Purpose
- Investigates the causes of economic imbalances.
- Investigates causes tending to destroy or impair the free-market system.
- Explores and develops market-based solutions.
Summary
The National Wildlife Federation’s (NWF) Wildlife Conflict Resolution program (WCR) resolves conflicts between wildlife and livestock through the market-based approach of compensating ranchers for retiring high conflict grazing leases on federal land. In addition to helping restore populations of threatened wildlife, removing grazing from large acreages is a key strategy to restoring healthy, ecological functional landscapes. Thanks to over a decade of funding from the Walker Foundation, the WCR team has retired over 75 grazing allotments totaling over 1.5 million acres. Over 85% of these acres are in the Northern Rockies and has been credited as a significant element in a multi-decade effort to restore the ecological integrity of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
In 2017 NWF launched the WCR Southern Rockies, Colorado Plateau and Great Basin state of Colorado program and a new element of our work in the coming year will be to support the reintroduction of wolves to the state.
Purpose
Intractable conflicts between livestock and wildlife on public lands has existed for decades. In the past, NGO's has used litigation as a way to force the land management agencies to close high conflict grazing allotments. 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.
Scope
NWF has used this novel approach to address conflicts between large carnivores in the Great Yellowstone Ecosystem for the last 20 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, we have only focused on retiring domestic sheep allotments.
Amount Approved$30,000.00
on 6/8/2021
(Check sent: 6/11/2021)
