More than $22 million in USDA funds are coming to help livestock producers across five Western states remain economically viable and steward habitat in predator rich environments, thanks to two Regional Conservation Partnership Program grants awarded to a consortium led by Western Landowners Alliance and Heart of the Rockies Initiative. The RCPP is a partner-driven approach to conservation administered by the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service that funds solutions to natural resource challenges on agricultural lands.
“Landowner-led, collaborative conservation continues to be an effective tool for addressing challenges like gray wolf and grizzly bear recovery in the West,” said Erik Kalsta, Working Wild Challenge program director with WLA and a rancher in the Big Hole Valley of Montana. “Livestock producers have an opportunity to guide design and test the solutions. This increases our confidence that the practices can work, be practical and are largely cost-effective.”
About $16.5 million will go to the “Stewarding the Working Wild” project in Montana, Oregon, and Colorado, led by Heart of the Rockies Initiative (HRI), in close partnership with Western Landowners Alliance. The project will use a holistic approach to incentivize producers to implement solutions that benefit land, livestock, and wildlife.
Over $6.5 Million will go to the “Grazing Management and Non-Lethal Predator Risk Mitigation” project in New Mexico and Arizona led by WLA. By providing technical assistance and cost-share finance for multi-benefit practices like range riders, carcass composting facilities, fencing and related technologies, the partners expect improvements in range and herd health and reduction in conflict between livestock and carnivores, alongside wildlife habitat conservation.
Western Landowners Alliance news release
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