Cooperative Brushland Conservation: Keeping the Sharp-tails Dancing  

Thanks to a cooperative effort involving NRCS and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MDNR), conservation management of brushland habitat under both public and private ownership is making remarkable progress towards restoring habitat for the sharp-tailed grouse.

Using NRCS Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program and MDNR private lands funds, the agencies have coordinated 33 successful cooperative projects on 2,230 acres of private lands and are looking toward expanding the current priority areas to include additional sharp-tailed grouse habitat in Minnesota.

“The sharp-tail projects are important since their population has been declining at an alarming rate for over the past half century and spurred the MDNR to list them as a ‘species of special concern," says Minnesota NRCS State Conservationist Bill Hunt. “The lack of fire, tree planting in open areas, extensive land clearing for agriculture, and recently dividing-up large tracts of land are primary causes of sharp-tailed grouse decline.”

“The cooperation of NRCS, MDNR, and private landowners has not only benefited sharp-tailed grouse,” explained Bill Berg, a MDNR wildlife biologist. “If you do everything right for sharp-tail habitat, you will have brushland for up to 256 other wildlife species benefit from our cooperative brushland projects in northeastern Minnesota."

Roche Lally, a project participant and president of the Minnesota Sharp-tailed Grouse Society has noticed a definite increase in the numbers of sharp-tailed grouse where projects have been completed.
Your contact is Russell Kleinschmidt, NRCS soil conservationist, at 218-720-5209.