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In the US West, Researchers Consider a Four-Legged Tool to Fight Two Foes: Wildfire and Cheatgrass

Emma Foehringer Merchant

July 06, 2022 |

Inside Climate News |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

Scientists are experimenting with a low-cost way of combatting an invasive species and wildfires. They’re using cattle to graze on cheatgrass, which has spread across the U.S. West, disrupted native plants and animals and become a source of fuel for fires. The cows were able to reduce the grass by an average of more than 60 percent, creating an area that could prevent fires from spreading.

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Keeping Cattle on the Move and Carbon in the Soil

Benjamin Ryan

October 31, 2021 |

The New York Times |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

Grasslands are important players in carbon sequestration. In the U.S. and Kenya some farmers are switching to regenerative grazing. For some this entails concentrating herds of cows and resting paddocks for long periods of time, and for others it means reseeding native grasses. This all forms part of a larger global network to restore grasslands.

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The Great Plains prairie needs fire to survive. These ranchers are bringing it back.

Brianna Randall

May 13, 2021 |

National Geographic |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Maywood, Nebraska

The Loess Canyons Rangeland Alliance in Nebraska is working to preserve grasslands through prescribed burns. Eighty-volunteer members have burned nearly 85,000 acres to stop the spread of cedar trees that disrupt the prairie ecosystem. These burns allow the grass to return, which has been helpful for farmers and their livestock. This work has inspired others in the state to create associations to share resources on how to restore their lands.

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Community restores grasslands, makes village drought-resilient

Vinaya Kurtkoti

April 21, 2021 |

Village Square |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: India, Dhule, Maharashtra

Lamakani, a small village in India, went barren and townspeople completely depended on water tankers after a drought in the 90s. One leader initiated a watershed movement. They applied a series of approaches which included things like watershed development, bans on grass grazing and tree falling, and collaborating with local artists to communicate messages of conservation. Now, the town is lush again.

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Community restores grasslands in Lamkani, making the village drought-resilient

Vinaya Kurtkoti

April 08, 2021 |

Mongabay |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: India, Dhule, Maharashtra

The village of Lamkani, in India, was lush but became barren after years of droughts. In 2000, Dhananjay Newadkar, initiated a multi-pronged approach that was supported by the community. It included watershed development, a ban on grazing and felling trees. However, the bans were not enforced. Instead, artists incorporated messages about conservation in their performances and educated the community. Finally, the grasslands were restored through rotational grazing. Now, the town is water-sufficient, even in droughts.

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Pig in clover: how the world's smallest wild hog was saved from extinction

Kalpana Sunder

March 03, 2021 |

The Guardian |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: India, Assam

The greyish brown pygmy hog is an endangered species, but a captive breeding program aims to reintroduce more of the animals into the wild in India. The Pygmy Hog Conservation Programme introduces about 12 hogs a year after raising them in captivity for a few months. “The purpose of my life has been bringing back this one species from the brink of extinction,” says one of the project advisers.

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‘What's at stake is the life of every being': Saving the Brazilian Cerrado

Peter Yeung

February 11, 2021 |

Mongabay |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Brazil

The National Campaign in Defense of the Cerrado coalition of Indigenous peoples and organizational partners is fighting political challenges to preserve the region’s native vegetation and biodiversity. The Cerrado is a tropical savanna In Brazil that is home to about 5 percent of the planet’s animal and plant species, yet only 3 percent of the land is under “strict protection” regulations. Pressure from the campaigners has led to a public hearing and proposal with more than 500,000 signatures to declare the region a World Heritage site.

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How Bison Are Saving America's Lost Prairie

Joe Hanson Michael Werner

January 14, 2021 |

PBS |

Video |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Oklahoma

Tall grass prairie used to span across 13 states in North America. However, after settlers arrived grassland prairies were decimated. By reintroducing bison to the land along with seasonal fires, the nature conservancy, which manages the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in northeastern Oklahoma, resuscitated the prairie. The preserve is the largest tract of grassland prairie remaining in the world.

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Prescribed Burn Associations Are One Answer to California's Megafires

Colleen Hagerty

October 19, 2020 |

Sierra Club |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, California

Prescribed burns are fires set intentionally to reduce the fuel that can make wildfires so large and damaging. Despite the science favoring this approach for healthy ecosystems and fire prevention, government use of the strategy has remained small and stagnant. Local prescribed burn associations (PBAs) have filled some of the gap, educating and training landowners to conduct small-scale burns. PBAs cannot come close to filling the entire need. But they have prevented some disasters while returning fire management to local control, and to ancient native practices before fire suppression became the norm.

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Is the way cattle are grazed the key to saving America's threatened prairies?

Lynne Curry

August 19, 2020 |

The Guardian |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Oregon

An unlikely partnership between ranchers and conservationists is working together to protect grassland biodiversity on the Zumwalt Prairie Preserve in Oregon. The Nature Conservancy has cultivated relationships with landowners in the area to promote sustainable grazing practices. While some ranchers are skeptical about the organization’s intentions in the area, one rancher says they are “a good neighbor” and because of his alliance with the nonprofit, his pastures have consistently achieved good ratings over the years.

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