Partners for Conservation's Response to Covid-19
Even when much else seems to have stopped, the needs of people and nature don’t.
Thank you for doing what you do. Partners for Conservation is currently working on new ways for us to continue our work in making connections, improving communication, and extending outreach to those engaging or hoping to engage in public-private partnerships.
Banner photo: New Mexico
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Private Lands Partners Day October 5-7, 2020
Even as our country continues to respond to the global pandemic, planning continues for Private Lands Partners Day 2020 near Redmond, Oregon with the hope that we are able to gather again by the time we reach early October. Registration will be open in the coming weeks, but we do have the
general agenda and lodging information up on the meeting website. We hope we are able to see you there. Stay Safe and Stay Well.
Photo: Black Butte, OR
Proposals Sought for Private Lands Partners Day 2022 and 2023 Host Locations
Partners for Conservation is currently accepting proposals from potential host locations for Private Lands Partners Day 2022 and 2023. Private Lands Partners Day is the premiere annual national event for landowners and partners engaged in partnership-based collaborative conservation work to sustain our national working landscapes. The event changes locations each year and has been held from Maine to California and from Montana to Florida. Proposals are being accepted through
June 1, 2020 and the
request for proposal can be downloaded here.
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Saving Species on Private Lands
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Our Amazing Grasslands
"We've taken a lot of bits and pieces from different operations, and we're trying to make our own puzzle for our place. We want to ranch as a family, not just have a family ranch." - Jeff & Marci Dell
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Partner/Private Lands News
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Ranching & Agriculture
New Mexico ranch to serve as adaptive stewardship grazing outdoor classroom
Ranchland Trust of Kansas executive director talks conservation and grant
Taos veterans' group farm protected under conservation easement
Landmark Watershed Agreement Reached in Iowa
Farmers on the Frontlines of the Regenerative Agriculture Transition: Regenerative practices may offer an appealing economic alternative to farmers. Conventional farmers realize “they can’t do it that same way anymore. They’re broke, and they’ve hit the wall. On the other hand, Gabe Brown, well-known champion of soil health says, “I will take profit over yield any day.”
A second Food Bank Farm to provide organic produce to area households at risk of hunger, and to children in high-poverty school districts, will begin operations this year on land in North Hadley preserved by Kestrel Land Trust.
NACD announces $8.5 million in grants to conservation districts
Colorado finalists for the Leopold award show the best of private conservation
Farmers looking to transition to the next farm owner or starting their new farm businesses now have some exceptional guidance via You Tube videos developed by New York Agricultural Land Trust (NYALT)
Water
Over $1.5 million provided to improve Illinois water quality: American Farmland Trust partners with Natural Resources Conservation Service
Wildlife, Recreation & Education
Monarch butterfly gets protection in 'historic' deal
Converting Forests into Farmland Could Increase Spread of Zoonotic Disease: Solutions involve making sure that both conservationists and agriculturalists have a seat at the table
Texan by Nature Announces 2020 Conservation Wranglers: six innovative conservation projects across the state of Texas recognized for their science-based and results driven approach to conservation along with their ability to positively impact people, prosperity, and natural resources.
The nonprofit North Florida Land Trust announced April 16 it will receive $9.4 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Resources Conservation Service for its public/private Ocala to Osceola Wildlife Corridor conservation initiative.
Rebroadcast of Feb 2020 Society for Range Management meeting presentations with the BLM, two full sessions from the March meeting:
Forests
The U.S. Department of Agriculture will invest more than $250,000 this fiscal year, to be paid out to forest landowners in 10 Missouri counties, including Douglas, Howell, Ozark and Texas. Funds are meant to help private forest landowners restore their forests by cutting down excess trees in order to improve timber production, restore native wildlife habitats and improving the general local environment.
Paper’s Forestland Stewards Partnership helps support conservation grants to restore and conserve Gopher Tortoise habitat
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A NOTE FROM THE CHAIR
Hello!
I hope you all are staying safe and well and holding up in light of our pandemic challenge. This is something that has probably touched us, if not impacted tragically, our lives or the lives of others important to us. It certainly has impacted life and work here in Ovando, Montana in ways I would not have thought possible just a few weeks ago.
However we are doing what we can to adapt to our current reality, including having a Blackfoot Challenge meeting remotely connecting over 40 people with Zoom (our new best friend). For a place that puts a premium on being together it is a hard pill to swallow but so thankful that we can do that when we have to keep moving.
I hope all of you and your livelihood recover from this just as fast as possible. Please stay healthy!
Sincerely,
Jim Stone
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Cows over Condos
Expanding efforts to keep ‘cows over condos’ are protecting land across the West. From Montana’s sagebrush steppe to New Mexico’s Central Flyway, the interest in conservation easements is so strong that state agencies and nonprofits are juggling lengthy waiting lists of applications.
Photo by Matthew Staver for The Washington Post
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#FridaysOnTheFarm
This Friday meet
Johnny Bembry of Pulaski County, Georgia.The Bembry family has made a living on their farm for over 200 years, adapting and evolving how they manage the land as needed. Diverse ventures in row crops, cattle and timber has led to an array of benefits, including profitable lands, cleaner water downstream and top-notch wildlife habitat.
Each Friday, meet diverse farmers, producers, and landowners through
#FridaysOnTheFarm stories. Visit local farms, ranches, forests, and resource areas where USDA customers and partners do right and feed everyone.
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2020 Leopold Conservation Award®
Given in honor of renowned conservationist Aldo Leopold, these awards recognize farmers and foresters in many U.S. states who inspire others with their dedication to land, water and wildlife habitat management on private, working land.
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Nature’s Good Neighbors:
What the eyes don’t see the heart doesn’t feel
Family owned and operated Reed Ranch builds a legacy beyond livestock, helping to craft one of the largest voluntary conservation agreement in U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service history with 19 other ranches, protecting agebrush sparrow, Brewer’s sparrow, sage thrasher, black-tailed prairie dog, mountain plover, burrowing owl, Ferruginous hawk, and greater sage-grouse.
Nature’s Good Neighbors:
The US Fish and Wildlife Service 2018
Nature’s Good Neighbors
series showcases conservationists across the nation, many of whom are private landowners with some on the PFC board!
Photo below:
Gopher tortoise David Syzdek CC
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Private Lands Conservation Events & Funding Announcements
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JOBS
NRCS Oregon recruiting for a hydrologist in Portland, OR
Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever
Hiring Project Outreach Coordinator - Boise, Idaho
EVENTS
Stockmanship School in Elko County, Nevada Sep 24-27, 2020:
Check out the upcoming Soil Health Academies
to be held from June through November 2020 in MI, NM, Alberta, ID, and AL.
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ABOUT PARTNERS FOR CONSERVATION
Partners for Conservation (PFC) is a private landowner-led organization which communicates and collaborates on conservation partnerships for working landscapes to benefit present and future generations.
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