Purpose
- Explores and develops market-based solutions.
Summary
After decades of conflicts between wildlife and public land livestock grazing in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem, NWF entered the scene in the early 2000’s with a novel approach to ameliorate these conflicts. Over the last two-plus decades, staff from the Wildlife Conflict Resolution program (WCR) refined a strategy that compensates ranchers for voluntarily waiving their livestock permits, thereby removing their livestock from those conflicts grazing allotments. NWF’s grazing retirement work benefits myriad species, but our primary focus is to enable the expansion of large carnivores like wolves and grizzlies, bighorn sheep, ESA listed species and improving fisheries across multiple ecoregions. The geographic focus of this proposal is the Southern Rockies, Colorado Plateau including Utah and the Great Basin. More specifically, we are requesting support for the third year of our work in the Grand Staircase- Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments.
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 10/23/2024
(Check sent: 11/7/2024)
