Growing Returns

Walnut grower Craig McNamara on water banking, hedgerows, and the birds and the bees

By Eric Holst / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: September 24, 2015

Craig McNamara on his farm in Winters, California.

Craig McNamara embodies agricultural leadership in California. He has farmed a 450-acre organic walnut orchard in Winters, California for the past 35 years. He’s been an innovator in implementing conservation practices on his land that both enhance wildlife and benefit his farming operation. He’s also the president of the California State Board of Food and Agriculture, and an influential sustainable agriculture educator.

I’ve known Craig for about 10 years and have had the honor of serving with him on the State Board for the last two. I spoke with him about how he integrates farming with ecology and his plan for dealing with potential El Niño rains. Read More »

Posted in Wildlife Protection / Tagged california, California State Board of Food and Agriculture, conservation, craig mcnamara, drought, ecosystems, El Niño, fertilizer, hedgerows, sustainable agriculture, water banking, water use, western water, wildlife | Comments are closed

Ranchers and conservationists step up to avert listing of sage-grouse

By Eric Holst / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: September 22, 2015

Stakeholders conduct field tests for the Colorado Habitat Exchange on a ranch in Colorado.

The decision whether or not to list the greater sage-grouse under the Endangered Species Act was one of the biggest listing decisions of our time.

Thanks to unprecedented public-private partnerships among ranchers, energy developers, conservationists and states, we now have the groundwork to guide future management of our nation’s wildlife and working landscapes.

The “not warranted” decision sends a strong signal that investments in conservation are making a difference, providing the catalyst for a new approaches and a different kind of politics.

Posted in ecosystems, Habitat Exchange, Partnerships, Wildlife Protection / Tagged colorado, Colorado Cattlemen's Association, Colorado Habitat Exchange, conservation, golden cheeked warbler, Governor Hickenlooper, greater sage-grouse, habitat exchanges, Interior department, listing decision, monarch butterfly, Nevada, sage grouse, Secretary Jewell, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Wyoming | Comments are closed

Recovery of New England rabbit demonstrates importance of private lands in conservation

By Eric Holst / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: September 16, 2015

Credit: Brian Tefft, Principal Wildlife Biologist at Rhode Island Division of Fish and Wildlife.

Saturday marked a new chapter in a years-long rabbit’s tale.

Of course I’m talking about the New England cottontail, which, until this week, was a candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act.

Thanks to the work of private landowners, conservation groups, tribes, and state and government agencies, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has decided to remove this critter from the candidate list and declare that it’s well on the path to recovery.

A team effort

The growth of the New England cottontail population was a team effort, with important contributions from state wildlife departments, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and conservation organizations.

But the most important contribution came from farmers and forestland owners who committed to managing the specialized habitat of the New England cottontail. Read More »

Posted in Habitat Exchange, Wildlife Protection / Tagged conservation, ecosystems, ESA, greater sage-grouse, habitat, Jason Weller, new england cottontail, NRCS, USDA, USFWS, wildlife | Comments are closed

USDA taps ranchers to continue stewarding sage-grouse habitat

By Eric Holst / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: August 27, 2015

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced a four-year strategy to invest more that $200 million in greater sage-grouse conservation efforts.

The strategy, known as Sage Grouse Initiative 2.0, will build on successful public and private conservation efforts to improve sage-grouse habitat by providing additional assistance for ranchers to make conservation improvements to their land.

It’s encouraging to see USDA remaining at the forefront of federal efforts to move sage-grouse protection forward. This funding is a huge boost for sage-grouse, but there are opportunities through emerging programs for impact industries to do even more to protect this iconic bird. Read More »

Posted in Habitat Exchange, Wildlife Protection / Tagged ecosystems, greater sage-grouse, habitat exchange, sage grouse, sage grouse initiative, Secretary Vilsack, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, USDA | Comments are closed

The devastation of the Soda Fire, and the seeds of hope for the future

By Eric Holst / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: August 18, 2015

Wildlife warning sign on Highway 95.

My family and I returned home to California a few days ago following an idyllic week camping on Payette Lake near McCall, Idaho. Our route home took us down Highway 95 in southwestern Idaho, a road typically bordered by the beautiful farmlands of the Snake River Basin. But our views weren’t so picturesque.

Just south of Nampa, Idaho we began to notice the charred landscape left behind by the Soda Fire, the largest of recent fires burning across the United States. The Soda Fire has burned more than 280,000 acres of prime sagebrush steppe, which provides key grazing lands for cattle ranchers and important habitat for threatened wildlife like the greater sage-grouse.

As I gazed upon the aftermath of the fire, all I could think about was the devastating effects it has had on local ranching families and wildlife. Fortunately, there are steps we can take to restore these scorched landscapes and prevent damaging wildfires in the future, but we have to act fast. Read More »

Posted in Habitat Exchange, Wildlife Protection / Tagged ecosystems, great river basin, habitat exchange, Highway 95, idaho, Interior department, mule deer, national seed strategy, ranchers, restoration, sage grouse, sagebrush, sally jewell, soda fire, wildfire, wildfire restoration, wildlife | Comments are closed

Feds call for cooperative conservation on sage grouse, states deliver

By Eric Holst / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: May 27, 2015

"An unprecedented, collaborative effort" was a blog published last week by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe, BLM Director Neil Kornze, USFS Chief Tom Tidwell and NRCS Chief Jason Weller

“An unprecedented, collaborative effort” was a blog published last week in The Hill by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe, BLM Director Neil Kornze, USFS Chief Tom Tidwell and NRCS Chief Jason Weller.

Last week, leaders of the four federal agencies dealing most closely with issues surrounding the greater sage-grouse delivered a strong public message: As long as stakeholders continue to work together, we can save this bird and preclude the need for listing.

The message was powerful – not just because it was endorsed by four of our nation’s top thinkers on conservation, but because it was optimistic.

“We have seen what’s possible when we all pull our oars in the same direction,” they wrote.

This is a fundamental turning of the tides in the conversation around sage grouse. Previously, the dialogue has been pointed, with industry interests, agriculture interests and wildlife interests caught in crosshairs. But the discourse has changed, and it’s because the situation on the ground has changed. Read More »

Posted in Habitat Exchange, Wildlife Protection / Tagged An unprecedented, BLM, collaborative effort, colorado, conservation, Dan Ashe, ecosystems, habitat exchange, hickenlooper, Jason Weller, mitigation, Montana, Neil Kornze, Nevada, NRCS, Partnerships, public lands, sage grouse, the hill, Tom Tidwell, USDA, USFS, USFWS, Wyoming | Comments are closed

USDA: Helping ranchers is crucial to helping sage-grouse

By Eric Holst / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: February 13, 2015

Central Oregon rancher restores sage-grouse habitat with NRCS assistance. Source: nrcs.usda.gov

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) just announced new funding to support sage-grouse habitat conservation on working lands.

This is very promising, considering the last round of sage-grouse funding engaged more than 1,000 ranchers to conserve 4.4 million acres of bird habitat – an area twice the size of Yellowstone National Park.

That last round of funding – made available in 2010 through the Natural Resource Conservation Service’s (NRCS) Sage Grouse Initiative – invested $296.5 million to restore and conserve sage-grouse habitat. Today, NRCS pledged to extend these efforts by $200 million over another for years.

Doubling down on a good investment
Read More »

Posted in Habitat Exchange, Wildlife Protection / Tagged bird habitat, central wyoming, conservation, ecosystems, farmers, habitat exchange, NRCS, ranchers, robert bonnie, sage grouse, upper green river, Upper Green River Conservation Exchange, USDA | Comments are closed

USDA-funded projects help farmers protect water and wildlife

By Eric Holst / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: January 29, 2015

Earlier this month, the USDA authorized nearly $400 million in federal funds through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) to improve soil quality, water quality and quantity, and wildlife habitat.

The program funded 115 initiatives covering a wide range of conservation benefits, from improving wildlife conservation efforts in California’s ricelands to reducing fertilizer runoff in the Mississippi River Basin.

These projects demonstrate that by prioritizing spending of conservation dollars on projects where large numbers of farmers are committed to cooperative conservation, we can avoid the need for costly regulatory programs. Read More »

Posted in Habitat Exchange, Wildlife Protection / Tagged california, California Rice Commission, central valley, central valley habitat exchange, conservation, ecosystems, farm bill, fertilizer, funding, grant, Lake Erie, phosphorus, regional conservation partnership program, sustainable agriculture, Toledo, Tom Vilsak, USDA, water quality, western water | Comments are closed

No time to wait: sage grouse delay gives urgency to conservation

By Eric Holst / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: January 5, 2015

The greater sage-grouse

You may have seen a strange looking bird causing quite a stir in the news recently. That’s because there’s a lot at stake with the greater sage-grouse, especially now that a rider in the federal spending bill prevents the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from listing the species under the Endangered Species Act in 2015 (a decision was originally expected in September). But this delay isn’t stopping ranchers, conservationists and other key stakeholder from moving full speed ahead to find a solution.

You might not get this sense from the political dialog and the media, but out on the ground, there is a real spirit of cooperation when it comes to the greater sage-grouse. That’s because everyone realizes that – rider or no rider, listing or no listing – this bird needs help.

Posted in Habitat Exchange, Wildlife Protection / Tagged conservation, ecosystems, environmental defense fund, eric holst, greater sage-grouse, habitat exchange, sage grouse, sally jewell, Terry Fankhauser | Comments are closed

New federal framework provides path forward for landowners and sage-grouse

By Eric Holst / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: October 3, 2014

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service faces a difficult decision on the listing of the greater sage-grouse. On the one hand, populations are in steady decline across the range and the Service has already indicated that the bird’s condition will likely warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act. On the other hand, a listing would pit the Service against powerful economic interests – including energy and agriculture – and against most of the political apparatus of the 11 Western states that harbor the imperiled bird.

But the Service just did itself and all sage-grouse stakeholders a big favor.

Earlier this month, the Service released the Greater Sage-Grouse Range-Wide Mitigation Framework – a guidance document intended to help states and private sector interests design solutions for the bird that, if implemented quickly and effectively, would be taken into account when the Service makes its final listing determination in 2016.

Posted in Habitat Exchange, Wildlife Protection / Tagged agriculture, ecosystems, endangered species, ESA, federal policy, greater sage-grouse, habitat exchange, mitigation heirarchy, Partnerships, ranching, range-wide mitigation framework, sagebrush, USFWS | Read 1 Response