Mountain-Prairie Region
Endangered Species Program

 

Recent Successes

Conserving Endangered, Threatened

on Private Lands
Colorado Kansas Montana Nebraska North Dakota South Dakota Utah Wyoming

Colorado

Gunnison Sage-grouse Strategic Committee
The Service is working with Gunnison County, Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, local developers, local ranching community, and a local conservation group to develop a 600,000 acre conservation plan for the Gunnison Basin population of Gunnison sage-grouse.  The Gunnison sage-grouse was just recognized as a species in 2000.  This Basin is the stronghold of the species, providing over two-thirds of the remaining habitat and over three-fourths of the remaining individuals of this species.  The Strategic Plan's goal is to provide for the long-term conservation of the species, while also meeting the needs of local developers, ranchers, and other competing interests. The Committee has made a strong commitment (through a draft Memorandum of Understanding) to ensure consistent management strategies across all landscapes, regardless of ownership.

  Gunnison sage-grouse in the Gunnison Basin
Photo courtesy of Gunnison County
 

San Luis Valley, Colorado Regional HCP
The Service is working with the Rio Grande Water Conservation District and the State of Colorado to develop a regional Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP).  The District and State received Section 6 - Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund grants in 2004 and 2005 to complete the HCP and associated NEPA documentation.  The District is administering the HCP process on behalf of the five counties that comprise the San Luis Valley in southern Colorado.  The HCP focuses conservation on over 150 miles of riparian habitat and provides coverage for land use activities on over 2 million acres that affect the southwestern willow flycatcher, bald eagle, and yellow-billed cuckoo.  This effort will expand the existing conservation partnerships for the three covered species as well as numerous other plant and wildlife species.
 

Riparian habitat of the Southwestern willow flycatcher in the San Luis Valley
Photo courtesy of San Luis Valley Information Center

Kansas

Private Landowner Agreement Benefits Lesser Prairie-Chicken
The Service worked the Ted Alexander Ranch in the midgrass prairie of the Red Hills in south-central Kansas to conserve a candidate species for federal listing.  The less prairie-chicken occurs on the Alexander Ranch, but habitat was compromised by ongoing ranching activities.  Working the Mr. Alexander, the Service identified practices which could benefit habitat for this prairie grouse species.  Through a Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances, Mr. Alexander agreed to manage 2,232 acres of his ranch for optimal lesser prairie-chicken habitat through grassland restoration, prescribed burning, and implementation of alternate livestock grazing schemes and stock watering locations.

This Agreement is one of a series of activities occurring in Kansas and elsewhere in the range of the lesser prairie-chicken that are providing benefits that may hopefully result in  population gains that will avoid a listing under the Endangered Species Act.  Other landowners in Kansas are considering implementing conservation actions similar to those included in the agreement.


Lesser prairie-chickens sharing their breeding grounds with cows,  Photo by Greg Kramos

Prairie Dog and Black-Footed Ferret Conservation on the Shortgrass Prairie
The Service has been cooperating with a group of six private landowners, including The Nature Conservancy, who control over 41,000 acres of shortgrass prairie habitat in western Kansas.  Altogether, these landowners support approximately 8,500 acres of black-tailed prairie dog colonies, and each is interested in conserving this species and maintaining the biodiversity this habitat type supports.. In addition, the Service has received a request from each landowner to assess the status of the properties for the ability to serve as a reintroduction site for the endangered black-footed ferret.  While this assessment is ongoing, preliminary indications are that a ferret release may be possible on one or more properties in the near future.

The county in which these properties occur has been enforcing an ancient state statute which allows counties and townships to mandate prairie dog eradication on private land.  The landowners have so far been able to prevent total eradication, but all have been forced into some level of lethal control, especially near their borders with neighbors.  The Service is working with these landowners, and with county officials, to reach an amicable solution whereby prairie dog colonies may be maintained, neighboring landowners will be minimally affected, and, hopefully, ferrets may be reintroduced on an experimental basis.  The Service also coordinated with Audubon of Kansas to secure a Private Stewardship Grant to evaluate various methods of preventing the spread of prairie dogs onto unwanted properties.

In today's social and political climate where many individuals are fearful of the prospect of listed species on their lands, it is more encouraging to have landowners who are willingly participating in species recovery by offering their lands for reintroduction purposes.  The Service will continue to support their efforts as well as their right to maintain native wildlife on their private land, although this effort is already a success in educating residents of the importance of wildlife.


Shortgrass prairie where black-tailed prairie dogs can flourish

For more information on black-tailed prairie dogs, click here
For more information on black-footed ferrets, click here

Topeka Shiner Marking to Identify Problem Road Crossings
The Service and Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks initiated a mark-recapture study on private lands along Clear Fork Creek in northern Kansas.  A low-water crossing on this stream has been identified as one of hundreds in the state that most likely provide an impediment to small fish emigration upstream during spring spawning flows.  Soliciting volunteers from numerous agencies and organizations, and coordinating with private landowners along the stream, the Service supported the State in efforts to mark 1,549 Topeka shiners from several miles of Clear Fork Creek downstream of the targeted crossing.  During the coming months and into next year, follow-up samples will be taken to determine the extent of movement of these marked fish, including whether any fish make it upstream of the supposed barrier.

Results of this work will be used in coordination with local road and bridge departments and landowners wishing to undertake road crossing projects.  If certain types of crossings are indeed identified as impassible by small fish, both federal and state money may be available to help fix or retrofit some crossings, particularly on streams containing listed fish species.  Since Kansas is 98% privately owned land, and waterways are owned by adjoining landowners out to the centerline of the stream, the support of these landowners was critical in conducting this project.


Seining for Topeka shiners,  Photo by Bryan Simmons


Topeka shiners captured for marking,  Photo by Bryan Simmons
 


Marking a Topeka shiner,  Photo by Bryan Simmons

Montana

Fluvial Arctic Grayling Conservation Efforts on Private Lands
The distinct population segment of fluvial Arctic grayling in the upper Missouri River has been an ESA candidate since 1994. The sole remaining population exists in the Big Hole River in southwestern Montana and represents only about 5% of the historic range.

Grayling conservation efforts in the Big Hole River are ongoing, and a pending umbrella Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances (CCAA) that encompasses the core of the population in the drainage is the centerpiece of these efforts. The CCAA is being developed collaboratively by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP), Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Service’s Endangered Species staff. The proposed CCAA focuses on working with landowners to reduce irrigation diversions and improve instream flows, conserve or restore riparian habitat, assess and mitigate entrainment in irrigation ditches, and remove barriers to grayling movement in natural stream channels. We anticipate finalizing the CCAA and issuing the permit in Spring 2006.

In anticipation of the CCAA’s approval, the partner agencies have re-directed the duties of existing personnel or hired additional personnel to address the expected workload. The partner agencies have proceeded with conservation actions assuming the CCAA will be approved.

  • Thirty-nine landowners representing over 215,000 acres have signed up to participate since FWP solicited interest in the potential CCAA in April 2005. This represents over half of the proposed CCAA project area. FWP and its partner agencies have begun to collect inventory data on these landowners’ properties and implement conservation measures to benefit grayling that are consistent with the proposed CCAA.

  • NRCS has spent over $1.2 million on landowner-focused projects to improve habitat conditions for grayling in the Big Hole River during 2004-05.

The pending agreement shows how private landowners from a traditional ranching culture and state and federal agencies can be willing partners ins species conservation despite contentious issues.  The cooperation stimulated by the CCAA process in the Big Hole River valley is a success that all partners can brag about.

Monitoring Riparian Habitat


Photos by Brad Everett

Installing a Fish Ladder
 

Nebraska

Central Platte River Habitat Restoration Project
Central Platte River projects are designed to restore and enhance habitat within the “Big Bend” reach of the Platte River in south-central Nebraska to benefit whooping crane, sandhill crane, least tern, piping plover, and various water birds (e.g., waterfowl, shorebirds, wading birds) and native grassland dependent birds. The Big Bend reach of the central Platte River has long been recognized as a major stopover for migratory birds traveling the Central Flyway. Within this reach, a 54-mile-long by 3-mile-wide segment of the river between Lexington and Shelton, Nebraska is federally designated as critical habitat for the endangered whooping crane. The combination of broad, open-river channels, shallow braided character, adjacent wet meadows, and abundant food supplies attracts millions of birds each year.

Projects along the central Platte River involve removal and management of undesirable woody vegetation and invasive species (e.g., purple loosestrife, phragmites, tamarisk, eastern red cedar); restoration of riverine backwaters, sloughs, and wetlands; and rehabilitation of wet meadow and grassland habitats. Many riverine channels and adjacent aquatic habitats of the central Platte, along much of its length from Overton to Chapman, Nebraska (approximately 80 river miles), have become vegetated with invasive tree, shrub, and other herbaceous growth. Active, open-channel areas have narrowed significantly, limiting available sandhill crane, whooping crane, and waterfowl roosting and loafing habitat. In addition, the narrowing channels have reduced nesting areas for the federally listed least tern and piping plover. Numerous acres of wet meadow and lowland grassland habitats have also been invaded by eastern red cedar, Russian olive, and other undesirable woody species. Critically important wetland areas (e.g., backwaters, sloughs, side channels, and swales) have become infested with purple loosestrife, hybrid cattail, phragmites, and reed canary grass.

One of the keys to the success of this project are the partnerships that have been developed with private landowners along the central Platte River along with other groups, agencies, and organizations. Over the past decade, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) through its implementation of the Nebraska Partners for Fish and Wildlife (PFW) Program, has established solid working relationships with over 110 private landowners, the Platte River Whooping Crane Maintenance Trust, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission (NGPC), Nebraska Environmental Trust, National Audubon Society, The Nature Conservancy, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), Ducks Unlimited, Prairie Plains Resource Institute, and Crane Meadows Nature Center to implement land management and restoration practices on the river. The numerous partnerships have completed over a hundred projects which would not have been possible by any one of the partners alone. These partners have successfully developed restoration techniques involving the use of heavy equipment in the river channel and adjacent grasslands to restore and maintain wetland, grassland, and open-channel habitats for a wide array of native fish and wildlife species.

An additional factor which has contributed significantly to the success of this project is the coordination and communication that takes place among the various Service’s programs and activities (PFW, ES, RW, Platte River Program, and Federal Aid). PFW staff work closely with Ecological Service (ES) staff at the State and Regional levels to ensure that on-the-ground habitat restoration projects contribute toward the recovery goals for federally listed species as well as Service habitat objectives for the central Platte River ecosystem. Service funding for this effort has also come from a variety of Service programs and grants such as the PFW Program, Private Stewardship Grant Program, Challenge Cost Share Program, Platte River/NFWF Agreement, Landowner Incentive Program, and State Wildlife Grants. This project is a coordinated and consolidated effort of private landowners and conservation interests along the central Platte River.

During FY-2005, the Nebraska PFW Program, in conjunction with the numerous partners, entered into 22 new private landowner agreements along the central Platte River to control and manage invasive species and restore riverine wetlands and native grasslands. The restoration efforts were conducted along the 80-mile-long project area. The 22 projects resulted in restoration and enhancement of approximately 4,000 acres of riverine floodplain habitats (wetland, grassland, riverine, and riparian), including the restoration of approximately 6 miles of riverine backwater and slough habitat, and the restoration and maintenance of approximately 11 miles of riverine crane and waterfowl roosting habitat. An additional 34 miles of riverine roosting habitat along the central Platte River was maintained during the 2005 field season. Between 1992 and 2005, the Service has entered into 112 voluntary agreements with private landowners along the central Platte River. These projects have resulted in the protection, restoration and/or enhancement of approximately 9,200 acres of riverine floodplain habitat (3,200 acres of wetland habitat, 6,000 acres of upland/riparian habitat), 45 miles of riverine habitat and over 40 miles of sloughs, backwaters, and side channels.

Riverine and wetland restoration along the central Platte River helps achieve local, national, and international goals in the preservation of migratory bird habitat and in the protection and recovery of federally listed threatened and endangered species such as whooping crane, least tern, and piping plover. Projects completed along the central Platte River are conducted so as to contribute toward the restoration of habitat complexes along this 80-mile reach of the river and will contribute toward the recovery of the central Platte River ecosystem.

Central Platte River

Whooping Cranes

North Dakota

Piping Plover Recovery in the Alkali Lake Core Area
The piping plover (Charadrius melodus) is a threatened shorebird that nests on open sandbars and gravelly beaches on the Atlantic Coast, Great Lakes and throughout the Great Plains. Annually 138 basins are surveyed in North Dakota and Montana with help from The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks. Along with TNC, thr has administered funds for a private stewardship grant to enhance plover nesting habitat on private lands. Through cooperation with partners, we have removed potential predator den sites (rock piles, junk piles), removed trees that were potential for crow and raptor nest and perch sites, and helped set up grazing systems that exclude cattle from nesting beaches during the early summer nesting season. Working with private landowners in North Dakota and Montana has been a huge success. More than 80 landowners annually grant access to monitor plover nesting. Funds through Partners for Wildlife, the North America Wetland Conservation Act, Ducks Unlimited, Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program, Environmental Quality Incentives Program and private stewardship grant money have been used for project implementation.

Alkali wetland where piping plovers nest
Photo by Adam Ryba

South Dakota

Mid Dakota Wetland Enhancement Package
In the 1990’s, the Bureau of Reclamation began evaluating a large scale water delivery project that would transport Missouri River water for municipal, rural and industrial use to areas in east central South Dakota. The project would bisect some of the highest densities prairie pothole areas in the prairie pothole region of North America. This area is a substantial producer of waterfowl and contains extensive areas of native grass. The South Dakota Ecological Service Office developed a Coordination Act Report in conjunction with the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks (Department) that would provide approximately $2.8 million dollars for a wetland enhancement and conservation component to go along with the water delivery project. The Partners for Wildlife Program, working in conjunction with the Refuge System and the Department identified willing sellers of high quality wetland and prairie tracts. These tracts were then purchased and added to the Refuge System or the Department’s Game Production Area Program. The Congressional Appropriations have been fully expended and approximately 4,500 acres of wetlands and grasslands were acquired.

 
 

Grassland Conservation in Topeka Shiner Watersheds
The Topeka shiner, a small minnow sized fish of upper headwater streams in eastern South Dakota became listed as an endangered species in 1999. It is believed that grasslands and wetlands in watersheds inhabited by Topeka shiners are important features in maintaining stream quality for this fish. The Partners for Wildlife Program participates with landowners to develop and maintain grazing systems that keep grazing operations profitable thereby preventing grassland conversion to croplands in this area of South Dakota that already is extensively farmed. Additionally, Ecological Services and the Partners for Wildlife Program have worked with the Natural Resources Conservation Service and others to facilitate installation of animal waste treatment facilities, buffer strips and other measures to minimize runoff pollutants into Topeka shiners streams.

Topeka shiner stream

Utah

Prairie Dogs and Ranchers Can Co-Exist
The Utah prairie dog has been a “listed” species since the concept was conceived. Occurring only in the southwestern corner of Utah, 75% of the population occurs on private lands. For years, the conflicts between Utah prairie dogs, a threatened species, and private landowners have been fierce. However, with the tools of Safe Harbor Agreements in our toolbox, those conflicts are beginning to give way to cooperative conservation efforts. In 2005, Allen Henrie and Mitchell Pace both signed Safe Harbor Agreements in which they have volunteered to manage portions of their land to benefit Utah prairie dogs. After extensive outreach efforts with County Extension and Environmental Defense, these two landowners, agreed that with some minor treatments, their current activities could benefit Utah prairie dogs and having prairie dogs on their property doesn’t have to be a threatening thing. Funding opportunities with Private Stewardship Grants, NRCS EQIP and Partners for Wildlife have enabled us to work with these landowners to expand Utah prairie dog habitat while enabling the landowners to continue their current agricultural activities. These two landowners are leading the way in what has been a skeptical community. Today, we have three other landowners who are interested in entering into Safe Harbor Agreements.

  Photo by Elise Boeke

Mr. Henrie receives an award from The Wildlife Society

Photo by Teresa Bonzo, Utah Division of Wildife

Wyoming

Colorado Butterfly Plant Conservation Agreements
From February through November of 2004 the Wyoming Ecological Services Field Office (WYESFO) coordinated with several partners including the Wyoming Stockgrower’s Association, the Wyoming Association of Conservation Districts, the Department of Agriculture, the NRCS in Wyoming and Nebraska, the City of Fort Collins in Colorado, the City of Cheyenne in Wyoming, and several individual landowners to develop Wildlife Extension Agreements (WEAs) to provide for the conservation of the federally threatened Colorado butterfly plant (Gaura neomexicana ssp. coloradensis). These WEAs include on the ground actions to alleviate specific threats, such as: annual monitoring of populations by the Service; an adaptive management approach to evaluate success of management actions under the agreement; and the collection of data needed for future recovery of the species. WEAs provide specific measures to address potential threats due to herbicide application, livestock grazing, and hay production.

These agreements provide for the conservation needs of the plant above and beyond what would be achievable through the designation of critical habitat on private lands while meeting the needs of individual landowners. Currently, 11 such agreements are in place, providing protection to 1,038 ha (2,564 ac) of riparian habitat along 59 km (37 mi) of stream. Consequently, the Service was able to exclude the entire area encompassed by these WEAs from designation of critical habitat pursuant to section 4 (b)(2) of the Act.

Landowners began contacting the Wyoming WYESFO in June of 2005 to discuss their plans for cutting hay and moving cattle, providing an opportunity to first conduct the annual surveys for Gaura. Surveys conducted on properties with WEAs during 2005 yielded useful information on Gaura population fluctuations, management practices and potential effects of management actions on Gaura populations. Additionally, surveys during 2005 led to the discovery of a new population of the federally threatened Ute ladies’-tresses orchid (Spiranthes diluvialis) that otherwise would have remained unnoticed.

  A Gaura and it's habitat
Photo by Tyler Abbott

Wyoming Toad Safe Harbor Agreement Success Story
As a result of a cooperative effort among the Laramie Rivers Conservation District, the Buford Foundation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in 2005, over 6,000 endangered Wyoming toad tadpoles and 15 adult toads were released on private property owned by the Buford Foundation in Albany County, Wyo. This reintroduction is a result of a safe harbor agreement with Laramie River Conservation District signed in August 2004, and numerous hours of work between all the partners in the process including the Laramie River Conservation District, privately run Buford Foundation, Natural Resource Conservation Service, the Service’s own Partner, Refuges, Fisheries and Ecological Services programs and the Wyoming State Game and Fish Department. The safe harbor agreement allows the Service, with permission of enrolled landowners, to release the critically endangered Wyoming toad onto private land to help recover the species while at the same time providing the landowner with assurances that their activities will not be constrained by the Endangered Species Act. As part of the agreement, a permit to enhance the toad’s survival is issued which authorizes incidental take of Wyoming toads resulting from agricultural-related activities like crop cultivation, livestock grazing, etc., on enrolled property as well as adjacent neighboring lands. Conservation benefits for the toad under a safe harbor agreement include finding out more about Wyoming toad ecology in general, and specifically, maintaining, enhancing and/or creating habitat and new populations, expanding the current range of the Wyoming toad and decreasing habitat fragmentation within its range. In 2006, another landowner has stepped forward to become part of this umbrella agreement for the Wyoming toad. This property, currently a fully functional cattle operation will be enrolling 40 acres to help recover the Wyoming toad. We also have an additional landowner interested in signing up in 2007. Because the majority of suitable habitat is on private lands, this Safe Harbor Agreement and associated Enhancement of Survival Permit are critical to recovering this critically endangered species. This SHA was highlighted by the Service at the recent 2005 National Association of Conservation Districts in Houston, Texas.

  Photo by Tyler Abbott
Wyoming toad released under the Safe Harbor Agreement

  Privacy  /  Region 6 Home  /  National FWS  Home  /  Department of the Interior  /  Contact Us