Mesic areas comprise only 1-2% of the western landscape, but 80% of animals depend on them — including sage grouse and livestock. Learn why they’re important and how to conserve them.

The NRCS-led Sage Grouse Initiative is proud to announce a new conservation strategy that empowers private ranchers and partners to protect and enhance the wet green places that sustain working lands and wildlife.

Newly expanded visual tool on the SGI Web App allows managers to better predict and mitigate negative impacts of fire and cheatgrass across sagebrush range.

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.

Today, the Sage Grouse Initiative is unveiling a new layer on our interactive web application that shows where the risk of cropland conversion is highest. The new “cultivation risk map” layer predicts where future sagebrush habitat loss could occur based on soils, climate, and topography of existing croplands.

by Mary Guiden | “The new web app and map make sure people on the ground have the best science,” says Dave Naugle, SGI Science Advisor.

by Heather Emmons | The Progressive Rancher published the following story about the Sage Grouse Initiative’s new interactive web application in its March 2016 issue. Read on to learn how science is bolstering wildlife conservation in the West.

Today, the Sage Grouse Initiative is unveiling a new tool to catalyze and improve habitat conservation efforts across the western United States. The free SGI Interactive Web Application presents cutting-edge geospatial data covering 100 million acres.

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.