Water Is Life: WLFW’s Mesic Resources Conservation Strategy

We first launched our “Water Is Life” campaign in 2017. Since then, it has helped inspire and enable mesic restoration efforts across the sagebrush biome. Thousands of projects – large and small – have improved the West’s streams, rivers, wet meadows, and other mesic areas. While this post still contains relevant background information, we encourage you to visit this page for more current information on our mesic restoration strategies and resources.

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Conserving the West’s wet “Emerald Isles” builds drought resilience, boosts forage productivity and benefits wildlife

In the arid American West, water is as good as gold. Wet mesic habitats — places where water meets land — comprise less than 2 percent of the entire landscape. Yet neither people nor wildlife can survive without them, as evidenced by the early homesteaders who followed scarce water when they settled the West.

Recognizing the importance of mesic habitats in the desert, in 2017, the NRCS-led Sage Grouse Initiative announced a new conservation strategy that empowers private ranchers and our partners to protect and enhance the wet, green places that sustain working lands and wildlife. In the years since, the strategy has worked: dozens of partners have implemented thousands of mesic restoration projects across sagebrush country.

What Is Mesic Habitat?

Mesic habitat refers to land with a well-balanced supply of moisture throughout the growing season, such as streamsides, wet meadows, springs and seeps, irrigated fields and high-elevation habitats. These are the places that provide drought insurance as uplands heat up, and the places where birds and livestock flock during the hot summer months.

Healthy mesic habitats act like sponges, helping to capture, store, and slowly release water. This service is essential for supporting the wildlife, people, and livestock living in the West.

Where Are Wet Areas Found On The Range?

Today, the majority of these vital water resources are on private lands. By conserving these areas, ranchers can build drought resilience and boost forage productivity. Through Working Lands for Wildlife, NRCS is supporting ranchers who are working to protect and restore mesic areas, benefiting agricultural operations, sage grouse, and 350+ sagebrush-dependent species.

How Do Sage Grouse Use Wet Areas?

As summer heat dries out upland soils , sage grouse — like livestock and most wildlife species — follow the green line seeking out wetter, more productive areas. These mesic habitats serve as “grocery stores,” providing the protein-rich forb and insect foods that help newly hatched sage grouse chicks grow and thrive. Research shows the important role mesic habitats play in the distribution and abundance of sage grouse, influencing where they choose their breeding grounds, called leks.

The loss of mesic habitat is one of six key threats to sage grouse that NRCS and our partners are addressing through a variety of conservation actions outlined in our Sagebrush Biome and Migratory Big Game Frameworks for Conservation Action.

What Can Ranchers Do?

Western ranchers know the impacts of drought. Practices that boost riparian, wet meadow and watershed function supply more reliable water and forage production during lean times. The Sage Grouse Initiative is thrilled to offer technical and financial assistance for strategic practices and easements that help landowners conserve the West’s precious water resources.

Through WLFW, the NRCS and partners are helping ranchers restore and protect mesic areas across the 11-state range of sage grouse. We’re scaling up the following key conservation actions through practices detailed here: On The Range, Water Is Life:

• Grazing Management
• Spring Protection and Enhancement
• Low-Tech Restoration
• Conifer Removal
• Mechanical Restoration
• Easements

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Additional Resources

• “On The Range, Water Is Life” brochure (from 2017)
• Mesic Area Conservation Planning Guide
• Science to Solutions on conserving wet areas on private lands