Montana Grasslands Initiative

Through Pheasants Forever's Montana Grassland Initiative, we will increase both the quantity and quality of Montana’s wildlife habitat by focusing on the state’s grassland and sagebrush steppe ecosystems. With a unified vision for conservation, we aim to meet the challenges facing this vital landscape, and together we can keep Montana’s grasslands healthy and intact.

WATCH: Montana Grassland Initiative Explained

The Montana Upland Experience

Grasslands and Sagebrush steppe are vital to the Montana upland experience — as well as to the state’s culture, industry and wildlife. These crucial pieces of Montana’s legacy are disappearing at an alarming rate. Over 30% of eastern Montana’s grasslands have been broken or altered, and the state has seen a 34% decline in grassland bird populations. Over 1.5 million Montana acres enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) have expired in the last decade — and nationwide, 2.6 million acres of grasslands are lost every year. 

For a better picture of the nationwide impact of our disappearing grasslands, check out the interactive tool created by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Landowner central

Landowners are the backbone of the Montana Grasslands Initiative. To join the effort, please visit Pheasants Forever’s “Find a Biologist (link)” page. Or click below to listen to some success stories from Montana farmers, ranchers and landowners.

Additional Success Stories:

• Landowner Highlights (featuring Sterling Ballbach)
• Field Notes (hosted by Josh Hobbs)

Montana Grassland threats and strategy

Threats 

The Montana Grassland Initiative will take ambitious steps to address the top threats to the state’s grassland habitat, which include. 

• Land use conversion
• Invasive annual grasses
• Conifer encroachment
• Lack of grassland management
• Loss of species diversity

Strategy  

This brand new endeavor will prioritize our statewide efforts, allow the organization to provide more support to our conservation and landowner partners and help us pursue more ambitious grassland conservation goals. 

We will use the best available science support tools, focus on areas with high upland game bird opportunities, utilize a “protect the core, grow the core” mentality, center work around existing staff capacity for project delivery and stay focused on communities and partnerships ready to complete conservation projects. 

• Central Grassland Roadmap

Through the Montana Grassland Initiative, we are: 

• Identifying a unifying conservation delivery vision for Montana
• Prioritizing our statewide efforts underneath this initiative
• Providing more support to our conservation partnerships
• Pursuing even more ambitious grassland conservation goals

5-Year goals

Our conservation delivery team in Montana is already delivering a high-level of grassland and sagebrush conservation, but we can do more. With increased focus and emphasis on grasslands, we will unlock new opportunities to meet the challenges of this imperiled ecosystem. During the first year of the initiative, we have already impacted 311,446 acres of grasslands, opened 12,448 acres of public access to grasslands, raised just over $100,000, and completed 1,198 landowner contacts. 

We are not stopping there, our 5-year goals are outlined below: 

• 750,000 acres of intact grasslands anchored
• 600,000 acres of vulnerable grasslands conserved
• 150,000 acres of converted/altered grasslands restored
• 50,000 acres of public access to grasslands opened
• 9,000 landowner contacts
• 1.5 million total acres of grassland impact

Thanks to our partners!

Like all great conservation work, the Montana Grasslands Initiative is made possible by our tremendous network of partners and supporters, including...

• USDA-NRCS
• Bureau of Land Management
• US Fish and Wildlife Service
• Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks
• Ranchers Stewardship Alliance
• Winnett ACES
• Ducks Unlimited
• World Wildlife Fund
• Prairie Pothole Joint Venture
• Northern Great Plains Joint Venture
• Intermountain West Joint Venture
• Yellowstone Conservation District
• National Fish and Wildlife Foundation

Contact us