 |
 |
|
|
|
National & World Ag News Headlines |
 |
USDA Unveils Science-Based Strategies for Partnering with Ranchers
USAgNet - 04/07/2021
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is unveiling new action-based frameworks to increase conservation work to address threats facing America's working rangelands. These frameworks are designed to benefit both agriculture and wildlife in sagebrush and
grassland landscapes of the western United States.
USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) partnered with state-level organizations from across the West to develop the new frameworks to combat the most severe and large-scale threats: woody encroachment, land-use conversion, exotic
annual grass invasion and riparian and wet meadow degradation. More than one million acres of Western rangelands are lost annually to invading non-native grasses, plows, or land development. The frameworks will help guide voluntary conservation work over
the next five years and will contribute to USDA's efforts to make our nation a leader on climate change mitigation, adaptation, and resilience.
"America's iconic rangelands support ranchers and rural communities, provide wildlife habitat, and store carbon," said Gloria Montano Greene, USDA deputy undersecretary for food production and conservation.
"Under these new frameworks, NRCS and grassroots partners will defend intact grasslands, reduce vulnerability to future threats and conserve the last remaining rangeland regions west of the Mississippi River. They provide a common vision and coordination to
address resource concerns and ecosystem threats across state boundaries, and new scientific tools now provide unprecedented opportunities to develop strategic approaches to combat these issues, especially when combined with on-the-ground landowner and
rancher expertise," said Greene.
In 2020, a multi-state planning effort produced the first biome-scale frameworks for wildlife conservation on working rangelands in grassland and sagebrush biomes. A biome is a large area of land that is classified based on the climate, plants and animals that
make their homes there. This joint effort builds on past achievements of the Lesser Prairie-Chicken and Sage Grouse Initiatives that together have partnered with more than 3,261 ranchers and conserved 10,309,950 acres of working rangelands.
This is an area more than four times the size of Yellowstone National Park that supports working agricultural operations while providing critical wildlife habitat and valuable carbon sequestration. New frameworks efforts will further support conservation and
restoration of rangelands through practices that limit soil disturbance, support proper grazing management, promote the strategic use of prescribed fire and support native grassland species with deep root systems to increase grassland carbon stocks.
|
 |
|
 |
|
Copyright © 2024 - Farms.com. All Rights Reserved. |
 |
|
