Cattle Ranchers Join Conservationists To Save Endangered Species And Rangelands

The Fish and Wildlife Service employees gained the trust of local ranchers, says Hoagland, who has since built more ponds and wetlands. “Building that trust is so important, and they were straightforward and really good to work with,” he says. “I’m behind them 100%.”

And spotted frogs were just one of the threatened or recently endangered species to crop up at the new ponds. Other regulars included the sage grouse, which needs a wet meadow for raising its young. (For those who’ve never seen this popular sagebrush dweller, its spiky tailfeathers makes it look somewhat like a turkey that stuck its beak in a light socket.) Besides becoming a regular pit stop for bats, pronghorn elk, sandhill cranes and migrating ducks and geese, the ponds helped replenish the water table — crucial in drought-prone Western land.

"I wanted to create the [wet] meadow habitat because water is so scarce in the West, and water is critical to life," says rancher Chris Black of Owyhee County, who created a series of ponds on his property. "If I can create a meadow habitat, I can create a place for sage grouse to come in, pronghorn to come in, all wildlife to use, plus my cows have a habitat they can use. It's good for everything in the system.”

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Paul in Idaho said:

Here's another encouraging example of cooperation and collaboration to reach shared goals. It's good to hear of people with different perspectives working together instead of the current normal of extreme polarization and stonewalling.


https://www.forbes.com/sites/dianah...e-endangered-species-rangelands/#69b11aa4220d

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