One of the newer initiatives of LRCD is to provide conservation planning and technical assistance to Albany County residential landowners, ranchers, non-profit groups, and other agencies such as the BLM, Forest Service, and the WY Game & Fish.  We provide these services free-of-charge and with assistance from the NRCS and our other partners.  As we work side-by-side with the landowner, we can combine proper management practices while enhancing not only the environment, but the sustainability, and even profitability of the land.  This process works on parcels from a few acres to over 100,000 acres.

 

Conservation planning is a natural resource problem solving and management process. The process integrates ecological (natural resource), economic, and social considerations to meet private and public needs.  This approach, which emphasizes identifying desired future conditions of the land, identifies opportunities, improves natural resources, minimizes human conflict, and mitigates problems with the resource.  Basically, we assist in developing and implementing conservation plans to protect, conserve, and enhance natural resources (soil, water, air, plants, and animals) with an emphasis on sustaining the use and economic viability, in the case of a ranching operation.

 

We are currently developing and implementing multi-faceted conservation plans on three large ranches in Albany County, totaling approximately 113,000 acres.  We also implement smaller plans with only a few components, such as pasture management, livestock/wildlife water development, irrigation management, forested land management, and small acreage management.  This smaller-scale planning adds up to an additional 100,000 acres for a total of 213,000  acres of land that is being

conserved or enhanced with the aid of LRCD and its partners.  We can, with our partners, not only help with technical and planning assistance, but often times provide financial assistance to put worthwhile projects on the ground.

 

Conservation planning helps clients, conservationists, and others view the environment as a living system of which humans are an integral part.  It enables clients and planners to analyze and work with complex natural processes in definable and measurable terms.

The objective in conservation planning is the sound management of soil, water, plant, and animal resources to prevent their degradation and ensure their sustained use and productivity while also considering related human needs.  The success of conservation planning and implementation depends upon the voluntary participation of groups and individuals. The planning process used by LRCD and the NRCS is based on the premise that clients will make and implement sound decisions if they understand their resources, resource problems and opportunities, and the effects of their decisions.

 

Please contact us if you would like to visit about conservation planning on your property.

CONSERVATION AND LAND MANAGEMENT PLANNING

By Matt Scott