The Elko, Nevada office of the Bureau of Land Management, in collaboration with the Nevada Cattlemen’s Association and private land owners, recently hosted a range tour for cooperating agencies highlighting successful habitat restoration projects.
“We hear a lot about the need for habitat restoration and preserving landscapes for the Greater Regional Sage-Grouse, Lahontan cutthroat trout, and other potentially threatened species such as the pygmy rabbit. We also hear of the negatives to our landscape such as fire, invasive plants and degraded watersheds and riparian areas. In actuality there are many positive projects taking place that need to be highlighted and this tour did just that,” stated Ron Torell, president of Nevada Cattlemen’s Association.
In many cases, Torell said success has been achieved through partnerships developed among the ranching industry, the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Nevada Department of Wildlife, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the mining industry, the Nevada Department of Agriculture, and conservation organizations such as Trout Unlimited and the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection.