by Brianna Randall | This multi-media story about the Sage Grouse Initiative is the feature in the new issue of Wildlife Photographic Magazine. Learn more about SGI’s priorities and practices in the story.

In Idaho’s sage grouse country, unique partnerships are protecting precious open spaces. The Wood River Land Trust is spearheading collaborative and creative projects that benefit birds as well as a host of sagebrush-dependent wildlife.

In northeastern Utah, the Kennedy family’s land ethic and commitment to improving natural resources has led them to expand their ranch. Learn how SGI helped them install water delivery systems and adopt rotational grazing to improve agricultural operations.

by Lori Valdez | In Lavina, Montana, the Wessel Ranch worked with the Sage Grouse Initiative to improve rangeland for their cattle and prime habitat for wildlife like sage grouse.

To this multi-generational family, conservation and ranching are one and the same. Learn how they’ve worked with SGI to increase carrying capacity and grass production for the benefit of both livestock and wildlife.

The Nature Conservancy has secured conservation easements that preserve both the West’s ranching heritage and sage-grass habitat on 25,000 acres of the Carroll Ranch. The newest 16,000-acre easement was funded in part by the Sage Grouse Initiative.

Tony and Diane Stobiecki partner with the Sage Grouse Initiative to improve habitat for wildlife and their ranch’s bottom line by putting in place projects that improve water delivery, riparian habitat, and rangeland forage.

“Our belief is that we need to make things better, and leave a legacy for our kids and our grandkids and the neighborhood as a whole,” says Oregon rancher Mark Bennett. Read more about Mark and Patti Bennett, who have partnered with the Sage Grouse Initiative to conserve land and water resources on the sagebrush sea.

Pat and Sharon O’Toole make their living by ranching on the sagebrush sea along the Wyoming-Colorado border. They raise sheep and cattle, sage grouse and trout, as well as children and grandchildren on their Ladder Ranch. Read more here.

Landowners on the East Coast brought about a major success today with their voluntary conservation efforts for the New England cottontail. Partners announced that foresters and farmers have helped prevent the need to list the New England cottontail under the Endangered Species Act.