Growing Returns

Selected tag(s): sagebrush

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 / Also tagged ecosystems, great river basin, habitat exchange, Highway 95, idaho, Interior department, mule deer, national seed strategy, ranchers, restoration, sage grouse, sally jewell, soda fire, wildfire, wildfire restoration, wildlife | 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 / Also tagged agriculture, ecosystems, endangered species, ESA, federal policy, greater sage-grouse, habitat exchange, mitigation heirarchy, Partnerships, ranching, range-wide mitigation framework, USFWS | Read 1 Response