The Etchart Family worked with the NRCS, TNC, and the CO Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust to place much of the ranch in a conservation easement protecting this prime working land from development and preserving habitat for elk, deer, and sage grouse.

New conservation easement in Washington state preserves more than 2,000 acres of native sagebrush range in critical sage grouse habitat, adding to a 6,800-acre easement the neighboring ranch placed under a conservation easement in 2019.

The Burke Family’s long partnership with NRCS has led to better forage for livestock and wildlife and, in 2017, their ranch was protected in perpetuity through a NRCS-supported conservation easement.

Through NRCS partnerships with the Wood River Land Trust, The Nature Conservancy and local ranching families, two new conservation easements protect an additional 2,500 acres of prime sagebrush habitat in Idaho’s Pioneers-to-Craters landscape.

Innovative conservation easement with ranchers, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Nevada Dept. of Wildlife, and NRCS preserves agricultural working lands, wildlife habitat, and public land access for future generations.

New science shows that keeping big landscapes healthy and connected is essential for maintaining bigger-than-expected sage grouse movements.

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.

A new scientific study published in Biological Conservation explains how to reduce the threat of converting native sagebrush habitat into crops. Read how the research can be used on the ground to protect sage grouse.

Today, the Sage Grouse Initiative is unveiling a new layer on our interactive web application that shows where the risk of cropland conversion is highest. The new “cultivation risk map” layer predicts where future sagebrush habitat loss could occur based on soils, climate, and topography of existing croplands.

The Conservation Fund partners with SGI and others on easements that permanently conserve crucial habitat, and that support longevity for both ranchers and birds.