SUBLETTE COUNTY – It was billed as a “happy hour” for producers, landowners, agency officials and other partnerships with the focus on the here and now of protecting Upper Green River working lands.

About 60 participants – mainly land and livestock owners – entered the Lovatt Room on Nov. 2 for the two-hour event sponsored by the Sublette County Conservation District (SCCD) facilitated by manager Mike Henn and the Western Landowners Alliance’s (WLA) Wyoming coordinator Shaleas Harrison.

Harrison’s mission is to bring more knowledge and awareness of well-funded U.S. Department of Agriculture grants and programs that often reward working landowners to keep doing what they do as stewards – or perhaps just a little bit more. Some projects are cost-shared; others include payments for resting grasslands; still others provide structure templates.

Along with accessible NRCS and Farm Service Agency (FSA) program funding, an emphasis was made to discuss nonlethal predator conflict management techniques for protected grizzlies and wolves.

The happy hour theme meant snacks and appetizers, beer, wine and fancy water for attendees, who listened closely as Harrison queried the “producer panel” of ranch manager Coke Landers, sheep and cattle rancher Cat Urbigkit, new ranch owner Andi James and cattle rancher Cotton Bousman.

“The goal of the event was to raise awareness of the challenges that producers face and the importance of working lands to our communities,” Harrison said.

G-CRP

One focus was the Wyoming/USDA Big Game Partnership – a habitat-leasing  “pilot” called the Grassland Conservation Reserve Program (G-CRP) that provides enrolled producers an annual payment for 10- to 15-year contracts in exchange for providing conservation values.

“This year, 17,400 acres were accepted into the program in Sublette County,” Harrison noted.

The land remains in production with haying and grazing continuing with a management plan. As part of this habitat lease, the USDA developed special guidance that enables producers to stack different Farm Bill programs, such as G-CRP with the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) in ways that fit their needs, she said.

Agricultural land protection through the Agriculture Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) is another tool to use towards permanent conservation easements on important habitats within migration corridors. 

Restoration, enhancement and management through EQIP funding to prioritize practices that restore and manage habitats and migrating big game species. Some examples include wildlife-friendly fence conversion, invasive species treatments, aspen regeneration, and wet meadow restoration.

Landers and owner Madeleine Murdock have worked with the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) as a “guinea pig” on the G-CRP, and EQIP for cost-shared irrigation, water structures and wildlife-friendly fencing.

The CRP “brings the most bang for the buck, for not doing anything different,” he said, by paying an owner to not overuse available grass. The ranch gained functioning water systems, “not piecemeal,” and NRCS “offered suggestions. I can’t say there are any drawbacks.”

Bousman said their first EQIP cost-share action was to install one center pivot.

Young rancher

James talked about purchasing her parents Steve and Mavis James’ ranch operation in Daniel. It wasn’t easy to talk about passing the operation along to a new generation but they shared “goals of ranch improvement and keeping the family on the ranch.”

NRCS’ Jennifer Hayward and the SCCD helped them draw up an initial conservation plan specific to their fields and operation “to use to make better decisions” James said.

Initially James was “leery” about signing up for CRP but looking at the checklist, she realized they were already “doing a lot of good things.”

They signed up for a year with the restriction to not hay before July 15 – which seldom happens in this county. After adding up everywhere they did not feed livestock, they found enough acreage to qualify for a new G-CRP “lease.”

“We’re signed up to get paid for what we’re already doing,” James said. The federal payments will go toward fencing, solar water tank “and a huge real estate loan to pay on every year.”

Next

Harrison asks the producers panelists about living with big game, techniques to reduce carnivore predation and what added compensation producers might need. SCCD’s Mike Henn questions agency panelists NRCS State Conservationist Jackie Byam, FSA Executive Director Bill Bunce, WLA’s coordinator Matt Collins and Game and Fish habitat specialist Jill Randall, on behalf of Sublette County Weed & Pest.