WWF's Ranching Systems & Viability Planning Project

Historically, the livestock and conservation communities have frequently seen each other as adversaries, rather than partners. Yet, with so many shared priorities and a common love for the land, this doesn't have to be the case. The Sustainable Ranching Initiative through World Wildlife Fund is seeking to build a partnership with local ranchers that prioritizes the resilience and long-term health of these critical lands as well as the rancher's bottom line.

Hear from Montana rancher, Leo Barthelmess, and Nancy Labbe from the Sustainable Ranching Initiative talk about this partnership:

The Sustainable Ranching Initiative (SRI) hopes to work collaboratively with ranching partners through a program called the Ranching Systems and Viability Planning Project (RSVP). This program is designed to provide ranchers with the resources they need to adopt sustainable practices and make changes towards a more resilient operation.

No one knows a rancher's land better than they do. This is why RSVP is designed to help ranchers meet goals that they define, and in a way that they believe is possible. The creation and implementation of the plan are completely voluntary and can be altered along the way to best fit the goals of the ranch. With ranch-specific and personally tailored plans in place, RSVP can help provide the necessary resources to complete the plan, whether that be advice, monitoring capacity, or a cost-share program.

Each ranch plan incorporates rancher goals and available resources to make tailored business, grazing, and conservation strategies. The planning process is built to be adapted as each of these components evolve.

WWF and the ranching community have many shared priorities and the RSVP program is designed to achieve them. By making it more manageable to adopt new practices, this program can help to protect the beautiful grasslands of the Northern Great Plains as well as the ranching community. To achieve this, plans are designed with the following priorities in mind:

• rancher profitability
• soil health
• water quality
• biodiversity
• ecosystem resilience

The planning process works with ranchers to incorporate key elements into their overall ranch plan in a way that is customized to the goals and operations of each rancher. Each plan addresses business, grazing, conservation, and herd health while also developing contingency plans.

There are always barriers to adopting a new practice or management strategy but the goal of RSVP is to lessen these barriers wherever possible. The program provides local workshops led by ranchers who have implemented similar plans to help their neighbors develop, improve, and implement their own plans. Additionally, the RSVP program can provide personnel with technical experience developing and implementing plans to help wherever necessary along the way. Lastly, cost shouldn't have to be a barrier to protecting our grasslands. Any rancher involved with the RSVP program can apply for available funds, with the collaboration of SRI staff, to help offset costs from implementing new practices.

The planning process is about learning and adapting to achieve healthy, resilient landscapes and operations - monitoring is a key piece in the puzzle. Effective monitoring techniques can help each ranch determine if new practices are returning the best outcomes and if not, how that can be fixed. This ensures that the time and money going into this process are well spent.

Every ranch plan is unique and the monitoring component is no different. Personalized plans can monitor the health of the land in many different ways, including assessments of soil organic carbon, range condition, water infiltration, and grassland bird species surveys.

New technology is also available to help improve monitoring capabilities for ranches that choose to use it. Various apps and software, as well as trainings and assistance on how to use them, can help ranchers more easily measure the impacts of the new plan.

Ranchers are busy and monitoring these plans shouldn't be an added burden. All plans are structured so that ranchers can monitor important changes in their land without increased amount of time invested, especially during busy seasons.

Learning from community members is the key to success in the RSVP program. Workshops, ranch tours, and other learning events will be held so that ranchers can learn from neighbors who are implementing ranch plans. This is a great opportunity to share what is working and what can be improved as a community.

Hear from farmers and ranchers throughout the state of South Dakota that are implementing new practices to improve soil health and resilience. Click  this link  to browse through a series from the Natural Resource Conservation Service highlighting over 100 families their soil stories.  https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD7341CD150BEFDD6  

Good grazing practices are foundational to the success of any ranching operation and to the overall health of the ecosystem. The quality of grazing management has significant implications for rancher profitability, soil health, water quality, biodiversity, and overall ecosystem resilience. Yet, most ranches aren't reaching their full potential. According to Dave Pratt of the Ranching 4 Profit School, 8/10 people who use rotational grazing strategies are not reaping the full benefits. Watch the video below to learn more.

With healthy grazing management, everyone wins. Hear from Craig French about the benefits he saw from using cell grazing on his ranch in Malta, MT. By changing the areas utilized and the grazing period, he was able to sustainably increase his stocking rate in the first year by almost double, with more room to grow.

The grasslands of the Northern Great Plains are an incredible and unique ecosystem shared by both livestock and wildlife. In a series on rural resilience from the Ranchers Stewardship Alliance, Dave Naugle of the University of Montana and the Natural Resource Conservation Service talked about the importance of wildlife conservation through the lens of sustainable ranching.

Again, every ranch is different so there is no uniform piece of advice that can be given on how to improve grazing management on every ranch. However, the RSVP process can help ranchers walk through the options within the scope of their operation to determine how to improve grazing management for the overall benefit of the ranch and the land.

Ranchers Stewardship Alliance. (2021, January 21) Session 1: Dave Naugle - Empowering our collective futures [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIw74iklTWo

Ranching 4 Profit. (2019, June 11) More Grass, More Cattle, and More Life [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghLX1kBvsac

Ranching 4 Profit. (2019, September 9) Rotational Overgrazing [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50mWAaQtnW0

USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service of South Dakota. (2021) Showcase & Soil Stories [Video Series]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD7341CD150BEFDD6

World Wildlife Fund. (2014, November 6) Cattle and Conservation: Ranching with Wildlife [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrKdBBosZEg

World Wildlife Fund. (n.d.) World Wildlife Fund's Ranch Systems & Viability Planning Project.