Purpose
- Explores and develops market-based solutions.

Summary

The National Wildlife Federation’s (NWF) Wildlife Conflict Resolution (WCR) 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 100 grazing allotments totaling over 1.7 million acres. In 2017 NWF launched the WCR Southern Rockies, Colorado Plateau and Great Basin program, and we recently piloted a new strategy in Grand Staircase-Escalante National and Bears Ears National Monuments in southern Utah that included "AUM buy-downs," and the full retirement of grazing allotments. In 2024, we began a new WCR venture by assisting NWF’s partner the Wind River Tribal Buffalo Initiative (WRTBI) to negotiate with Wind River Reservation Range Unit grazing permit holders in an effort to open up areas for the Reservation’s Buffalo program. This work will be the focus of this application.

Description

After a productive site visit with the Walker Family Foundation members to the Wind River Reservation in early September, WCR staff have continued discussions with the Wind River Tribal Buffalo Initiative (WRTBI) staff on next steps for moving forward with retiring cattle permits on the adjacent range units to allow for the expansion of the bison herd. In the fall of last year, the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone Tribes passed resolutions to designate buffalo as wildlife rather than livestock, which is an important step that will provide for future buffalo protections under Tribal law. We are now working on holding a larger meeting of the partners involved in the buffalo restoration work. This work is taking place in a politically and socially complex landscape, and in order to be successful in the long term we need to move forward slowly with all the stakeholders aligned. After this meeting, we will start reaching out to the permittees on the adjacent range unit 24A and 19A. These conversations will need to happen thoughtfully and will require introductions from WRTBI staff.

Purpose

Beginning in 2003, NWF began using a market-based approach that recognized the economic value of public land grazing permits and offers to compensate ranchers for waiving their permit. We then receive assurances from the public land management 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 on the Wind River Reservation by adapting to the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ allotment rules, increased engagement with Tribal members, and ensuring the range units are able to be converted to buffalo once the cattle permits are waived.

Scope

NWF has used this approach to address conflicts between large carnivores and livestock 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 that impact bighorn sheep herds in these areas. This proposal will focus on our expanding impact in Wyoming and the Wind River Reservation's efforts to retire cattle permits and convert land usage to buffalo.

Amount Approved
$70,000.00 on 11/25/2025 (Check sent: 12/7/2025)

Related Organizations National Wildlife Federation

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