The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently announced a partnership that will support the conservation of private working lands and migratory big game populations in Wyoming.
According to a May 20 news release, USDA Under Secretary of Farm Production and Conservation Robert Bonnie made the announcement at the University of Wyoming’s Yellowstone National Park 150th anniversary symposium. For this pilot program, USDA will use diverse Farm Bill investments to support voluntary, locally-led conservation efforts in the state of Wyoming.
“Conserving America’s most iconic wildlife and wildlife migration corridors depends on the conservation of private working lands and tribal lands through voluntary, collaborative incentives that reward farmers, ranchers and forest owners for stewardship of their lands,” Bonnie said, according to the release. “Today’s announcement results from consultation with the state of Wyoming and local stakeholders to create new and enhanced opportunities through USDA’s conservation programs to expand our work with farmers, ranchers and forest landowners to conserve wildlife and migration corridors and to keep working lands working.”
This pilot will inform the USDA's efforts to scale this model up towards the western U.S. to advance the Biden Administrations national conservation goals, the release reported.
“Wyoming leads the nation in our approaches to conserving big game and their movements. We’ve done that with strong landowner partnerships and an acknowledgement that habitat conservation can be done on multi-use landscapes,” Brian Nesvik, director of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department said in the release. “Private landowners provide key habitat for wildlife seen in Yellowstone National Park. Offering voluntary funding opportunities to landowners to maintain this valuable space for wildlife is a recognition of their role in conservation.”
The USDA worked with Wyoming stakeholders and developed this pilot project according to their feedback, as reported in the news release.
