A colossal voluntary effort is keeping the Intermountain West’s sagebrush steppe intact, which protects one of the highest density populations of greater sage grouse range-wide.

South Dakota Rancher Ron Steineke makes water delivery and grazing improvements that benefit his cattle along with sage grouse and other wildlife.

Wildfires and the invasion of exotic annual grasses like cheatgrass can transform large expanses of sagebrush habitat, which is bad for sage grouse. This new strategy serves as a powerful decision tool to address wildfire and cheatgrass threats.

A forward-thinking group of people representing ranchers, agencies, conservation groups, private citizens, and universities came together in 2002 to form the Bi-State Local Area Working Group.

In Utah’s sage grouse habitats, partners like the Mule Deer Foundation are working together on new grazing systems that are designed to benefit ranching, sage grouse, and mule deer.

Rancher Gary Bedortha shares his story of juniper removal on 12,000 acres of his private ranchland near Paulina to benefit sage grouse and the sagebrush-steppe ecosystem.

Hundreds of thousands of acres of intact sagebrush lands–and the grouse that depend upon them–are threatened by invading conifers. SGI helps remove the threat to prevent further loss.

Removing junipers and other conifers that are early invaders of sagebrush-steppe is less costly, and much more likely to be effective, than a delay-and-repair approach that tries to turn a mature forest back into a sagebrush ecosystem again. That’s a key message of the second of the Sage Grouse Initiative Science to Solution series, titled Conifer Removal Restores Sage Grouse Habitat.

“It is important to preserve and maintain the history of the area and the legacy of the cattle. The only way to protect the land is to not put houses on it.” – Mark Lacey, rancher (from ESLT website)

Where Can Sage-Grouse Live?
Why good grazing practices and more state and federal land-use regulations are essential for keeping these beleaguered birds off the endangered species list.