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Pinedale Online > News > October 2014 > Agencies and private landowners work together to protect sagebrush habitat

Rancher Brad Bousman. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Rancher Brad Bousman
Bousman Livestock, Inc. His ranch has approximately 1,400 acres enrolled in the program. They worked with the Pilot Project for cheatgrass control, converted windmill windmill stock watering tanks to solar to eliminate perching by raptors, installed wildlife escape ramps in solar tanks, and for many years has actively implemented many conservation measures in his ranch practices.

Sally Jewell, DOI. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Sally Jewell, DOI
"I'm optimistic we can preserve these ecosystems for the long-term future for ranching, oil & gas industry, and wildlife."

Governor Matt Mead. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Governor Matt Mead
"These agreements we are signing today are really a chapter in wildlife history. Well-run ranches are great places for wildlife."

Dan Ashe. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Dan Ashe
Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "It is our hope that the listing of sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act will not be necessary."

Don Simpson. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Don Simpson
Wyoming State Director, Bureau of Land Management. "Private landowners are a big key to managing sagegrouse habitat."

Signing. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Signing

Coming together for sage grouse. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Coming together for sage grouse
Left to right: Sally Jewell, U.S. Secretary of the Interior; Wyoming Governor Matt Mead; Tyler Abbott, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Sage Grouse. Photo by Sublette County Conservation District.
Sage Grouse
A male sage grouse strutting on a lek during mating season. File photo courtesy Sublette County Conservation District.

Solar Panel. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Solar Panel
Ranchers are voluntarily replacing old windmill water pumps which had been providing perches for sagegrouse eating raptors. The panels cost around $12,000 each.
Agencies and private landowners work together to protect sagebrush habitat
For sage-grouse and other wildlife species
by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online!
October 17, 2014

On Wednesday, October 15th dignitaries from across the state and nation gathered in Pinedale to celebrate a public-private partnership to sign nine agreements to conserve of sagebrush habitat to benefit sage-grouse and other wildlife species. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, and the Sublette County Conservation District have been working with area ranchers for years to protect and conserve sagebrush habitat that is important for sage-grouse and many other species.

Sage-grouse are an important species to plan for because in 2015 U.W. Fish & Wildlife Service must make a decision about whether or not to list the bird on the Endangered Species list.

The event on October 15th included a morning tour of the Brad Bousman ranch near Boulder, and a signng ceremony at Trappers Point around noon. The ceremony involved the signing of nine agreements between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and nine ranchers. The ranchers were recognized as the first landowners to enter into the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances (CCAA) program for the greater sage-grouse in Wyoming.

Landowner stewardship of sage-grouse habitats is promoted through the CCAA, which provides private landowners with incentives for engaging in voluntary proactive conservation through assurances that limit future conservation obligations. Specifically, landowners are provided the assurance that if they implement various conservation measures, they will not be subject to additional restrictions if the species becomes listed under the ESA.

The day’s events were attended by U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Sally Jewell; Wyoming Governor Matt Mead; Dan Ashe, Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Don Simpson, Wyoming State Director of the Bureau of Land Management; Brad Bousman of Bousman Livvestock, Inc.; and many private landowners and local stakeholders.

Here is a list of the ranchers honored.

WYOMING CCAAs
Conservation practices
1. Brad Bousman - Bousman Livestock, Inc. (Sublette County)
• Approximately 1,400 acres enrolled; all within Sage-Grouse Core Area
• Involved with Pilot Project for cheatgrass control
• Converted windmill stock watering tanks to solar to eliminate perching by ravens and other birds that preys on the eggs and young of sage-grouse.
• Installed wildlife escape ramps in solar tanks that he manages both on private and public (BLM) lands.
• Implemented (for many years) conservation practices such as flushing bars on his hay tractor to avoid and minimize collisions with sage-grouse that use his hay meadows; also delays haying until after the GSG nesting season.
• Is an active Sublette County Conservation District Board Member and NRCS partner who supports the development and implementation of conservation programs for landowners.
• Actively participates in monitoring GSG use on his BLM grazing allotments.

2. John Erramouspe - G & E Livestock, Inc. (Sublette County)
• Approximately 1,200 acres enrolled; 97% in Sage-Grouse Core Area
• Buries power lines
• Uses solar power
• Created overflow to provide access for sage-grouse, but limited use by livestock and wildlife

3. John Boroff - Boroff Land and Livestock (Sublette County)
• Approximately 1,300 acres enrolled; 100% in Sage-Grouse Core Area

4. John Blaha - Blaha Ranch, Inc. (Sublette County)
• Approximately 1500 acres enrolled; 100% in Sage-Grouse Core Area

5. Donald W. Rogers, Jr. (Sublette County)
• Approximately 400 acres enrolled; 100% in Sage-Grouse Core Area

6. Fred Pape - Pape Ranches, Inc. (Sublette County)
• Approximately 10,000 acres enrolled; 100% in Sage-Grouse Core Area
• Philosophy that wildlife was there first, so they work with wildlife, and enjoy having wildlife on their property
• Recipient of Regional Leopold Conservation Award in 2008
• Worked with NRCS to create a mosaic patterned brush treatment to benefit sage-grouse
• Promotes wildlife friendly fences where possible
• Usually takes about 1.5 hours to cut a 10 acre area of oats. Last year there was about 20 sage-grouse in that area. Landowner walked through the oats to flush the birds out of the field before cutting. This extra effort took more than 4 hours to complete, but landowner didn’t want to harm any sage-grouse.

7. Jennie & Mark Gordon - Merlin Ranch (Johnson County)
• 8,428 acres enrolled; 55% in Sage-Grouse Core Area
• Family owned ranch – established in 1988
• Angus cattle ranch
• Holistic management and cell grazing
• Recipient of Excellence in Rangeland Stewardship Award – 2009
• Manager: Kevin Rodriguez
• Owners: Mark and Jennie Gordon

8. Roy Liedtke, Kelly Hardy, Wendy Hutchinson- Longreach Buffalo Co., LLC (Campbell County)
• 3,240 acres enrolled; 100% in Sage-Grouse Core Area
• The members of Longreach Buffalo Company, Kelly Hardy, Wendy Hutchinson, and Roy Liedtke, have spent their professional careers as caretakers of the environment. This dedication to the ecosystem is one reason they chose to diversify their ranch by raising buffalo, along with beef cattle, bringing this magnificent species back to its native range. The ranch is in NE Wyoming in core sage-grouse habitat, with a diverse mixture of rolling plains and timbered lands. The owners’ previous work in the coal industry allowed them to pool their resources and experience to purchase the ranch in 2001, where they have been a steadfast team devoted to creating a sustainable ranching environment for livestock and wildlife.

9. Priscilla Welles - HIP Investments, LLC (Johnson County)
• 12, 236 acres enrolled; 80% in Sage-Grouse Core Area
• HIP Investments, run by the Welles family, is a cattle operation that runs on a contiguous swath of rolling prairie sagebrush country west of the Powder River Basin in NE Wyoming. The middle waters of Crazy Woman Creek run through its western border, and the ranch supports both riparian areas and prime sage grouse breeding and nesting grounds. A significant portion of the ranch lands lie in the recently described "core" area for supporting areas to be managed for sage-grouse habitat. This designation has helped the landowners re- affirm their historical dedication to running their livestock operation with a high regard for the safety and viability of the wildlife that share in the land's resources.
• Initiatives that have been taken have involved: o Removal of woven wire fencing. Installation of fence markers to avoid bird collisions.
• Buried power lines in areas of energy development.
• Rotational grazing program utilizing recommendations and monitoring according to the Wyoming Rangeland Monitoring Guide.
• Placement of stock watering tanks in upland areas to remove cattle from the riparian areas.
• Bird escape ramps in all watering facilities.
• Mosquito larvae application in rιservoirs to prevent the spread of west Nile Virus to bird populations.
• Limited activity in pastures with lek areas during bird breeding season.

It is the goal of the land owners to have a healthy ecosystem through dedicated management for both the economic and ecological success of the operation.



Tour. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Tour

Lek. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Lek
The tour group stops at strutting grounds in a sage grouse lek.

Dignitaries. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Dignitaries
Dan Ashe, Sally Jewell, Don Simpson

Sally Jewell and Gov Matt Mead. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Sally Jewell and Gov Matt Mead

Grouse transmitter. Photo by .
Grouse transmitter

Brad and Sally. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Brad and Sally
Rancher Brad Bousman chats with Secretary of the Interior, Sally Jewell.

Tyler Abbott. Photo by Pinedale Online.
Tyler Abbott
Deputy Field Supervisor, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Wyoming. "This bird moves more than we ever imagined." Urban development fragmentaion across the landscape is a major issue.

Meghann Durbrow Smith. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Meghann Durbrow Smith
Meghann Durbrow Smith, Sage-Grouse Initiative Range Conservationist with the National Resources Conservation District/Sublette County Conservation District, stressed the importance of allowing grass to go to seed and resting pastures every couple of years to enhance habitat, which helps both sage grouse and cattle.

Josh Hemenway. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Josh Hemenway
Josh Hemenway, Wildlife Biologist, Pinedale Field Office, Bureau of Land Management, said the BLM has spent the past 5-6 years in annual monitoring efforts to look for leks. Their efforts by flying and driving have found 20-30 new leks.

Noreen Walsh. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Noreen Walsh
Noreen Walsh, Regional Director, Mountain-Prairie Region, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Services, said this is part of an effort across 11 western states to make sure what we see today can be seen by our kids and generations afterwards.

Cow moose and 2 calves. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Cow moose and 2 calves
Sagebrush habitat is important for other species as well, such as moose. Here they cross BLM land that is part of a grazing allotment used by rancher Brad Bousman for his cattle operations.

Ceremony. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Ceremony
The ceremony was held on top of the Trappers Point historical monument site between Pinedale and Daniel.

Brad Bousman. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Brad Bousman
Brad Bousman, who operates Bousman Livestock, Inc., representing one of nine ranches in the Wyoming conservation agreements.

Governor Matt Mead. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Governor Matt Mead
Wyoming Governor Mead said ranchers were the first environmentalists. "Well run ranches mean great places for wildlife that sustain wildlife populations for many years. Ranchers are dedicated to doing a good job."

Don Simpson. Photo by Dawn Ballou,, Pinedale Online.
Don Simpson
Don Simpson, Wyoming State Director of the Bureau of Land Management, said private landowners are as big a key to managing sage grouse habitat as the BLM and Forest Service.

Signing ceremony. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Signing ceremony

Press Conference. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Press Conference
Sally Jewell and Governor Matt Mead answer questions from the media after the signing ceremony.

Eric Peterson. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Eric Peterson
Eric Peterson, District Manager of the Sublette County Conservation District, said, "We're convinced CCAAs are a very good tool for ranchers in Wyoming to afford themselves some protection should sage grouse become listed in Wyoming."

Channel 13 News interview. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Channel 13 News interview
Eric Peterson, District Manager of the Sublette County Conservation District, is interviewed by Channel 13 News out of Casper, Wyoming.

Wildlife Overpass. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Wildlife Overpass
Completed in 2012. It is estimated that approximately 2,000-3,000 pronghorn and 2,000-2,500 mule deer pass through the well-known Trapper’s Point migration corridor each spring and fall.

Pronghorn crossing. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Pronghorn crossing
The Wyoming Department of Transportation built this wildlife overpass bridge to help pronghorn antelope cross the busy US 191 highway more safely. It is one of two wildlife overpasses WYDOT constructed recently in Sublette County over this highway.

Antelope. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Antelope
Pronghorn antelope cross the new wildlife overpass bridge over US 191 highway between Pinedale and Daniel.

Cattle underpass. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Cattle underpass

Underpass. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Underpass
This underpass is mostly used by cattle to pass under US 191 during seasonal movements to get to and from ranches in the valley to grazing allotments on BLM and on the Bridger-Teton National Forest to the north.
Pinedale Online > News > October 2014 > Agencies and private landowners work together to protect sagebrush habitat

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