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Rising to the Challenge: 2024 Agricultural Land Easement Workshop
In January 2024, the Intermountain West Joint Venture (IWJV) and the University of Wyoming’s Ruckelshaus Institute built off of a successful 2023 ACEP-ALE workshop to jointly host the 2024 Agricultural Land Easement Workshop. This workshop provided a forum to collaboratively identify specific strategies to increase the pace and scale of USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service…
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Conserving the Ocean of Grass and Sage
When asked to describe her favorite aspects of Phillips County in north-central Montana, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) biologist Marisa Sather took a moment to collect her impressions. “You obviously hear and feel the wind,” she said. “It’s always windy in Montana. And you just hear life all around you. It takes you a…
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A Menu of Options for Conservation
Collaboration Enhances Bear River Watershed Conservation Easements “We recognize who we are in Utah and what we have, and we want to protect it. Everyone can agree that this work is important.” – Jim Bowcutt, Director of Conservation, Utah Department of Agriculture and Food As the urban sprawl of the Wasatch Front creeps further up the…
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Miller Island Easement, Restoration a Boon for Klamath Basin Wetland Habitat
Where do birds turn, as the Klamath Basin’s wildlife refuges turn to dust? And where can the Basin’s public lands waterfowl hunters go, now that the historic flocks of migrating ducks and geese no longer have habitat to use at the refuges?Thanks to multi-agency collaboration, a recently restored parcel of Oregon Department of Fish and…
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Around the Ruby Mountains with the Nevada State Conservation Partnership
Northeast Nevada is remote and difficult to get to, a fact that most locals will tell you with a smile on their face. Like so much of the West, however, this landscape is not immune to the many challenges facing rangelands and communities that rely on them, whether that threat is invasive annual grass spread…
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A Duck Hunter’s Legacy Soars at the Island Ranch
This article was produced in partnership with California USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. The closer you get to the Island Ranch, the louder the cacophony of birdsong. When visitors to California’s Sierra Valley start seeing birds gathered in the hundreds, they can safely assume they’ve hit Dean and Sharon Cook’s property line. “Wouldn’t you want…
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California NRCS Easement Keeps the Family Ranch Intact
This article was produced in partnership with California USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. Land stewardship is a concept with many meanings for many people. For multi-generation ranchers like Jim and Mary Genasci, stewardship is an ethic passed down from those that worked the land before them. Although many generations of Genascis cared for the family’s…
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Private Lands Conservation
“Our private lands are the least expensive wildlife refuges available.” — George Shine, Oregon Rancher Public lands comprise around 70 percent of the Intermountain West’s iconic landscapes. However, 70 percent of the region’s wetlands—including important sagebrush mesic habitat—occur on private land. These water-rich areas are frequently associated with irrigated agriculture and often occur on working ranches…
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Conservation Coordinator Fills a Niche in the Bear River Watershed
Even on a map, the Bear River Watershed is a puzzle. The river trickles out of Utah’s high Uinta Mountains into the sagebrush sea of southwestern Wyoming, where it creates lush wet meadows and productive bottomlands for wildlife, livestock, and people alike. As the creek becomes more of a river, it curves back and forth…
