Funding opportunity number: L24AS00080FUNDING opportunity goals: 1. Conserving and restoring lands to combat climate change: promote climate resilient landscapes by focusing on maintaining improving…

Funding opportunity number: L24AS00080FUNDING opportunity goals: 1. Conserving and restoring lands to combat climate change: promote climate resilient landscapes by focusing on maintaining improving land health through appropriate livestock grazing use, management of invasive species and noxious weeds, and managing soil resources.2. Restoring legacy disturbances: support restoration of landscapes improving rangelands through grazing management on the ground projects including vegetation restoration treatments, and grazing management structures, and soil resource management.3. Decision support for adaptive management: to better support land management decisions regarding grazing and other range management treatments, soil management, and invasive species, the BLM will place a priority on collecting data through the use of consistent, comparable, and common indicators, consistent methods, and an unbiased sampling framework which will allow for analyses that are repeatable and comparable across a region, and decisions based on science and data that are legally defensible. The nature conservancy (TNC) proposes a project aimed at demonstrating and enhancing flexibility inpublic land livestock grazing through the integration of emerging technologies, traditional practices, andcollaborative management. The project emphasizes cooperation between land managers and livestockproducers to adjust grazing strategies in response to seasonal conditions and unexpected disturbances.while the current public land grazing permitting system theoretically allows flexibility, circumstancesoften constrain managers to rigid patterns, reinforcing overuse and failing to capitalize on availableopportunities for beneficial grazing.TNC plans to showcase the flexibility achievable within the bureau of land management s (BLM)grazing system using existing permissions, while also identifying necessary changes for future flexibility. The focus includes deploying virtual fencing technology alongside traditional herd management practiceson TNC-owned and partnered ranches across the western U.S., covering over 1 million acres. The projectinvolves four working ranches located in utah, wyoming, oregon, and montana. The deployment of virtual fencing systems will be a key feature of the project, with a particular focus onlarge and rugged landscapes. TNC aims to collaborate with local BLM offices to establish virtual fencingnetworks, allowing for flexible and accountable grazing. TNC will also establish virtual fencing towerinfrastructure to cover the entire project footprint, creating a publicly available network for potentialbroader use. To manage the complexities of virtual fencing technology, each landscape will have a fulltimegrazing specialist project manager, generally responsible for collaring, checking animal welfare, developing grazing plans, reporting project findings, and supporting producer partners. The proposal alsoexplores the integration of traditional conservation range riding with virtual fencing for optimalconservation outcomes. The project s primary goal is to align grazing management with conservation outcomes, specificallyfocusing on improving upland vegetation, riparian resources, and sensitive wildlife habitat. TNC plans touse virtual fencing and other tools that will enable enhanced adaptive management, including creativelymoving livestock in rotations, improving native vegetation, preventing overuse of riparian areas, andavoiding sensitive wildlife habitat. The cost-benefit analysis of flexible livestock grazing will bedocumented, considering factors such as virtual fence implementation costs and benefits like increasedaccess to forage.