West's iconic bird. While sage grouse can be found in 11 states, Wyoming contains 40% of the rangewide population. This area is a linchpin for grouse conservation.
Core sage grouse habitat, the best of the best remaining sagebrush, covers 30% of the state and supports 80% of Wyoming’s grouse, which serve as barometers for how western rangelands are faring against many landscape-wide challenges.
Early research showed that putting a particular focus on targeted conservation easements in this area could reduce habitat fragmentation and cut predicted sage grouse declines by two-thirds.
For more than a decade, the NRCS-led Sage Grouse Initiative has helped local partners multiply their investments by directing Farm Bill conservation dollars into strategic easements in the Green River Basin.
Beating The Odds
The locally led land conservation success in the Green River Basin is a major milestone for working lands and wildlife.
Residential development is the biggest threat to the wildlife and ranching heritage that make the Green River region so special.
Luckily, partners have worked together at the watershed scale to secure conservation easements in the right places, keeping much of this critical sagebrush landscape intact against all odds.
The success here is not random: it is very strategic, and the result of concerted collaboration coupled with cutting-edge research and technology.
A shared conservation vision allows NRCS and its local partners to fund easements that safeguard the best wildlife habitat, including vital travel routes and stopover areas for big game like elk, pronghorn and mule deer.
What Is A Conservation Easement?
A private land conservation easement is a voluntary legal agreement between a landowner and a qualified organization, like a government agency or land trust, which limits non-agricultural uses. This protects a property’s natural resource values for future generations.
The NRCS supports conservation easements through its Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, funded through the Farm Bill. This program provides financial and technical assistance to help conserve agricultural lands or wetlands. All easements restrict future developments, but certain types of easements can do more or less depending on the landowner’s conservation goals and the type of land enrolled.
Benefits Of Conservation Easements
Rural Communities
Open Space
Big Game Migrations
Sagebrush Wildlife
Public Lands
Carbon Storage
What's at Stake?
The decision to do an easement is completely voluntary and entirely up to the landowner. That doesn't necessarily mean it's an easy decision, as it affects future generations on a family ranch.
If property rights are a bundle of sticks, these landowners are choosing to transfer one stick – usually the right to subdivide the land for residential development – to conserve the unique natural values of their lands in perpetuity.
Landowners typically receive a short-term payout, often for the difference between the market value of their property before and after the easement, as well as some tax benefits.
In many cases, easements are win-win: they help ranching businesses thrive, and better support wildlife. The positive feedback loop continues into the future since successful, sustainable ranching operations also benefit sage grouse and other species. Development, on the other hand, gobbles up all of the ecosystem services working lands provide, from carbon storage and wildlife habitat to food, fiber, and even recreational opportunities.
Jennifer Hayward, Easement Coordinator, Wyoming NRCS
"NRCS is here to help people help the land and achieve their conservation goals. When it comes to habitat, working lands keep the system running: They are irrigating, providing green space, and creating value for wildlife in riparian areas."
Jessica Crowder, Director of WY Stock Growers Land Trust
"In this region, there is a deep recognition of the value of private lands and those who steward them. With us, the deed of the conservation easement will elevate agriculture and conservation values, instead of one or the other."
Maggie Miller, Owner, Grindstone Cattle Company
"I was seeing explosive growth around Western Wyoming, and that became my inspiration to do more to preserve this incredible landscape. The beauty here is in its wildness. I see wildlife daily, whether I’m down on the river or up in the forest."
Brian Jensen, Assistant State Conservationist, Wyoming NRCS
"Our success comes down to personal relationships and great people making conservation happen. We've been fortunate to help local people achieve their vision and to keep their agricultural operations going."
Bob Budd, Director of Wyoming Wildlife & Natural Resource Trust
"Hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested in the Green River Valley. It’s viewed as an investment in the future, so that another generation has the opportunity to make a living in agriculture, to raise their kids that way."
Tim Griffiths, Western Lead, NRCS Working Lands for Wildlfie
“Conserving private lands like those in the Green River valley is about making sure we have healthy and resilient working lands to grow our food, and to provide habitat for all the other critters that call these places home.”
Room to roam for wildlife, big and small
The value of the habitat protected forever through these agreements is clear. Beyond sage grouse core areas, the watershed is home to annual migratory routes traversed by deer, elk, pronghorn, and moose in Wyoming. Sage grouse may have been an early focus but this effort has broadened in recent years, scaling up to meaningfully benefit migratory big game.
By 2015, the same year an Endangered Species Act listing was considered and found not warranted for sage grouse, there was already research showing that Wyoming’s easement strategy was also benefiting migratory big game.
In this map, big game migration corridors are shown in pink and sage grouse Priority Areas for Conservation (PACS) are noted by the yellow outlines.
Virtually all the easements are in PACS and most also fall within the migration routes for big game, showing how highly targeted easements can benefit both big game migrations and sage grouse throughout this sprawling geography.
A recipe for conservation success
The success in southwest Wyoming can be replicated to conserve sagebrush core areas and wildlife habitat across the West. Here’s how:
- Gather and make decisions based on the best available data showing where core sage grouse habitat is located.
- Partner with well-established land trusts that have earned the confidence of local landowners.
- Let the benefits of easements speak for themselves. There’s power in word-of-mouth marketing among these landowners.
- Be patient. Easement transactions are complex, and conservation is a long game.
- Continue to revisit lands with easements to capitalize on additional opportunities to enhance these private working lands.
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Think big! Once you have a coalition of willing local partners, the sky's the limit. Engage NRCS and WLFW to tap into funding and expertise.
Special Places: Special Efforts
The Green River Valley is a special corner of our country. But the success here can be replicated anywhere people deeply value the place they live.
The American West is rife with examples of strategic, large-scale, private land conservation. Take the Pioneer to Craters area in Idaho and the Hi-Line area in northern Montana. These places have similar ingredients for making spectacular conservation happen, which can happen in your community, too.
Step one is finding willing landowners. Step two is having local groups like land trusts that can build trust and foster relationships. Step three is bringing in the resource and expertise of organizations like USDA-NRCS Working Lands for Wildlife.
The NRCS helps direct federal conservation dollars to exponentially multiply what can be achieved on the ground. Plus, WLFW initiatives can help provide science and strategy to prioritize where investments will have the greatest return.
Together, we can conserve America's last, best rangelands. Join us!