What's New Archive

Join this webinar on Wednesday, September 7th to learn about new research conducted by the US Geological Survey that looks at pollinator habitat design and function.  You'll learn about new research results that highlight improved pollinator habitat values.  This webinar will highlight the pollinator habitat designs features that produced increased pollinator species use and benefits.  Learn how to make 'every acre of pollinator habitat the best it can be'.

Register for free at:
September 7th at 10:00 am CST:        Webinar Registration - Zoom

September 7th at 7:00 pm CST:        Webinar Registration - Zoom

University of Wisconsin is going to host the Farm Succession Coordinator Certification Training this fall here in North Carolina. It will be a 2.5 day training in Shelby, NC, on Nov 7th through 9th. It is the prerequisite training needed to take the Farm Succession Coordinator Certification test. This would be a good training for any land trust staff who help farmers work through succession issues with conservation easements. To register visit this website

Pollinator projects empower corporate conservation teams to address global biodiversity issues through site-based action. Providing native pollinators with host and nectar plants is an important part of such conservation efforts, but the work doesn’t stop once milkweed and bee balm have taken root. From there, participants must regularly monitor the habitat. Tying these monitoring efforts to larger citizen science initiatives provides employees and community members with an opportunity to contribute data to large-scale efforts that track species distribution and movement.

Register

Grassland CRP signup opens from April 4, 2022 to May 13, 2022. Landowners and producers interested in CRP should contact their local USDA Service Center to learn more or to apply for the program -- for General CRP before the March 11 deadline, and for Grassland CRP before the May 13 deadline.

Secretary Sonny Purdue announced on Nov. 12, 2020, the signup periods for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and the CRP Grasslands in 2021. Signup for general CRP will be open from Jan. 4, 2021, to Feb. 12, 2021, and signup for CRP Grasslands runs from March 15, 2021 to April 23, 2021. Both programs are competitive and provide annual rental payments for land devoted to conservation purposes. There will be a free webinar on January 14 from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. MST. Register in advance for this meeting After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.  For more information, email Jeff Tranel or call 719-251-0990 

EarthX.org

Working Lands for Wildlife, Conservation Effects Assessment Project, UMT and UNL jointly hiring two research scientists
 
We seek two research scientists/postdoctoral scholars at the University of Montana and University of Nebraska-Lincoln, in collaboration with USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and their Conservation Effects Assessment Project. Individuals will study ecological and economic outcomes of conservation investments for sustaining western rangelands. Unique opportunities exist to inform on-the-ground conservation, to utilize innovative technologies that address interdisciplinary challenges, and to join a multi-institutional network of scientists working with diverse partners.

This multi-institutional partnership offers unique advantages for highly motivated individuals:

• Immediate impact with a team of applied scientists who for a decade have helped inform millions of acres of on-the-ground conservation through the NRCS-led Working Lands for Wildlife.
• Leverage technological innovations that address the most pressing needs of rangeland conservation across unprecedented spatio-temporal scales
• Membership in the new Center for Resilience in Working Agricultural Landscapes at UNL and the Rangeland Analysis Platform (RAP) science team at UMT

Email questions to Brady Allred (brady.allred@umontana.edu) and Dirac Twidwell (dirac.twidwell@unl.edu).

Applications due December 1, 2019

USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) announced today it is seeking public input on its existing national conservation practice standards as part of implementing the 2018 Farm Bill. NRCS offers 150-plus conservation practices to America’s farmers, ranchers and forest landowners to help them meet their business and natural resource needs on their working lands. NRCS is requesting public comments on how to improve conservation practice standards that support programs. The comment period ends April 25, 2019.  Learn More »

Participate to learn about the Rangeland Analysis Platform (RAP) - a free, online tool that helps landowners and natural resource managers track vegetation through time and plan actions to improve America's grazing lands. 

When: Sep 25, 2018 12:00 pm US/Eastern
Length: one hour
Pre-registration not required.

The Rangeland Analysis Platform (RAP) is a free, online tool that helps landowners and natural resource managers track vegetation through time and plan actions to improve America's grazing lands. The RAP can be used to provide strategies to improve productivity of grazing lands, manage weeds, mitigate impacts of wildfire and drought, and benefit wildlife habitats. Learn more abouth the tool here.

This webinar is presented by USDA NRCS Science and Technology. Contact Candy Thomas, Science & Technology Training Library content manager, for more information about this webinar.

NRCS Idaho’s field office in Pocatello is leading the project, which will use the Environmental Quality Incentives Program to target water quality concerns along the southeastern Idaho creek. Learn more here.

About 200 other fifth-graders from across Bonner County braved the rain Thursday to learn about water, bugs, fish and other wildlife during the 23rd annual Pend Oreille Water Festival. Learn more here.

Thanks to a tip phoned into Idaho’s Citizens Against Poaching hotline, Idaho Fish and Game (IDFG) officers have apprehended two long-time elk poachers. Jonathan Blaschka and Charles McCall were charged with poaching elk during multiple seasons spanning September 2016 to September 2017. Both men will lose their hunting privileges, pay thousands of dollars in fines and restitution and serve time in jail, the Idaho State Journal reports. Read more here.

Years of deferred management on national forests in Idaho is slowly being addressed through a partnership between the state, private landowners and the Forest Service. The partnership, called the Good Neighbor Authority (GNA), is responsible for timber sales in the Nez Perce-Clearwater and Panhandle national forests, including two sales set this year near Priest Lake. Learn more here.

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho – A diversity of stakeholders in the West's national forests are coming together for a two-day workshop in Idaho.

The "Resilient Landscapes, Thriving Communities" conference is taking place in Coeur D'Alene today and tomorrow in the spirit of collaboration between conservationists, the timber industry, the U.S. Forest Service and local elected officials. Read more here.

The deadline for the FY2018 Agricultural Conservation Easement Program with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service is quickly approaching. The conservation tool helps landowners and partners engage in long-term protection of Idaho's farmland, wetlands and grasslands. The application deadline for ACEP is Feb. 16, 2018.  Learn more here. 

Matt Germino, supervisory research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Boise, ID, is overseeing an innovative research project to use weed-suppressive bacteria to control non-native invasive cheatgrass and medusahead. Continue reading here.

Idaho Ag Today - Every time I turn around I get some memo or email from an agency stressing how important soil and water conservation are to landowners. Idaho rancher Chris Banks says that taking strong conservation measures does not need to be dreary and can add to the bottom line. Listen to the report here.

BLM Twin Falls District Manager Mike Courtney says changes to sage-grouse management plans throughout the West directed by Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke won’t necessarily affect livestock grazing on the Twin Falls District, which includes BLM-managed land in southern Blaine County. Read on here.

Capital Press - With development pressure in Idaho’s fast-growing Treasure Valley area picking up, farmland is disappearing rapidly in some areas. Read more here.

March 31, 2017 – USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service state conservationist for Idaho Curtis Elke has announced a call for applications for a pool of Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) funds set aside for improving water quality in the Treasure Valley. Applications are due May 5. Learn more here.

TWIN FALLS — The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service is accepting applications for agricultural producers who want to renew existing Conservation Stewardship Program contracts. Applications are due May 5. Learn more here.

TWIN FALLS — Prairie Falcon Audubon will host a program on “Fish, Birds, Bugs and Bats: Highlights from 10 years of conducting wildlife research in Idaho” at 7 p.m. Feb. 2 at the College of Southern Idaho's Shields Building, room 201. Click here to learn more.

The federal government and non-profit partners plan to spend another $360 million to spur states, landowners and developers to save the imperiled greater sage grouse across a Texas-sized area of sagebrush steppe spanning 11 Western states.

Read the full article here.

The combination of dwarf mistletoe disease and bark beetles have threatened thousands of trees in and around Idaho's Boise Nation Forest. These two pests attack trees every year, but "typically they'll kill three to ten trees at a time," said Stephaney Kerley with the Forest Service. "What we're seeing right now is bark beetles are killing pockets of fifty to one hundred trees at a time."

Learn more here.

The 9th annual Conservation in Action Tour will feature pioneering conservation agriculture practices in Idaho's Treasure Valley. The program begins at 5:30 pm on Tuesday, August 23, with a reception at JUMP in Boise. Learn more about the event and click here to register.

To this multi-generational family, conservation and ranching are one and the same.

“We’ve increased the carrying capacity and grass production, which lets us leave more for the wildlife. Plus, we can run more cows.” -Neil Helmick

Learn how the family implemented voluntary conservation projects in partnership with the Natural Resource Conservation Service-led Sage Grouse Initiative (SGI) to ensure sensitive riparian areas and habitat remained undisturbed by livestock for wildlife and sage grouse during critical brood rearing periods in June and July.

May 13, 2016 - The USDA's Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell today announced over $8.5 million to expand and accelerate technologies that promote wood product innovations that also benefit forest health. Read the news release here.