Grazing the Bar: Audubon Awarded $2.5 Million Conservation Innovation Grant from USDA

New York, NY (August 8, 2024) — The National Audubon Society is proud to announce the organization is a recipient of a $2.5 million Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). This significant funding will support Audubon’s Grazing the Bar project, an initiative to enhance grassland bird conservation on beef and dairy farms across Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.

Audubon’s Grazing the Bar project is among 53 innovative initiatives to receive a CIG this year, part of a $90 million investment by the USDA to develop new tools, approaches, practices, and technologies that advance natural resource conservation on private lands. This year’s grants have benefited from increased funds made available through the Inflation Reduction Act, which is funding CIG projects that address climate change.

Audubon’s award is one of the On-Farm projects funded through the CIG program. With this support, Audubon will expand its ability to investigate the unique approach of annual bird occupancy payment, directly rewarding producers for their bird-friendly management decisions that support high-priority bird species. For example, producers whose habitats harbor Grasshopper Sparrows, Short-eared Owls, and Upland Sandpipers – all species with special conservation status in the tristate project area – would be eligible for bird occupancy payments.

“We can’t wait to expand our partnerships with farmers and ranchers in the Upper Midwest to protect grassland birds and their habitats while supporting producer’s bottom line,” said Sarah Hewitt, Senior Conservation Manager for Audubon Upper Mississippi River, the organization’s regional office that oversees Iowa, Minnesota, and Missouri. “We’re eager to build on Audubon’s tradition of being an innovator, in this case creating incentive and value for bird-friendly practices,” Hewitt says.

In working with beef producers, Audubon will build through another of its growing bird conservation solutions, Audubon Conservation Ranching (also a previous CIG grantee), which it recently launched in Minnesota and Wisconsin. “By partnering with beef and bison farmers through our Conservation Ranching program, we can offer financial and technical assistance to implement best practices like grassland plantings, prescribed burning, and brush management. These practices not only improve habitats but also help farmers achieve our unparalleled bird-friendly certification,” Hewitt said.

Building upon the Audubon partnership established in Vermont, Audubon will expand collaborations with Organic Valley, a Wisconsin-based, farmer-owned cooperative renowned for its high standards in producing organic dairy products. Together, they will assess how organic dairy operations support grassland birds while offering technical assistance to participating landowners. Audubon’s science and conservation team will monitor bird populations at each project site and develop regenerative, bird-friendly grazing best management practices to benefit grassland birds.

“Bird monitoring and evaluation are critical components of our bird conservation approach,” said Tom Prestby, Conservation Manager for Audubon Great Lakes, Audubon’s regional office that oversees Wisconsin. “As a science-based organization, we rely on robust data and analysis to demonstrate the success of our conservation efforts.” Prestby says the insights gained from these on-farm trials could help the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service develop new conservation assistance programs or refine existing practices to maximize their environmental, financial, and social impacts.

Additional project evaluations will include soil carbon mapping to inform the climate change mitigation of applied conservation practices, and a social study to evaluate why producers chose to participate in the Audubon Conservation Ranching program and utilize the enhanced financial assistance options available.

Additional valued partners include Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Golden Sands Resource Conservation and Development, and Virginia Tech.

About the National Audubon Society

The National Audubon Society is a nonprofit conservation organization that protects birds and the places they need today and tomorrow. Birds act as early warning systems about the health of our environment, and they are telling us that our planet is in trouble. As a long-time leader in the conservation movement, Audubon is rising to meet the urgency of this moment. Like the birds we love, Audubon's work spans the Americas – from Boreal Canada to coastal Chile. In communities across the hemisphere, Audubon is tackling climate change, protecting and restoring important places for birds and people, and fostering a community where the joy of birds sparks action for our planet.