Purpose
- Investigates the causes of economic imbalances.
- Investigates the effect of the global financial system and/or the monetary system in fostering a sustainable economy.
- Investigates causes tending to destroy or impair the free-market system.
- Explores and develops market-based solutions.

Summary

The NWF Wildlife Conflict Resolution program resolves conflicts between wildlife and livestock through the market-based approach of compensating ranchers for retiring high conflict grazing leases on federal land. Thanks to over a decade of funding from the Walker Foundation,we have retired over 75 grazing allotments totaling over 1.6 million acres. In 2017 NWF launched the WCR Southern Rockies, Colorado Plateau and Great Basin program and in the coming year we will pilot a new strategy in Grand Staircase-Escalante National and Bears Ears National Monuments in southern Utah that we will include "AUM buy-downs," but will also include the full retirement of grazing allotments.


Economic resources at Bears Ears. In 2017 the Trump Administration decreased the area by 85%, reportedly in response to pressure to lease the Federal land for drilling. Greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels are accelerating climate change, drying land used for grazing and agriculture. Grazing cattle on drought-stressed land leads to erosion & soil loss, further reducing the amount of water available within the drought-stricken Colorado River Basin. Responding to concerns about accelerating climate change and degradation of ancestral lands, in 2021 President Biden reinstated Bears Ears National Monument.

Description

Project report 6/11/24. This grant is providing support for two programs. One is to support the negotiation of grazing allotment retirements in Grand Staircase-Escalante (GSENM) and Bears National Monuments (BENM). The second is support for our Western Waters Program with a focus on beaver dam analog riparian restoration in the Colorado Basin.

Over the last eight months, NWF WCR staff have been working closely with our partner the Grand Canyon Trust to identify grazing allotment permit holders that would entertain a conversation about retiring their permits. We have contacted several on GSENM, but none have to date been interested in pursuing a further conservation. A few however, have communicated that they might be interested in the future. This is a common and promising response and we will maintain contact with these permittees. Also, the Grand Canyon Trust will be relinquishing at least one of its grazing permits setting a precedent. BLM as per the current GSENM presidential proclamation will close this allotment to future grazing. Although NWF did not incentivise the Trust in any way to make this decision, we did collaborate with them in lobbying BLM to commit to closing the allotment.

Our work in Bears Ears has arguably made more progress given that we are in negotiations with the Dalton family who hold permits to five allotments covering 765,435 acres. We met with the Daltons in January of this year and made an offer of $6.5 million which was not accepted. The Daltons came back and said that they only wanted to sell the largest allotment, which is 623,000 acres for well over $12million. As a result we are currently at an impasse, but are waiting for the issuance of the final Bears Ears Management Plan, which is expected in September or October. In the preferred alternative, grazing privileges would be restricted and might lead the Dalton family to re-enter negotiations. Although not included in this proposal, in December of 2023, we completed a deal that will retire 10 domestic sheep allotments in the San Juan Range in southwest Colorado. In addition, we are currently negotiating several large allotment retirements in Montana, Wyoming and Colorado. Also of possible interest, we are exploring opportunities in the Gila region of New Mexico and expect to initiate a more concerted effort in this region in 2025.

Regarding the portion of the grant that is supporting the Western Water program, the bulk of the funding will fund the restoration of a 2 mile reach of Dry Fork Creek located on the High Lonesome Ranch (HLR) near De Beque, CO using low-tech process-based restoration (LTPBR) also known as beaver dam analog (BDA) methods to restore valley bottom river-wetland corridor function, riparian/wetlands/beaver habitat, improve water quality, and improve the quantity and quality of forage for livestock and wildlife. This work employs for approaches that have already started and will be completed by the end of October. This include 1) the installation of BDA structures to help restore a two-mile reach of stream and will seed the riparian habitat with native grasses and forbs; 2) address side erosion gullies that are contributing to the stream sediment loading with BDA methods such as Zeedyk rock structures, 3) replace 3 road culverts within the two-mile reach that are greatly contributing to the incision/erosion rates and impairing water quality, and 4) implement land and water ranch management BMPs for grazing, irrigation, and livestock watering to contribute to and maintain the success of the project. We are currently planning on a site visit with members of the Walker Foundation Board in September when much of the construction work will be occurring.

Site Visit - In Sept. 2024 The Walker Foundation Board conducted a site visit with Bob McCready of NWF and partner Abby Burke of the Audubon Society. We observed firsthand how these two collaborative projects were working to achieve the Walker Foundation goals:

Our first stop was to the High Lonesome Ranch near Gunnison Colorado. Just a few years ago, the Ranch was forested with a trout stream. It generated income from grass-fed beef, hunting and fishing. Today, there are no fish in the stream and the Ranch is struggling to earn a profit.

On the heels of 150 years of overgrazing, the Spring of 2023 was a tipping point for ecological disaster. A wildfire killed many trees exposing the land to erosion. Then 14 months later, snowpack runoff caused local landslides, the swollen stream laden with silt eroded the stream channel, in places forming a canyon as deep as 30 feet. These extreme events degraded grazing for livestock, killed off the fish, and destroyed habitat for birds, beavers and other wildlife.

On the hopeful side, we observed firsthand how our Foundation funding was put to work building a series of Beaver Dam Analogs. These are small weirs that mimic the way beaver build dams from vegetation, sealed with mud. On day one we observed the dams beginning to stabilize stream flow. Our longer-term goal is that these small dams will stabilize the eroding stream banks, revegetate the riparian corridor, and restore the wetland plant communities to the point that trout and beaver eventually return. It will be exciting to see the improvements in this ecosystem five years from now (in 2029).

The second stop was to observe how climate change, overgrazing, and intensifying drought have put economic pressure on Ranchers who are struggling to adapt to a drier landscape with less vegetation to graze cattle and sheep.

In taking a market approach to repay Ranchers and retire these grazing rights, we can see how grasses will grow, the vegetation diversify, and the cryptobiotic soil* eventually return as they have in areas that are currently still protected.

* "Biological soil crusts are created by living organisms such as algae, cyanobacteria, and fungi. Cyanobacteria, the primary component of most soil crusts, are able to photosynthesize when they have enough water. As cyanobacteria colonizes the soil, they release gelatinous filaments that bind soil particles together in a dense matrix. The result is a hardened surface layer made up of both living organisms and inorganic soil matter. This crust is an important means by which arid soils resist erosion by wind and water. Many cryptobiotic soil crusts are able to absorb water more quickly than regular soils and as a result reduce runoff and impede evaporation. In addition, the cyanobacteria in the crust, as well as some of the surface lichens, are nitrogen fixers, meaning that they can chemically convert atmospheric nitrogen into a form usable by other plants." - National Park Service


Cryptobiotic soil in an un-grazed protected area, crossed by an animal path. Eliminating grazing by livestock and disturbance by off-road vehicles can allow soils to gradually recover.

Purpose

Beginning in 2001, NWF began using a market-based approach that recognized the economic value of grazing permits and offer to compensate ranchers for waiving their permit. We then receive assurances for from the agency that the allotment will not be restocked with livestock. In an effort to apply our model to new landscapes and to continue to innovate, we will adapt our allotment retirement model in Grand Staircase-Escalante National and Bears Ears National Monuments by testing what we are calling "AUM buy-downs." We should add that we are currently pursuing opportunities in both Monuments to fully retire several grazing allotments.

Scope

NWF has used this approach to address conflicts between large carnivores in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and beyond in the Northern Rockies for the last 22 years and in addition has employed the strategy to reduce conflicts between domestic and bighorn sheep. Because of the absence of large carnivores in the Southern Rockies and Great Basin, we have only focused on retiring domestic sheep allotments. With the recent proclamation re-constituting the Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments in Utah, we will continue to invest time and resources in allotment retirement and AUM buy-down opportunities in Utah over the coming year. Please note that over the last year of outreach, we are starting to generate some exciting opportunities in these two Monuments (see most recent project report).

Amount Approved
$40,000.00 on 10/9/2023 (Check sent: 10/16/2023)

Related Organizations National Wildlife Federation

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