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Kurt Thomas: Leading by Example in the Klamath Basin
Kurt Thomas is a lifelong rancher from the Upper Klamath Basin whose immense contributions to water and land conservation in the area earned him the 2021 Intermountain West Joint Venture Private Landowner Conservation Champion Award. As an early adopter of sustainable water management practices and by demonstrating his efforts to others, he has magnified conservation…
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North American Wetlands Conservation Act
Protecting, restoring and enhancing wetland habitats for birds since 1989. In the past two decades, the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) has funded over 3,300 projects projects for over 7,000 partners, conserving more than 32.6 million acres of vital habitat. These efforts have been made possible through $2.28 billion in grants and an additional…
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Bruce Taylor Leaves Indelible Mark in Oregon
If you have worked in Oregon’s conservation community for any length of time, chances are you either know Bruce Taylor or have heard his name. He has been involved in hundreds of conservation projects throughout the state and has routinely brought partners together to collaborate. He has also been instrumental in helping partners secure the…
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Wyoming’s Hellyer Family Leads Local Private Lands Conservation
The Hellyers run a cattle operation with the main base found along Willow Creek south of Lander, WY. In the summer, they run cattle on their Burnt Ranch property along the Sweetwater River in southern Fremont County. The ranch is comprised of 7,100 acres of deeded land as well as many thousands of acres of…
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Bi-State Local Area Working Group Collaborates for Conservation
East of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, along the Nevada-California state border, exists a wide expanse of sagebrush sea that is home to a geographically isolated and genetically distinct population of sage-grouse known as the Bi-State sage-grouse. Nearly two decades ago, concerned stakeholders realized this population’s isolation from other Greater sage-grouse populations could leave them…
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SageWest 2020 Summer Series: Fire & Invasives
Invasive annual grasses are dramatically compromising sagebrush country by reducing forage quality and quantity, altering wildfire regimes, impacting species diversity, reducing wildlife habitat, and straining already challenged local economies. Amongst SageWest’s 150+ entities (state and federal agencies, universities, collaboratives, non-governmental organizations, etc.) are many that are tackling this challenging issue. Thus, this platform is uniquely…
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SageCon Invasives Initiative: Hot on the Horizon in Oregon’s Rangelands
The wildfire and invasive fuels problem will not be solved in silos around the West. The Oregon-based Sage-Grouse Conservation Partnership (known as SageCon) launched its Invasives Initiative to strategically link local and regional invasive grass efforts. “Working with noxious weeds is like a bare-knuckled bar brawl. Some years you gain ground, others you get beat,…
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Hank Taliaferro Receives Private Landowner Conservation Champion Award
Noted as one of the most committed landowners to protecting wildlife, habitat, and agricultural lands within the Rio Grande corridor, Hank Taliaferro was presented the 2018 IWJV Private Landowner Conservation Champion Award while hosting a partner field tour on his property in central New Mexico on November 6, 2019. Hank started La Joya Farms by purchasing 108…
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Jon Griggs Takes the Lead on Local Conservation
Jon Griggs is more than just the manager of Nevada’s Maggie Creek Ranch. He is a community leader who is actively involved in a number of collaborative efforts in Nevada, including ROGER (Results Oriented Grazing for Ecological Resilience), the Nevada Collaborative Conservation Network, and the Northeastern Nevada Stewardship Group. Many local partners seek Jon out…
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The Faces and Facets of #SagebrushCountry
A social media-based campaign called People of the Sage took place throughout the month of September 2017 to celebrate and highlight a mere handful of people working on the different facets of sagebrush country. Numerous partners in SageWest, a communications network, participated by sharing messages from people that live and work in this uniquely Western…
