Feds pledge $200 million to sage grouse conservation

Sage grouse conservation should receive another shot in the arm during the next four years. The Natural Resources Conservation Service will devote about $200 million to sage grouse projects across the West, the U.S. Department of Agriculture will announce Thursday. The money will be added to the nearly $300 million the conservation service has already spent on projects in 11 Western states. Much of the work has also been done on private land, particularly working ranches. “The effort you’re seeing here is unprecedented on private land,” said Robert Bonnie, undersecretary for natural resources and the environment. “When we have good incentives with a common-sense approach, landowners are willing to step forward.” The USDA will also release a report Thursday detailing the millions of acres of land in Wyoming and other states conserved in easements or improved since 2010. About 4.4 million acres of sage grouse habitat has been restored through the USDA and its partners in the Sage Grouse Initiative, said Jason Weller, chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service...more