For the second successive year, Idaho BHA provided funds to assist a US Fish & Wildlife Service program to bring school groups from southern Idaho on field trips to learn about sage grouse. The students get the opportunity to view sage grouse leks during mating season and also engage with landowners who help manage vital sagebrush habitat. BHA volunteers were able to talk to the students about the importance of public land and private land conservation and the many species that rely on healthy sagebrush steppe ecosystems.
The entire program was described by Jason Pyron, USFWS supervisory biologist, in this way, "We have worked really closely with our partners to create a program that teaches kids about sage-grouse biology and sagebrush conservation, while emphasizing the importance of negotiation and communication skills."
You can learn more about this program and see additional photos at: http://usfwspacific.tumblr.com/post/176784906095/from-schools-to-sagebrush-the-greater-sage-grouse
Photo credit: Josh White, USFWS
About Idaho BHA
The Idaho chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers is a group united by a passion to protect and conserve public land forests, mountains, prairies, streams and lakes that support our hunting and angling traditions.