Sage grouse, ranching, research, and wildlife viewers are all part of the award-winning Tanner Ranch in NW Utah – a Sage Grouse Initiative success story.

Sage Grouse Initiative conservation easement success story: Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today that the Pioneers Alliance of Carey, Idaho, received the Secretary’s Honor Award for External Partnerships.

Groups from both sides of the border met in Montana with a goal of sharing ideas to conserve the longest sage grouse migration corridor.

Read the latest Sage Grouse Initiative quarterly report for partnership accomplishments via field staff, science, communications.

“We’ve had a good little crop of sage chickens (grouse) for years and years,” says Nottingham, a third-generation rancher. “No one realized we had them. I figured it might not be a bad idea to hang onto them and take care of them.”

NRCS Utah is making available 250,000 fence markers this year—enough to mark approximately 128 miles of fencing with a single row of markers. These dedicated volunteers added 189 volunteer hours to the total Utah effort so far

Read this inspiring story about the award-winning Bootstraps program – reported in the Reno Gazette Journal last month, with additional new photos (by Genevieve Mason) provided from the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension.

“I love working with SGI — the flexibility is the really great thing,” Tom Page says.

The North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association spent a hot August day giving back to the birds they care for. A dozen volunteers marked five miles of fence to prevent sage grouse collisions in the upper reaches of the Big Hole Valley of Montana.

Cache Valley Boy Scout Kaden Hart selected marking 5-miles of fence in Rich County, Utah, as his Eagle Scout Project. He worked with Taylor Payne, Sage Grouse Initiative partner biologist. Read the NRCS E-Blast.