Growing Returns

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.

Also posted in Wildlife Protection / Tagged colorado, Colorado Cattlemen's Association, Colorado Habitat Exchange, conservation, ecosystems, golden cheeked warbler, Governor Hickenlooper, greater sage-grouse, habitat exchanges, Interior department, listing decision, monarch butterfly, Nevada, Partnerships, 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 »

Also posted in 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 »

Also posted in 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 »

Also posted in 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

With the launching of a new market, he’s a vanguard of grouse conservation in Wyoming

By Sara Brodnax / Bio / Published: June 23, 2015

Eric Peterson has been hired to fill a new position as pilot administrator of the Wyoming Conservation Exchange.

A landowner-led conservation effort in Wyoming has sparked a new market and has now created a new job.

The University of Wyoming recently announced the hiring of a new pilot administrator of the Wyoming Conservation Exchange, a voluntary, market-based program that seeks to enroll local landowners in landscape-scale conservation of greater sage-grouse, mule deer and hydrologic services.

Eric was formerly manager of the Sublette County Conservation District, where he played a critical role in developing the Wyoming Conservation Exchange with partners from the University of Wyoming, Environmental Defense Fund, the Wyoming Stock Growers Association and the Wyoming chapter of The Nature Conservancy.

In his new role, Eric will work with potential buyers and sellers of conservation credits to facilitate pilot transactions and market growth.

I asked Eric to share some thoughts on what drew him to this role and what he hopes to achieve over the next few months.

Also posted in Wildlife Protection / Tagged ecosystems, environmental defense fund, Eric Peterson, greater sage-grouse, habitat, habitat exchange, Partnerships, ranchers, stock growers, Sublette County Conservation District, sustainable agriculture, The Nature Conservancy, University of Wyoming, wildlife, Wyoming, Wyoming Conservation Exchange | Read 1 Response

Operation Warbler: Fort Hood and local ranchers team up to save bird

By David Wolfe / Bio / Published: June 9, 2015

Dr. Gene Murph stands in front of prime golden-cheeked warbler habitat on his Texas ranch

I’m going to take you back to 2005, to a ranch in the Texas Hill Country, where Dr. Gene Murph operates an 80-head cattle operation on 1,300 acres of rangeland.

The ranch is vast, with rolling hills and wooded ravines. The only sounds on the ranch are those of cattle mooing in the pastures and birds trilling in the trees. If you listen closely enough, you can hear the signature call of the golden-cheeked warbler. If you look closely enough, you can spot the bird’s sunshine-yellow face.

The golden-cheeked warbler was listed as an endangered species in 1990, making Dr. Murph’s ranch a vital stronghold for subpopulations, which nest at select sites scattered throughout 33 counties in central Texas.

Another nearby stronghold for the bird is the Fort Hood Army Base, only a few miles down the road from Dr. Murph’s ranch and home to the largest known population of golden-cheeked warblers. Read More »

Also posted in Wildlife Protection / Tagged bird habitat, ecosystems, endangered species, Fort Hood, fort hood recovery credit system, golden cheeked warbler, habitat, habitat exchange, Partnerships, ranch, texas department of agriculture, texas hill country | 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 »

Also posted in 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

California governor reappoints EDF working lands director to state food and agriculture board

By Chandler Clay / Published: February 27, 2015

Eric Holst, director of EDF’s working lands program

Eric Holst, senior director of Environmental Defense Fund’s working lands program, has been reappointed to the California State Board of Food and Agriculture by Governor Jerry Brown.

Holst has served on the board – a fifteen-member state board appointed by the governor to represent a range of agricultural commodities, geographic regions and academic systems – since 2012. The board encourages public participation and input in all matters concerning agriculture and food policy within the state, from hunger and malnutrition to climate change and environmental markets. But the dominant focus over the last year has been drought and how to mitigate impacts on California agriculture.

A natural choice

Holst has been a leader in developing innovative partnerships with farmers, ranchers and foresters to improve environmental and economic performance on working lands for more than a decade, both in California and elsewhere across the country. Read More »

Also posted in Climate Resilience / Tagged california, california state board, craig mcnamara, drought, ecosystems, environmental defense fund, eric holst, food and agriculture, habitat exchange, jerry brown, Partnerships, sierra orchards | Comments are closed

Collaborative conservation: A ripe example from America’s farms

By Ann Hayden / Bio / Published: February 19, 2015

Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) has been working with farmers and ranchers for more than a decade to transform business as usual by providing incentives for conservation. As EDF’s 2014 strategic plan notes, “we’ve seen some encouraging things.”

EDF staff join farmers and other conservation collaborators in the field to track outcomes for habitats and species.

With proven success in the field, we are now looking to take these programs to scale to boost food production while maintaining profitable farms, a safe environment and healthy people. Read More »

Also posted in Carbon Market, Wildlife Protection / Tagged birds, california trout, central valley, central valley habitat exchange, Chinook salmon, conservation, ecosystems, farming, floodplain, garter snake, habitat exchange, habitat. california, john brennan, knaggs ranch, sustainable agriculture, waterfowl | 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 »

Also posted in 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