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Who's Using Incentives?

Success stories from the field

Rancher Bob Long (left) and Environmental Defense biologist David Wolfe talk about using prescribed fire around Long's pond to maintain healthy vegetation. (Photo: Copyright John Rae)

Anyone who thinks landowners volunteering for conservation programs are only left-leaning environmentalists will be surprised by a closer look. For starters, meet Bob Long. The stereotype-busting Texan rancher is a self-described "redneck, gun-toting Republican preacher." He's also restoring habitat for the endangered Houston toad through the Safe Harbor program.

Long is just one example of thousands of landowners benefitting water quality, wildlife and other natural resources with assistance from conservation incentives programs. These folks and their property don't come in a standard model or size. They range from farmers, ranchers and foresters to other business and residential owners. They live in every state, and the lands they've enrolled range in size from huge ranches with hundreds of thousands of acres to a tiny one-tenth-acre pond. Even golf courses, guest lodges and a monastery are using incentives to benefit natural resources.

Meet the landowners

Farmers in Conservation Program Fared Better in Ohio Floods

Farmers paid to plant grass and tree buffers to improve water quality in the Lake Erie watershed through the Western Lake Erie Basin CREP fared better than their neighbors during the summer 2007 floods in northern Ohio.
Land Trust and Landowners Work Together to Improve Water Quality

Northern Prairies Land Trust and agricultural landowners are helping improve water quality in the Big Sioux River watershed with conservation easements and Farm Bill and Clean Water Act incentives.
Endangered Woodpeckers Make Gains on Conservation Lands

Gains on private lands through voluntary incentive programs such as Safe Harobor programs in nine states and a conservation bank in Georgia are moving red-cockaded woodpeckers nearer to recovery.
Cows, Tanks and Conservation: The Right Mix for Songbird Recovery

Environmental Defense, the Central Texas Cattlemen’s Association and the U.S. Army at Fort Hood share a common desire: They want to see the federally endangered black-capped vireo recover within the next decade.
Rescuing Rattlers: A Successful State Program Restores Wildlife Habitat on Private Land

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources nongame biologists are working with 36 private landowners to restore over 500 acres of timber rattlesnake habitat through the Landowner Incentive Program.
Alameda Rancher and Wildlife-friendly Program Restores Ponds and Helps Rare Animals

Alameda County ranchers are helping conserve California's rich natural heritage while getting some much-needed assistance from the innovative Wildlife-friendly Pond Restoration Program.
The Zimmers: Dairy Farmers, Innovators and Conservationists

The Zimmer family produces more than milk on Otter Creek Organic Farm. They also produce clean water, clean air and wildlife habitat on their 1,200-acre Wisconsin farm.
Kansas Cattle Rancher Becomes Steward of the Grass

Jane Koger of Homestead Ranch in Kansas has become a steward of the grass as well as a cattle rancher. She's using patch burn grazing to benefit her pastures and increase wildlife populations.
Water Quality Project Reaching Out to More Farmers

In Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, farmers are using a special project of USDA's Environmental Quality Incentives Program to improve nutrient use efficiency to protect water quality and reduce money spent on fertilizer.
Creating a Conservation Community in Oregon's Willamette Valley

In western Oregon, Private Lands Biologist Steve Smith works with landowners who volunteer to restore wildlife habitat on their land.
Ranchers and New Bank Help Prairie Dogs Find a Home on the Range

Two ranchers and a state educational trust agency are using conservation tools to help the Utah prairie dog, rarest of four U.S. species of prairie dogs.
Caddyshack Meets Bonanza

Idaho ranchers get regulatory protection for welcoming a rare squirrel onto its lands.
The Saga of the Robust Redhorse

The Georgia Power Company's Environmental Laboratory Manager faced a serious conundrum about 10 years ago: how could his employer get along with a recently discovered "mystery fish"?
Making Music, Talking Trees: A Rock Star and Forest Owner Speaks Out

Chuck Leavell is best known in his role as keyboardist for the Rolling Stones, but he's got another gig in Georgia and on Capitol Hill: spokesman for family foresters and what he calls "the invisible forest crisis."
Dairy Owners Find Innovation Is Key to Environmental and Economic Success

In Florida, the Henderson family is leveraging the EQIP program to help the dairy farm address water quality and odor issues.
Safe Harbor's First Decade: Helping Landowners Help Endangered Wildlife

When the first landowners offered to try a novel but untested conservation tool in 1995, they opened a new era of cooperation, rather than confrontation, between landowners and conservationists.
On EC Bar Ranch, Conservation Increases Profits

Arizona rancher Jim Crosswhile has used a host of conservation incentives tools to demonstrate that cattle and conservation can be compatible.
Utah Group Uses WHIP to Restore Sagebrush Rangelands

Utah ranchers are restoring sagebrush rangelands and helping rare wildlife with assistance from USDA's Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program.
Scioto River CREP to Benefit Ohio's Largest, Most Biologically Diverse Watershed

CREP is helping to improve water quality, restore threatened and endangered species habitat and reduce soil erosion in Ohio's Scioto River watershed.
Rest Rotation Grazing System Benefits Land and Wildlife on Montana Ranch

Working with the NRCS's Tim Solberg and other government conservationists, rancher Kent Throntveit (right) developed a rest rotation grazing system and improved habitat.
Ranchers Advance Recovery of Rare Hawaiian Bird

Hawaii's state bird, the nene, is being welcomed onto private ranches, where private landowners are volunteering to reintroduce the endangered bird.
Bog Turtles Make New Friends: Landowners and Livestock

America's tiniest turtle is getting a boost from landowners in the Northeast, who are using goats, sheep and cows to clear invasive vegetation from overgrown wetland meadows.
Tina Bachmann: Landowner and Turtle Farmer

In New Jersey, horse farmer Tina Bachmann wanted to restore wet meadow habitat where a thicket of weeds grew. Because doing so would create habitat for the threatened bog turtle, she received funding.
Tree Farmer Helps Restore a Southern Treasure

Jerry Holder, 1997 Forest Conservationist of the Year, is helping the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker, longleaf forests and his bottom line.
In Mississippi, a Retired Veterinarian Now Tends to Trees

The profitable tree farm Dr. Lambert runs today is the result of over 50 years of solid land practices that have shaped his land into prime tree-growing--and gopher tortoise--country.
Ohio Family Makes Home for Rare Wetland Plant

In Ohio, the Larue family received financial assistance under the Private Stewardship Grants program to aid a rare plant, the raven's foot sedge, on their land.
Montana Landowners Use EQIP to Advance Conservation of Rare Wildlife

In Montana, landowners are using the EQIP program, one of the largest Farm Bill incentive programs, to help the endangered pallid sturgeon, threatened grizzly bears and wild trout.
The Preacher and the Toad

Bob Long didn't set out to be a conservationist, but when he discovered his 540-acre ranch could benefit from a Safe Harbor agreement, he found a natural fit.
Environment, Income and Family Benefit on Organic Dairy Farm

The Forgues and their Vermont dairy farm provide a prime example of how the environment, a dairy's bottom line and a family's way of life can all benefit from shifting from a confinement system to open grazing.
Wisconsin Landowners Can Now Plant for Endangered Butterflies

A new seed mix offers Wisconsin landowners the opportunity to restore native prairie habitat while helping an endangered butterfly and gaining extra ranking points when vying for conservation funding.
Gopher Tortoise Conservation Bank

In Alabama, a public entity -- the Mobile Area Water and Sewer System -- is using a conservation bank that protects watershed and aids both the threatened rare gopher tortoise and homeowners in the Mobile area