NRCS California Invests $1.3M in Working Lands for Wildlife Initiatives

Apr 29, 2024

The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in California is taking applications for the 2024 Sage Grouse Initiative (SGI) and Southwestern Willow Flycatcher (SWFL) initiative through the NRCS Working Lands for Wildlife (WLFW) partnership, a collaborative approach to conserve habitat on working lands.

“We are proud to invest more than $1M this year to assist farmers and ranchers protect these important species on working lands,” said NRCS California State Conservationist Carlos Suarez. “Agriculture knows that a healthy habitat for species benefits their operations and NRCS is committed to helping producers achieve their conservation goals.”

WLFW is funded through NRCS’ Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), the agency’s flagship conservation program that helps farmers, ranchers and forest landowners integrate conservation into working lands. NRCS partners with federal and state agencies, conservation organizations, and landowners that aims to conserve wildlife habitats and species across the country.

SGI focuses on enhancing sagebrush habitat on private lands by addressing threats to sustainable grazing operations and maximize benefits to sage grouse populations. In California, primary threats addressed are invading conifers, and invasive annual grasses. Rangeland management practices facilitate improved grazing management resulting in healthier, more sustainable, and productive rangelands. Implementation conservation practices have shown positive population effects to sage grouse and other sagebrush species.

SWFL offers technical and financial assistance to help landowners voluntarily restore riparian areas on private lands. This assistance helps producers plan and implement a variety of conservation activities, or practices, that benefit the riparian birds and agricultural operations. NRCS’ Upland Wildlife Habitat Management practice and Restoration of Rare or Declining Natural Communities practice are used, along with supporting conservation practices, to address habitat resource concerns for southwest riparian bird species.

For questions regarding eligible practices and to apply, please contact your local NRCS Service Center.

How to Apply
SGI is available to eligible producers located within the priority areas of the following counties: Alpine, Fresno, Inyo, Lassen, Madera, Modoc, Mono, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra and Tuolumne counties.

SWFL is available to eligible producers located within the priority areas of the following counties: Fresno, Imperial, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Los Angeles, Madera, Mono, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Tulare, and Ventura.

The deadline for SGI and SWFL applications is May 24, 2024.

Since its inception in 1935, NRCS has worked in partnership with private landowners and a variety of local, state, and federal conservation partners to deliver conservation based on specific, local needs.

Source : usda.gov

Video: Spring 2026 weather outlook for Wisconsin; What an early-arriving El Niño could mean

Northeast Wisconsin is a small corner of the world, but our weather is still affected by what happens across the globe.

That includes in the equatorial Pacific, where changes between El Niño and La Niña play a role in the weather here -- and boy, have there been some abrupt changes as of late.

El Niño and La Niña are the two phases of what is collectively known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO for short. These are the swings back and forth from unusually warm to unusually cold sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean along the equator.

Since this past September, we have been in a weak La Niña, which means water temperatures near the Eastern Pacific equator have been cooler than usual. That's where we're at right now.

Even last fall, the long-term outlook suggested a return to neutral conditions by spring and potentially El Niño conditions by summer.

But there are some signs this may be happening faster than usual, which could accelerate the onset of El Niño.

Over the last few weeks, unusually strong bursts of westerly winds farther west in the Pacific -- where sea surface temperatures are warmer than average -- have been observed. There is a chance that this could accelerate the warming of those eastern Pacific waters and potentially push us into El Niño sooner than usual.

If we do enter El Nino by spring -- which we'll define as the period of March, April and May -- there are some long-term correlations with our weather here in Northeast Wisconsin.

Looking at a map of anomalously warm weather, most of the upper Great Lakes doesn't show a strong correlation, but in general, the northern tiers of the United States do tend to lean to that direction.

The stronger correlation is with precipitation. El Niño conditions in spring have historically come with a higher risk of very dry weather over that time frame, so this will definitely be a transition we'll have to watch closely as we move out of winter.