New USDA Migratory Big Game Framework Announced at WAFWA Summer Meeting

The Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA) was excited to host the announcement of a new conservation framework for federal, state, Tribal, and private landowner collaboration. The announcement made by the U.S. Department of Agriculture during WAFWA’s Summer Meeting in Boise, Idaho, on June 2 will direct focused resources to conserve priority habitat used by migratory big game species in the West.

The USDA’s new Migratory Big Game: A Framework for Conservation Action plan solidifies a landscape-scale approach between USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), working closely with the state fish and wildlife agencies that have the trust responsibility to manage big game. The Framework brings together partners across 17 western states to address habitat risks facing big game species like mule deer, elk, and pronghorn as they move across the landscape. These species traverse a network of public and private lands that are increasingly fragmented or have declining habitat quality.

“We were honored to have Emily Fife join us at our summer meeting to announce their Migratory Big Game Framework that will focus considerable resources to implement the conservation priorities identified by our member states,” commented Zach Lowe, executive director of WAFWA. “State fish and wildlife agencies have taken the lead to identify the places and conservation actions that will most benefit big game as they move across western landscapes. This framework is critical to direct funding through USDA’s Farm Bill conservation programs toward targeted actions for wildlife on the private working lands in these state-identified migration corridors.”

The partnership efforts that will develop through the new Framework build from the coordinated approach to big game migrations outlined in WAFWA’s Wildlife Movement and Connectivity Initiative. Since 2018, after the Department of the Interior’s Secretarial Order 3362 was signed, states have led research and help map priority big game migration corridors to identify barriers to movement and areas where habitat degradation could impact the sustainability of herds. States have developed action plans to address these issues through efforts including improving forest and rangeland health, restoring native plant communities and fighting invasive species, as well as converting fencing to wildlife-friendly designs or facilitating movements across highways. Providing USDA funding and focused conservation efforts onto private lands within these priority areas will bring significant resources to address these challenges.

WAFWA has a longstanding relationship with USDA including through a 2024 memorandum of understanding (MOU) between its agencies and WAFWA. The MOU outlines objectives on how the partners can collaborate to achieve working lands conservation goals on western lands through state fish and wildlife agencies’ science and management expertise. The new Migratory Big Game Framework is emblematic of coordinating multi-jurisdictional and landscape-scale fish and wildlife conservation identified through state-led priorities.

The NRCS has two other frameworks for conservation action that align closely with WAFWA’s initiatives targeting landscape conservation in Great Plains grasslands and the sagebrush biome—the frameworks connect closely with WAFWA’s Western Grasslands Initiative and Sagebrush Conservation Initiative. State fish and wildlife agencies within WAFWA help provide technical coordination on priority conservation actions, targeting resources to the most important locations and helping with on-the-ground implementation of conservation practices on private working lands. The NRCS frameworks for conservation action are unique and have been highly effective, engaging over 8400 producers and directing voluntary conservation efforts on more than 12 million acres.

By focusing on the wildlife that move across western grasslands and sagebrush rangelands, USDA’s new Migratory Big Game Framework will help partners work together to connect WAFWA’s priority initiatives and stitch together broad landscape conservation efforts across the West.