By Brianna Randall | Partnering with the USDA-led Sage Grouse Initiative helps young ranchers improve the land for both sage grouse and cattle.

A new report released by the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies — and funded by an NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant — is the first study aimed at evaluating the efficacy of using different fence markers to prevent birds from colliding with fences in sagebrush country.

SGI’s interactive web app now features a map layer that helps land managers prioritize where to mark high-risk fences to protect birds. This user-friendly tool allows ranchers and partners to make the most difference for sage grouse across the range.

Michael Brown, a Sage Grouse Initiative range and wildlife conservationist in Washington, forged a new connection with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Partners Program to make sure a willing landowner could accomplish as much as possible to improve conditions for the eastern Washington’s sage grouse.

Sage grouse like the habitat around the Pokorny Ranch, and the Pokornys like the conservation improvements SGI helped them make on their Wyoming ranch. “They were the first landowners I had to enroll in the program,” says Kevin Edinger with the Wyoming NRCS. “These folks are really progressive operators. They’re as good as it gets.”

Marking fences for visibility can dramatically reduce sage grouse collisions. A new mapping tool can help managers and landowners target those fences that pose the highest risk for grouse strikes: fences close to leks, and in flat or rolling terrain.