USDA: $40 million to Western ranchers to restore sage grouse habitat

USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service said Thursday it is making about $40 million in financial assistance available in 2016 to agricultural producers across the West who want to restore and protect habitat for the greater sage grouse.

The funding comes from the national Working Lands for Wildlife (WLFW) initiative, an innovative partnership between NRCS, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and private landowners that supports struggling landscapes and strengthens agricultural operations.

In total, USDA will invest $50 million this year through WLFW across the nation; $40 million of those funds are going directly toward greater sage grouse conservation in the West.

“The decisions of agricultural producers can have significant impacts on wildlife,” said NRCS Oregon State Conservationist Ron Alvarado. “By managing land with sage grouse and other wildlife in mind, producers can benefit entire populations while also strengthening their agricultural operations.”

Conservation efforts to restore and protect the sagebrush landscape led the USFWS to determine in September that the greater sage grouse did not warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act.

Since 2010, NRCS and conservation partners have worked with ranchers to make conservation improvements to 4.4 million acres of sagebrush habitat across the West, benefiting sage grouse and 350 other kinds of wildlife, including mule deer, elk, pronghorn and golden eagles.

With the support of conservation partners and ranchers, NRCS launched the Sage Grouse Initiative in 2010.

Those efforts became the model for WLFW, which began two years later and now covers a variety of species across the country, including the sage grouse, New England cottontail, Southwestern willow flycatcher, golden-winged warbler, gopher tortoise, bog turtle, and the lesser prairie-chicken.

“Working Lands for Wildlife helps land managers integrate wildlife-friendly measures into their working lands and also ensures they can keep those lands working,” said Zola Ryan, NRCS district conservationist in Harney County, one of Oregon’s eight sage grouse counties.

In Oregon, the WLFW funding will be provided to producers primarily through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). This is a voluntary financial assistance program that reimburses producers for a portion of the expense to install conservation practices on private agricultural lands. Conservation practices include removing invasive juniper trees and other conifers, treating invasive annual grasses, developing grazing management plans, and more.

“Not only are these practices good for sage grouse, but they promote an overall healthy rangeland ecosystem,” Ryan said.

NRCS also offers sage grouse funding through the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program and the Conservation Stewardship Program. For more information about these and other programs, contact a local USDA Service Center.

Applications will be screened and ranked for funding based on priority natural resource concerns. The sage grouse priority areas for Oregon are identified in the SGI 2.o Oregon Implementation Strategy. This document is available on the NRCS Oregon SGI webpage.

The next application deadline for EQIP funding is Jan. 15, 2016. An additional sign-up deadline will occur on April 15, 2016. Landowners should apply by contacting their local NRCS field office in the counties below:

• Baker County: Misty Bennett, District Conservationist, 541-523-7121 x112, Misty.Bennett@or.usda.gov
• Crook County: Chris Mundy, District Conservationist, 541-923-4358 x112, Chris.Mundy@or.usda.gov
• Deschutes County: Tom Bennett, District Conservationist, 541-923-4358 x123, Tom.Bennett@or.usda.gov
• Grant County: Lorraine Vogt, District Conservationist, 541-575-1274 x109, Lorraine.Vogt@or.usda.gov
• Harney County: Zola Ryan, District Conservationist, 541-573-6446 x107, Zola.Ryan@or.usda.gov
• Lake County: Max Corning, District Conservationist, 541-947-2367 x108, Max.Corning@or.usda.gov
• Malheur County: Lynn Larsen, District Conservationist, 541-889-9689 x103, Lynn.Larsen@or.usda.gov
• Union County: Mike Burton, District Conservationist, 541-963-4178 x108, Mike.Burton@or.usda.gov