This story on voluntary range improvements by Montana ranchers Patrick and Christy Lohof appears in the new Spring edition of John Deere’s The Furrow magazine. Read on to see excerpts from “To lek with grazing” by Martha Mintz.

By working with the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program and the Sage Grouse Initiative, the Hellyers have reaped benefits for their livestock, as well as sage grouse, and the many wildlife species that depend on their rangelands.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) today issued a report showing that since 2010 USDA and its partners in the Sage Grouse Initiative (SGI) have worked with private landowners to restore 4.4 million acres of habitat for sage-grouse while maintaining working landscapes across the West. USDA also announced today that, through the provisions of the 2014 Farm Bill, it will invest in new sage-grouse conservation work over four years.

The area between the Pioneer Mountains and Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho is vitally important to sage-grouse and other wildlife. SGI has worked with 26 landowners to enroll 1/3 of the private ranches in the region in conservation easements.

The collaborative Centennial Valley Collaborative Grazing Project in southwest Montana is a great example of how sage grouse conservation can be strategically met with science-based conservation practices.

This webinar from NRCS Chief Jason Weller shows maps and metrics detailing the remarkable conservation success story of the Sage Grouse Initiative to date.

The NRCS Chief explains how the Sage Grouse Initiative has become a model for voluntary, incentive-based conservation at its best over the past 5 years.

Recent conservation easements in Montana help maintain the sage-grouse’s longest-known migration corridor between the U.S. and Canada.