����APP

Some great news for the Greater Sage-Grouse: The Natural Resources Conservation Service announced today that it will commit another $200 million over the next four years to the Sage-Grouse Initiative, a partnership between NRCS and landowners across the American West to save sage-grouse habitat on private land, which accounts for 40 percent of the bird’s total habitat. The latest cash infusion brings the program’s budget .

SGI has offered grants to qualifying ranchers and farmers to make their plots more sage-grouse-friendly. Recommended actions range from removing conifer trees that have encroached on the bird’s beloved sagebrush, to putting up fencing that doesn’t heavily interrupt sage-grouse’s breeding and nesting ranges. Since the program’s founding in 2010, more than 1,100 ranches in 11 states—including Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana—have participated, totaling more than 4 million acres. The goal is to hit 8 million acres by 2018.

The new funding is a multimillion-dollar attaboy, says Brian Rutledge, vice president of ����APP Rockies. Its success, he says, comes from its collaborative spirit. SGI is voluntary; the program lets landowners and conservationists work together on solutions, unlike the one-size-fits-all approach that accompanies an endangered species listing. “The program is fully adaptable to suit the land,” says Rutledge. “It asks: What does the bird need in a [specific] part of sage-grouse country?”

But the Greater Sage-Grouse isn’t out of the woods. Despite SGI’s winning streak, the sage-grouse conservationists efforts are fighting an uphill battle on the regulatory front: In late 2014, the Obama administration to get the most recent spending bill passed. 

Still, as long as SGI keeps running, there may be no need for heavier regulation. Especially with an extra $200 million in its pockets.