Could a New Program in Washington Help Ranchers Protect Birds?

The showroom on the Washington Cattlemen’s Affiliation Conference & Tradeshow was bustling on a November afternoon. The keynote speech had simply let loose, and folks shuffled from sales space to sales space, decked out in cowboy hats of all colours, heat winter vests and turquoise jewellery.

Just a few lingered at a small desk close to the glass home windows of Wenatchee’s Conference Heart. It was a sales space you may not anticipate finding nestled amongst fencing, feed and animal well being distributors: Audubon Washington.

With a look, rancher Samantha Buma strolled as much as the sales space. “The chicken folks,” she stated.

Fowl species are on the decline across the U.S. for all various kinds of causes – they’ve misplaced habitat. The local weather is altering. Meals sources are disappearing. However a brand new program in Washington hopes to create extra habitat for birds, utilizing ranches.

Buma works the Stayman Flats Ranch close to Chelan, Washington, checking on the cattle and grass day by day. She stated the aim of finding out the grass is to forestall overgrazing. Land is bread and butter to a rancher.

“You need the grass to have the ability to develop again,” she stated

Grass and cattle aren’t all that Buma sees within the pasture. There are the standard avian suspects: eagles, owls, hawks. She stated she’s not knowledgeable at chicken identification, however stated there are tons of feathered pals on the ranch. Buma looked for the names of some birds she’s seen.

“We name them camp robbers, these black and white birds which have actually lengthy tails. We’ve got a variety of these,” Buma stated. “We’ve got killdeer, and we’ve got a variety of these little birds that all the time run out in entrance of the highway. What are they known as? Quail.”

‘Work with the land managers’

On the opposite facet of the Washington Audubon desk is Seth Hulett, the group’s senior program supervisor of the Columbia Plateau. Hulett is tasked with kicking off this system in Washington. Proper now, he’s focusing on the Columbia Plateau, most of which is privately owned.

“If we’ll make a distinction, we’ve got to work with the land managers which might be on the land, doing the work,” he stated.

Hulett is outfitted with Audubon stickers, hats and steel cups to raffle away. He’s bending everybody’s ears about Audubon’s Conservation Ranching program.

“ What’s good for birds is sweet for folks,” Hulett stated. “So if we’re sustaining, enhancing, restoring habitats, that’s going to be good for every part: soil, water, birds, deer, cows, every part.”

This system will assist ranchers certify their land as “chicken pleasant,” from pasture to plate, as Hulett is fond of claiming.

“We are able to construct habitats with grazing. We are able to make the most of regenerative grazing administration to create mosaics of habitat on the market for birds,” he stated.

Plus, he stated, a number of ranchers are already doing simply that. The factor is, not many shoppers know.

Nonetheless, some ranchers on the conference famous folks may need sticker fatigue: Will one other sticker in your beef (or bison) truly assist gross sales?

Hulett stated he thinks the Audubon title recognition might assist. As well as, he stated, producers aren’t paying for the Audubon label. Not like different certifications, Audubon covers the monetary burden for ranchers.

In Washington, this system will concentrate on a number of priority bird species, together with greater sage grouse, burrowing owls and ferruginous hawks.

Measurable, constant conservation

As soon as a ranch agrees to take part in this system, Audubon will conduct chicken and vegetation surveys. Then, they work with ranchers to provide you with a personalized, three-year administration plan.

“This method helps guarantee conservation outcomes are measurable, constant, and straight tied to the wants of birds that depend on working rangelands,” Hulett stated.

In trade, Audubon collects information about the place and the way birds are utilizing the land.

“ I like to think about myself a cog within the wheel of conservation,” Hulett stated. “Our ranchers come to me with questions. Then I attempt to discover them options, whether or not it is by means of funding, or perhaps we’re in a position to present plantings for shrubs or grasses to assist full a venture.”

Administration plans will assist ranchers steer their cattle to pastures when birds don’t want that individual house. Take sage grouse. These funky-looking birds want a variety of land, particularly on mating grounds called leks.

“ If a landowner is in an space the place there are recognized sage grouse, we need to make sure that we’re not having the cows in there throughout the lekking season,” Hulett stated.

Audubon will present the folks for the survey work. A 3rd-party group, Meals Alliance, will certify the land yearly. Then, producers can put an “chicken pleasant”” sticker on their beef.

“ (Folks will know) it will be raised humanely, it will be raised a sure means, and that each one its complete life, it’s supporting chicken habitat,” Hulett stated.

Nevertheless, it’s not really easy.

Heading west

The Audubon Conservation Ranching program was initially designed in 2017 for ranches within the Midwest, the place landscapes encompass plains and grasslands. There’s additionally not as a lot public grazing land there as within the Northwest.

“A farmer within the Midwest might have their cows on the identical hundred acres all yr spherical, the place a cattle rancher right here in jap Washington could also be on their property for the spring after which ship their cows as much as the mountains in the summertime, bringing them again within the fall,” Hulett stated. “We’re using extra public land right here within the West on larger-scale properties.”

In 2019, Audubon determined to tack on a Western wing of this system in California, which has grazing circumstances which might be extra just like these within the Northwest.

Matt Allshouse now runs California’s Conservation Ranching program, based mostly at Bobcat Ranch, nearly an hour west of Sacramento, the state’s capital. The ranch is an illustration venture for Audubon, displaying how grazing and enhancing chicken habitat go hand-in-hand, or higher but, hoof-in-claw.

At first, Allshouse stated he was in Hulett’s place: the one particular person in command of signing folks as much as this system.

“ What I spotted over time is it wasn’t a matter of ritual to certify someone. It concerned a variety of relationship constructing,” Allshouse stated.

It takes time to construct belief, he stated. Phrase of mouth was his finest pal.

“ We needed to develop nearly a request for proposals and a rating system for those that wished to enroll as a result of we had so many individuals ,” he stated.

Issues have slowed down a bit now, however Allshouse stated the California program is at capability. As of 2025, 11 ranches have enrolled in California’s program, totaling about 175,000 acres.

Now, Allshouse stated his largest want is for more cash to rent folks to do extra fieldwork. Monitoring the land is the most costly a part of this system – and the toughest half to fund, he stated.

The Conservation Ranching program is funded in a different way in every state. In Washington, the work is roofed by grants. California will get most of its funds from the state.

‘For all times and for biodiversity’

Central California rancher Sallie Calhoun signed up for this system as quickly as she heard about it. Calhoun owns the 7,600-acre Paicines Ranch, which bought licensed this previous yr.

“We’re managing for all times and for biodiversity in each resolution that we make,” she stated.

That features the over 200 completely different chicken species they already learn about on the ranch. Audubon’s third-party baseline survey will assist the ranch’s monitoring efforts, she stated. She hopes Audubon birders may assist seek for notoriously tricky-to-spot northern harrier nests within the spring.

“We need to present which you can elevate cattle and nonetheless have a variety of birds,” she stated.

Nonetheless, Calhoun stated, there are some hiccups. For one factor, the local weather at Paicines Ranch may be very particular, and this system’s authentic grazing suggestions didn’t actually match. So, she stated, they’re engaged on higher concepts that may work for one of these local weather.

However, she stated, these points will iron out.

“ So long as you’ve gotten slightly little bit of persistence for paperwork, it is a actually good factor to do as a result of it’s going to get folks in your land who may help you obtain your targets,” Calhoun stated.

Audubon has began gathering information, known as a bird-friendliness index, that reveals birds truly are growing on ranches in this system. The upper the index for a specific property, the larger the biodiversity is.

Now, in accordance with Audubon, this system has ranches licensed in 15 states, overlaying greater than 4 million acres of land.

Looking for help

In Washington, Hulett remains to be working to drum up help. On the Cattlemen’s conference, a few ranchers hurried to Hulett’s sales space, asking to enroll as quickly as attainable, however they’re on the west facet of the state. That’s too removed from Hulett’s present focus space.

Then, he noticed a pair of faces he acknowledged. Ranchers close to Ellensburg he’s spoken to earlier than. Ryan Stingley ushered his father, Russ, as much as the sales space.

“There is a chance we’ll turn out to be Audubon licensed grazers. I wager you by no means thought we had been going to say that,” Ryan Stingley stated.

All three males laughed, however Hulett didn’t miss a beat.

“I feel it is a program that may suit your operation, and that is the entire level, proper?” he replied, persevering with on along with his pitch.

“ I’ve no objections with this,” Russ Stingley nodded.

A fast handshake, and the daddy and son walked away. Hulett buzzed with power.

“That could possibly be the primary ranch to enroll in Washington,” he stated with a Cheshire Cat grin. “Hopefully, we’re going to begin to see extra chicken numbers and extra variety within the birds.”

Initially printed by Courtney Flatt in Northwest Public Broadcasting on February 11, 2026  https://www.nwpb.org/native/2026-02-11/could-a-new-program-in-washington-help-ranchers-protect-birds