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[Boise]  The Idaho Sage-Grouse Action Team has been named the winner of the Public Lands Foundation’s Landscape Stewardship Award for 2016.

The Idaho Sage-Grouse Action Team (ISGAT) is a nine-member collaborative which exists to enhance work across southern and central Idaho intended to benefit the habitat of the iconic greater sage-grouse. 

The ISGAT serves as a forum in which all sage-grouse conservation efforts in southern and central Idaho can be prioritized, planned, funded and implemented in coordination.  The ISGAT has also been instrumental in leveraging funding devoted to habitat restoration projects.  (In 2016, the ISGAT has helped get $716,000 in state sage-grouse conservation funding matched with over $1.6 million in local and federal funding.)    

Other ISGAT achievements include:

·         Securing additional funding for Idaho’s eight Rangeland Fire Protection Associations

·         Advocating for strategic fuel breaks across the southern portion of the state

·         Helping focus funding for post-fire sage brush restoration

·         Promoting research into innovative methods needed to protect sage-grouse habitat

“It’s an honor for the ISGAT to be recognized for getting dollars on the ground and in the right places,” said Josh Uriarte, ISGAT member representing the Idaho Governor’s Office of Species Conservation.  “Leveraging funding strategically with partners across the landscape is a key part of what our Team does.”

“We’re pleased with this honor,” added Ann Moser who represents Idaho Department of Fish and Game on the ISGAT.  “In many ways, though, we feel like we are just getting started!”

“It’s a real pleasure to be able to receive this award on behalf of the Idaho Sage-Grouse Action Team,” noted Idaho BLM State Director Tim Murphy.  “This is a prime example of Idaho’s collaborative approach to solving tough challenges.”

The Nature Conservancy’s Bas Hargrove serves as the ISGAT’s facilitator.  “It’s been great to see the collaboration in getting resources in the hands of people on the ground, helping sage-grouse and local communities,” Hargrove said.  “This group is really about projects, not politics.”

Diane French representing Idaho Department of Lands stated “Receiving this award simply highlights the collaborative stewardship that naturally occurs across Idaho’s landscapes by many who call Idaho home.  Our ISGAT partnership is about taking action and making an impact and we are grateful for this recognition by the Public Lands Foundation.”

The Public Lands Foundation is a non-profit organization which advocates for the management, protection, development and enhancement of the National Public Lands System in the United States.  The Landscape Stewardship Award honors work done to advance and sustain community-based stewardship on landscapes that include, in whole or in part, lands administered by BLM. 

The Idaho Sage-Grouse Action Team comprises the following entities:

• Idaho Office of Species Conservation (IOSC)
• Idaho Department of Lands (IDL)
• Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) 
• Idaho Soil and Water Conservation Commission  (ISWCC)
• The Nature Conservancy  (TNC)
• Bureau of Land Management  (BLM)
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service  (USFWS)
• Forest Service (FS)
• Natural Resource Conservation Service  (NRCS)

Several members of the ISGAT were on hand to receive the award, including ISGAT facilitatorBas Hargrove (The Nature Conservancy); Josh Uriarte (The Governor’s Office of Species Conservation); Ann Moser (Idaho Department of Fish and Game); Diane French (Idaho Department of Lands); Kathleen Hendricks (USFWS – representing team members Brandon Miller and Jason Pyron); and Chris Simonson (BLM).  Other guests at the award ceremony included Virgil Moore, Director if Idaho Department of Fish and Game and Tom Schultz,Director of Idaho Department of Lands.