Wyoming’s Greater Sage Grouse

Stacey Scott, Casper rancher and member of the Bates Hole Sage Grouse Working Group, told USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) staff from California, Colorado, South Dakota, Washington, Washington, D.C., and Wyoming that he constantly works towards the right mixture of management on the family ranch that will result in an overall healthy landscape.

Scott spoke to the group during a workshop, held April 11-15 at the Holiday Inn in Casper. The workshop, dedicated to understanding sagebrush ecosystems, home to Wyoming’s Greater Sage Grouse, included early morning sage grouse lek observation sessions and on-site training to bring employees up to speed on habitat requirements of the species.

In addition to Scott, ranchers from Colorado, Utah and Wyoming related experiences, philosophies and on-the-ground actions they are implementing to enhance habitat for the benefit of the Greater Sage Grouse.

Landowners are interested in protecting and enhancing sage grouse habitat as well as avoiding the threat of regulation that could occur due to legislation.

Tony Malmberg, who ranches in Fremont County, said that the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is the best thing to make people aware of what’s going on around them.  Malmberg, who is in the fourth year of a 15-year study, manages his holdings for diversity, complexity, stability and resiliency.  “The goal is not to manage for more sage grouse, but to manage for a healthier ecosystem,” Malmberg said.  “Sage grouse are indicators on how to improve ecological health and to understand what a particular ranch needs.”  He noted that maintaining open spaces and sage grouse corridors are critical factors for habitat.

Long-time Colorado rancher, Dean Visintainer, monitors his private lands continually and shared photos taken over the past 35 years that document habitat changes and sage grouse populations.  Metal tops installed on fence posts near watering facilities make it difficult for predatory birds to perch and prey on sage grouse chicks on the Visintainer ranch.

Floyd Wood, NRCS Easement Programs Division, Washington, D.C., reviewed opportunities through the NRCS’s Grassland Reserve Program (GRP), Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) as primary Farm Bill programs that can be used by private landowners to enhance sage grouse habitat.

Staff representing Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Wyoming Department of Agriculture, Wyoming Game & Fish Department, Cooperative Extension Service and Wyoming conservation districts attended the five-day session as well.

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Article written by:  Nancy Atkinson
Wyoming State Public Affairs Specialist
Phone:  (307) 233-6759
nancy.atkinson@wy.usda.gov

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