Photo: Noppadol Paothong
NRCS
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.
Featured Rancher
Montana Sheep Grower Explores Value-Added Options for Livestock
November 5, 2024
Learn how sheep and cattle rancher, Ben Lehfeldt, is working with the NRCS to make his operation more profitable and better for ...
News
USDA Announces Department-wide Effort to Support Terrestrial Wildlife Habitat Connectivity
October 23, 2024
New USDA Announcement Supports Wildlife Connectivity Across the ...
News
Sustainable Ranching in Utah: A Boon For Wildlife And Livestock
June 12, 2024
Stephen and Kris Ellis are keeping their family tradition of caring for the land and their livestock alive on the Circle Bar Ranch in northern ...
Publication Alert
Making Home on the Range Safer for Big Game
February 20, 2024
NRCS Technical Note Leverages Lessons Learned from NRCS-Wyoming Migratory Big Game ...
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NRCS and Partners Work Together to Help Families Keep Their Land Green-Side Up
December 13, 2023
Conservation easements are one of the best tools to keep working lands in working hands. Learn about how partners, like land trusts, work with the NRCS to craft successful ...
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Dr. Dirac Twidwell: Saving the Last Grasslands
June 27, 2022
WLFW science advisor Dr. Dirac Twidwell discusses how the NRCS and partners are working to save the last grasslands in the U.S. and how new science and technology is informing ...
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Ask an Expert | Keeping it Grass: How the NRCS Helps Landowners Maintain Grasslands When CRP Contracts Expire
July 12, 2021
Join Andy Burr, NRCS-Kansas state biologist, to learn how the NRCS can help landowners turn expired CRP lands into grazing lands that maintain wildlife habitat and provide ...
News
Washington Ranch Preserves Sagebrush Rangeland in Perpetuity
May 26, 2021
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 ...
News
The Value of Keeping it in Grass
May 26, 2021
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 ...
News
Great Plains Grasslands Framework in Focus: Wildlife Conservation Through Sustainable Ranching
April 22, 2021
Dig into the Framework for Conservation Action in the Great Plains Grasslands ...
News
Press Release: USDA-NRCS Announces Funding of the KS Great Plains Grasslands Initiative
March 15, 2021
Kansas producers have new funding opportunities to help address woody plant encroachment on targeted rangelands through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural ...
News
Shared Capacity, Shared Success
February 21, 2021
Learn about the Strategic Action Watershed Team and how these partner-positions are adding significant capacity to NRCS offices across the ...
News
Ask an Expert | Curtis Elke, Idaho-NRCS State Conservationist, Talks Cheatgrass and More
September 1, 2020
The Cheatgrass Challenge is a new, proactive strategy outlining Idaho NRCS’s plans to tackle invasive annual grasses. Read on for ...
News
Ask an Expert | Mitch Faulkner, 2020 Rangeland Management Specialist of the Year, Talks Partnerships and More
May 27, 2020
Mitch Faulkner, 2020 NRCS Rangeland Management Specialist of the Year, talks about the partnerships that have advanced rangeland conservation across boundaries in South ...
News
Transforming Rangeland In Kansas’ Gyp Hills
November 25, 2019
Working together with conservation partners, a landowner and livestock producer restore prairie grazing lands in the southern Great ...
News
Birds of a Feather on Working Lands
August 20, 2019
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 ...
News
Conversation with Rangeland Management Specialist of the Year, Rebecca Knapp
April 24, 2019
In February, the Society for Rangeland Management awarded Rebecca Knapp its highest honor, Rangeland Management Specialist of the Year. We sat down with Knapp to discuss her ...
News
Running The Ranch
August 30, 2018
By Tim Griffiths | Pickup trucks, working dogs, cowboy hats, and running shoes. These were the diverse sights this past Saturday at the Montana Ranch ...
News
Wildfire and Weeds: 5 Things Ranchers Should Know
May 29, 2018
Here is what you should know about invasive weeds--which lead to wildfires out West--and how to combat ...
News
Study Shows It Pays To Treat Invasive Grass On Your Ranch
March 7, 2018
An economics study from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service in Oregon shows that the earlier ranchers treat cheatgrass, the greater their financial ...
News
The Conservation Gift That Benefits Us For Countless Years to Come
January 4, 2018
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 on giving is a ...
News
Seeing the Prairie From a Coyote’s Eye View
December 27, 2017
FIELD REPORT; What does the prairie look like from a coyote's eye view, and why does that matter to lesser prairie-chickens? LPCI range conservationist Marina Osier, based in ...
News
Bats, Butterflies, Bobwhites and More! New Videos About Working Lands For Wildlife
December 19, 2017
Learn how NRCS has been scaling up the cooperative, science-based conservation model that's working for sagebrush wildlife to focal landscapes across ...
News
New NRCS Resource Aims to Reduce Wildfire Impacts in Sage Grouse Country
March 31, 2016
A new resource released by the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service will help private and public land managers work collaboratively to get ahead of the curve and ...
News
Bi-Partisan Commentary | Voluntary Conservation Works Across Party Lines
September 2, 2015
A new bi-partisan commentary came out yesterday in Roll Call by Bruce Knight and Dave White, both former chiefs for the Natural Resources Conservation Service. These two ...
News
New Sage Grouse Strategy Unveiled: $760 Million Invested by 2018
August 27, 2015
The Sage Grouse Initiative has enrolled 1,129 ranchers to conserve 4.4 million acres. We plan to double those numbers by 2018 with a new investment strategy that invests ...
News
Success on the Range | New Montana Partnership Highlights Benefit of Cooperative Conservation
July 20, 2015
The NRCS-led Sage Grouse Initiative is pioneering a conservation approach that invites cooperation over conflict across the West. This recipe for success is transferable ...
News
SGI “Outcomes in Conservation” Report Demonstrates Positive Impact of $300 Million Investment in West
March 12, 2015
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 ...
News
Webinar on Sage Grouse Conservation from 2010-2015
February 18, 2015
This webinar from NRCS Chief Jason Weller shows maps and metrics detailing the remarkable conservation success story of the Sage Grouse Initiative to ...
News
USDA Sage-Grouse Conservation Efforts to Continue and Grow
February 16, 2015
The NRCS Chief explains how the Sage Grouse Initiative has become a model for voluntary, incentive-based conservation at its best over the past 5 ...