Strategic Conservation Planning

A Place of Extremes

The Bighorns' Cloud Peak has the most prominence of any mountain range in Wyoming, towering over 10,000 feet above the valley below. The mountains average over 200 inches of snowpack per year and can remain under snow for nearly 9 months of the year.

This is in contrast to the valley below, where temperatures regularly break 90 to 100 degrees F in the summer and precipitation varies. Although Sheridan County is among the more productive agricultural regions in Wyoming, it relies heavily on mountain runoff.

As weather events become more unpredictable and extreme, the risk of failed crops, drought and wildfire are increasing. At the same time, an increasing population creates new development that can harm areas of high conservation value.

To protect the natural resources that create a high quality of life for the Sheridan County community, Sheridan Community Land Trust has put together a strategic conservation plan to identify areas for private land conservation that significantly contribute to climate resilience in the lens of wildlife habitat, agricultural viability, water, and open spaces.

Balancing Needs

Sheridan County's communities are as various as its tundra. Communities near the mountains have seen their property values skyrocket in the last several years due to the influx of interest in the area. Affordable housing has become a major issue. Going beyond an ecological approach, this conservation planning considers social factors important for community vitality. Areas farther from metropolitan areas are prioritized, except for the lands near town that provide a valuable ecosystem service such as a floodplain or wetland. Supporting a compact and well-planned metropolitan area can reduce carbon emissions.

While some communities struggle to keep up with the demands of new development and incoming residents, other communities struggle to attract new residents and keep the next generation on the ranch. Being away from major transportation routes like the interstate bisecting Sheridan County, these communities are more reliant on agriculture. As profit margins continue to narrow, it can be harder for working families to stay on the land. Largely grazing lands, these areas are not only the economic backbone of local communities but also provide wildlife habitat and sequester carbon. This conservation planning considers how private land conservation can support working ranches.

Taking Action

Already, organizations across Sheridan County are making efforts to increase our climate resilience. The Northeast Wyoming Invasive Grass Working Group (NEWIGWG) is working with producers to treat and research invasive grasses. Climate change effects including rising temperatures, extreme weather and increased carbon dioxide create conditions that increase the spread of invasive grasses. Because these grasses create a monoculture and dry faster than perennial grasses, they decrease agricultural productivity, threaten biodiversity and can exacerbate wildfire.

Aside from invasive grasses, water quality and availability are identified as some of the biggest threats to Sheridan County's wellbeing. Already, creeks and rivers are over-allocated. In especially dry years, Montana can call upon post-1950s water rights in Sheridan County due to the Yellowstone River Compact. While the Sheridan County Conservation District monitors water quality, groups including Sheridan Community Land Trust and Pheasants Forever address water availability. Based on results from a community survey, Sheridan Community Land Trust has put together tools for producers and locals related to water. The first is a  Water Supply Report , which compiles multiple sources of information for decision making. Pheasants Forever and Sheridan Community Land Trust also work with private producers to install Zeedyk structures, which stop erosion in wet meadow systems. These structures are proven to increase drought resiliency, improve water quality and decrease wildfire susceptibility by restoring sheet flow to an impaired wet meadow and keeping water in the system longer. Restoring these natural systems is imperative to building climate resiliency in Sheridan County.

Building on on-the-ground efforts, conserving key areas with high conservation value and climate resiliency is imperative to increasing Sheridan County's resilience to a changing climate. The following slides address SCLT's approach to identifying these areas.

Conservation Priority: Open Space

Conserving open space is key to Sheridan Community Land Trust's mission. In the Land Trust's planning process, many social factors were included in identifying Open Space priorities.

Open space can be a nebulous idea, and definitions of open space range by source. For the land trust's purpose, the following were prioritized:

1. Viewability: A viewshed analysis identified the areas most visible from county and public roads. "Viewshed" is regularly recognized as an important factor for quality of life by Sheridan County residents.
2. Adjacency to Public and Protected Lands: Conserving lands near land that is already protected creates a larger undisrupted area, increasing open space
3. Adjacency to Publicly Accessible Lands: Although our conservation easements do not include public access, conserving land near publicly accessible lands ensures future access remains a possibility
4. Cost per Acre: Prioritizing lands with a lower cost per acre increases SCLT's financial ability to conserve a larger landscape. This also gives priority to landowners in parts of Sheridan County where the financial benefit of placing a conservation easement can have a larger impact

Conservation Priority: Wildlife Habitat

Given the myriad of important wildlife species that rely on habitat in Sheridan County, this planning did not prioritize any given wildlife species. Instead, we followed a habitat-wide approach recommended by  a recent paper  in Conservation and Practice. We prioritized the following factors:

1. Intact Habitat: Areas identified by the USGS Sagebrush Conservation Design as intact grassland and sagebrush
2. Recognized Biodiversity: Additional priority was given to areas identified by The Nature Conservancy's Climate Resiliency Tool as having recognized biodiversity
3. High Climate Resiliency: Again using the Nature Conservancy's Climate Resiliency Tool, areas with high climate resiliency were prioritized because these are expected to continue to provide wildlife habitat even as the effects of climate change increase

Conservation Priority: Water

This layer focused on wetland areas, prioritizing areas that are in good relative condition. These were identified using the following two factors:

1. High Natural Landcover: Using data from the USGS Natural Land Cover Database, areas with high natural landcover were prioritized because these are likely areas with intact vegetation that can withstand pulse flows.
2. Low Soil Erodibility: Areas with low soil erodibility were prioritized because these areas are more able to withstand pulse flows. Together with high natural landcover, these river sections are more likely to be in healthy condition and contribute less to poor water quality conditions like high sediment load.

Conservation Priority: Agriculture

Sustainable and financially feasible agriculture is key to Sheridan County's food security and preventing development of its open spaces. The following factors were used to identify areas of high agricultural value:

1. Parcel Size: An increasing trend in Sheridan development is the division of working farms and ranches into small "hobby farms". These farms are not of a sufficient size to support an agricultural enterprise, decrease wildlife habitat and open space, and increase infrastructure on the landscape. Parcels of a feasible size for an agricultural operation were prioritized. Parcels larger than 240 acres were identified, with additional priority given to those larger than 1,000 acres.
2. Soils: Prime soils as identified by NRCS were given priority. These soils hold the most potential and importance for agricultural production.
3. Irrigation: Irrigation does not decrease the impacts of climate change, but it is an adaptation that can allow an operation to continue in the face of a drier climate. Areas with irrigation were given priority because of their predicted ability to withstand climate change.
4. Development Pressure: Productive lands with an imminent threat of development, as identified by American Farmland Trust's "Ag Under Threat", were given additional priority.