Cooperative Sagebrush Initiative


The Cooperative Sagebrush Initiative (CSI) is an organization that is representing a broad coalition of western land users as the nation seeks to balance conservation of sagebrush habitats with other regional and national priorities. This group has developed an innovative agenda for implementing cooperative conservation through partnerships, good science, and incentives.  Building from the credibility of its membership, linked to expertise in land management, industrial development, and policy, CSI is advancing a better way of doing business in the sagebrush biome. It is time that you and your organizations joined with us.

The CSI Opportunity
  • CSI is the organization providing the Leadership, Coordination, and Funding Mechanisms to achieve compatibility among land uses across 66 million acres of public and private land in the U.S. West
  • CSI has formulated conservation strategies that address the needs of landowners, public ranchers, oil & gas companies, mining concerns, western states, conservation groups, and many others.
  • CSI identifies and provides credible support for landscape scale demonstration projects that advance the scientific understanding of restoration.
  • CSI is facilitates communication and awareness of funding, partnerships, and technical assistance among local working groups throughout the west.
  • CSI is leading the way toward functional regulatory assurances for landowners, states, and industry.
  • CSI is actively testing a sagebrush credit system that will reward verifiable conservation practices and provide a reliable bank of mitigation opportunities for landowners, industry, states, and others.
  • CSI has been endorsed by national agriculture groups, the Western Governors Association, highlighted as a top collaborative effort in a GAO report, and awarded the 2007 Interstate Oil & Gas Compact Commissions environmental stewardship award.

CSI Partner Contact List (pdf)

Market Based Approach for Restoring Rangelands and Critical Wildlife Habitat in the Sagebrush Biome

February 2011 Interim Report - By Jon Haufler and Tom Esgate

CSI initiated this project in order to develop and evaluate a metric system for mitigation in sagebrush ecosystems and to further evaluate the potential for development of a mitigation credit trading system based on the metrics. The proposed metric system relied on the use of ecological sites as classified and described by the Natural Resource Conservation Service as a basis for assuring equivalency of sagebrush ecosystems and ecosystem services. The system also used an evaluation of wildlife habitats to evaluate equivalency of benefits and impacts at landscape scales.

The project is partially funded by a 2008 NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) and is being demonstrated at seven pilot sites across the sagebrush biome.

Download the full February 2011 Interim Report (6.34 MB)

CSI Sponsors

NEWS - Safeguarding Sage Grouse and Their Elaborate Courtship Dance

By Jim Robbins, New York Times, February 8, 2011

RYEGATE, Mont. — When permanent settlement began in the West some 16 million greater sage grouse lived on the steppes of the high plains.

There may now be as few as 200,000 of these ground-dwelling birds, famous for their elaborate courtship dance, and they are on the decline, hit especially hard by oil and gas development. Their dwindling numbers warrant protection as an endangered species, federal officials say. Because other species need listing first, though, and because protections for endangered species are widely reviled in the West, a unique way of managing the birds is under way.  (Read Full Article)


 

Sagebrush Credit Trading Program Interim Report

With funding from the Conservation Innovation Grant through Colorado NRCS and the Bradley Fund for the Environment, researchers have taken an important step in the direction of developing a reliable framework for a tradable sagebrush habitat credit program.  The Ecosystem Management Research Institute (EMRI) conducted extensive field testing of a methodology for assigning ecological value to sagebrush habitat attributes.  Their results are helping to inform and guide real-world applicationgs of credit generation currently underway through a national CIG award to CSI.  An interim report is now available.

BLM and FWS Sign First New Mexico CCA/CCAA

Many CSI partners have been working toward the development of regulatory assurances that would encompass landscapes with mixed federal and non-federal ownerships.  With the conclusion of a landmark agreement in south eastern New Mexico, which incentivises proactive conservation for the lesser prairie chicken and the sand dune lizard (right), similar tools for sagebrush seem likely to follow. 
 
Casper Star Tribune Article (Monday, December 8, 2008)
"Feds Sign 'revolutionary' conservation deal" - Susan Montoya Bryan - Associated Press

USFWS Press Release (Monday, December 8, 2008)
"New Conservation Effort Benefits Rare Species in Southeastern New Mexico
First Ever Conservation Agreements Created Specifically for Lease Holders on Federal Lands"
 
Land Letter Article (Thursday, December 11, 2008)
"ENDANGERED SPECIES: BLM, FWS sign first N.M. cooperative conservation agreements, but market slump could limit success"
April Reese, Land Letter Western reporter

CSI Encourages National Sagebrush Funding

In June 2008, the Western Governors’ Association (WGA) adopted Policy Resolution 08-12 that encourages the passage of the North American Sagebrush Ecosystem Conservation Act (NASECA).  Generally, this legislation is envisioned to provide voluntary federal cost sharing for protection and enhancement of sagebrush habitats.  In September 2008, CSI pledged full support to WGA in their leading the development of the bill.  CSI is in a unique position to bring together a diverse group of stakeholders across the 11-state region to ensure the best possible outcomes for conservation and the communities who can deliver it. 

Legislative Briefing paper prepared for the 2008 CSI Annual Partners’ Meeting in September

FWS Issues Guidance on Conservation Agreements in Mixed Ownership Areas

Intermixed Federal, State, Private, and Tribal lands are common in the West.
The Cooperative Sagebrush Initiative is helping to create new incentives for voluntary conservation in the West.  Due in part to CSI's efforts, the Fish and Wildlife Service has been working for the last several months to explain how greater predictability could be given on both federal and non-federal lands through conservation agreements.  The Service’s efforts resulted in the promulgation on September 8 of formal Guidance on Using Existing Tools to Expand Cooperative Conservation for Candidate Species on Mixed Federal and Non-Federal Lands.  For a more complete discussion of the possible application of these tools, see "The Use of Conservation Agreements,Candidate Conservation Agreements, and Candidate Conservation Agreements with Assurances In the Sage-steppe Ecosystem."

Cooperative Sagebrush Initiative Approved for $2 Million Project for Critical Wildlife Habitat

The  Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) this week announced approval of a $2 million project by the Cooperative Sagebrush Initiative (CSI) to develop a market-based approach for restoring rangelands and critical wildlife habitat in the sagebrush region of the western U.S.  
The $1 million Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) will be matched by $1 million non-federal funds to pilot test a sagebrush habitat credit banking system on large landscapes in four western states: California, Colorado, Idaho and Wyoming.  This project seeks to greatly expand incentives for private sector investment in conserving and restoring habitat for many at-risk sagebrush dependent species.   (Full Press Release)

GAO Report Highlights CSI


The Government Accountability Office has released a report entitled: "Natural Resource Management: Opportunities Exist to Enhance Federal Participation in Collaborative Efforts to Reduce Conflicts and Improve Natural Resource Conditions." 
 
The report cites seven cooperative efforts around the nation, and evaluates accomplishments and barriers for each.  The report recognizes the growth of cooperative conservation in the 1990s and analyzes the expansion of public-private partnerships in light of a 2004 Executive Order on Cooperative Conservation which further encouraged such efforts. 
 

The report is available at: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08262.pdf

CSI Wins IOGCC Environmental Partnership Award

In only its first year of existence, CSI has been recognized for outstanding conservation achievement by the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission. CSI representatives were presented with the 2007 IOGCC Chairman's award for environmental partnership at a ceremony in New Orleans on September 24th. 

The Sagebrush Steward - May 2007

The Sagebrush Steward - April 2007