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Fort Collins, Colo. (July 20, 2022) – ̽����ѡ Rockies received a National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) grant that will, combined with matching funds, provide $344,800 for habitat management on ranches in western Wyoming. Starting in the fall of 2022, ranchers in Sublette, Teton, Lincoln, Uinta, Fremont, and Sweetwater counties will be eligible to receive financial support for improving habitat management on their lands.

̽����ѡ Rockies will distribute the funds through , a growing effort to stabilize declining rangeland bird populations in partnership with ranchers. The funds will be spent on on-the-ground ranchland habitat projects, ultimately improving rangeland bird management across 50,000 acres of rangeland in western Wyoming to benefit species such as Greater Sage-Grouse, Sage Thrasher, and Ferruginous Hawk.

Ranchers interested in receiving support for habitat management should contact Dusty Downey, conservation ranching manager for ̽����ѡ Rockies, at (504) 453-4124 or dusty.downey@audubon.org.

“Like grasslands everywhere, Wyoming’s prairie and sagebrush ecosystems are in danger,” said Downey. “As stewards of Wyoming’s rangelands, ranchers are our best hope for conserving rangeland birds. This funding will help ranchers improve the health of their land, which will benefit their businesses, birds, and other wildlife.”

Through ̽����ѡ's Conservation Ranching Initiative, enrolled private landowners implement habitat improvements for birds and other wildlife through a certification program. Once third-party verified, producers earn use of ̽����ѡ’s certification seal, a consumer package designation that identifies a product’s origin from lands managed for birds and biodiversity. So far, nine Wyoming ranches that span more than 396,800 acres have received ̽����ѡ’s certification.

Nationally, grassland birds have declined by 53 percent since 1970, or about 720 million birds. In Wyoming, this impacts native breeding species like Chestnut-collared and Thick-billed Longspurs, Baird’s Sparrow, Grasshopper Sparrow, Sprague’s Pipit, and the Lark Bunting. Still ripe with bird life, Wyoming provides breeding habitat for some of the continent’s most imperiled grassland songbirds. But Wyoming’s grasslands are at high risk of conversion to cropland or other developed uses.

“This market-based conservation program creates a financial incentive for keeping rangelands intact,” Downey said, “Preventing the loss of rangelands benefits both people and birds.”

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About ̽����ѡ’s Conservation Ranching Initiative

A wildlife habitat initiative of the ̽����ѡ with a unique market approach, ̽����ѡ Conservation Ranching’s purpose is to stabilize declining grassland bird populations in partnership with ranchers – on whose land 95 percent of grassland birds live. ̽����ѡ Conservation Ranching’s enrollment includes 92 ranches, covering more than 2.5 million acres that have earned status as ̽����ѡ Certified bird-friendly land. Incentivizing this habitat work for birds and biodiversity are consumers with an appetite for conservation, who support it with the purchase of products grazed on these lands. Shoppers see a special package designation – the ̽����ѡ Certified bird-friendly seal – that sets these products apart. For more information, visit

About ̽����ѡ Rockies

̽����ѡ Rockies, the regional ̽����ѡ office for Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah, conserves and restores natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth’s biological diversity. Learn more at  and by following us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at @audubonrockies.

Media Contact

Evan Barrientos
ebarrientos@audubon.org
(970) 416-6931 Ext. 4