Growing Bird-Friendly Grasslands

Grasslands are among the most endangered ecosystems in North America—and grassland birds are paying the price. According to the most recent State of the Birds report, grassland birds have experienced the steepest declines of any bird group, with many species now at or nearing conservation “tipping points.” Yet on Audubon Certified Bird-Friendly Lands, lands managed for birds and biodiversity through Audubon’s Conservation Ranching program, the Bird-Friendliness Index showed a 76% overall increase from 2016 to 2023. Audubon Conservation Ranching is a compelling grassland conservation solution—one made possible through strategic investments in the Farm Bill. 

Audubon Conservation Ranching is built on a simple but powerful premise: well-managed grazing can be one of the most effective tools for sustaining healthy grasslands and the birds that depend on them. Through Audubon’s unique bird-friendly land certification, ranchers implement science-based grazing and habitat practices—documented in site-specific Habitat Management Plans drafted by Audubon’s range ecologists—that create the structural diversity grassland birds need to nest, forage, and thrive. These plans emphasize regenerative grazing, invasive species control, native plant restoration, and water and soil stewardship, all tailored to local ecological conditions.  

Sarah Hewitt, Audubon Upper Mississippi River’s Senior Conservation Manager, has helped implement Audubon’s flagship grassland program in five states. She says the program’s premise comes to life thanks to the partnership of farmers and ranchers. “Private producers are the key that turns Audubon Conservation Ranching’s ignition. Every one of them has different land management goals. Some want to improve soil health. Others want better forage. Maybe an infrastructure project can make grazing possible on a new part of their property. Whatever their entry point, good grassland habitat is our common denominator.” 

The Farm Bill helped get this innovative approach off the ground. Early support from a USDA Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) in 2017— “Development of Self-Sustaining Markets for Bird-Friendly Beef to Incentivize Grassland Conservation on Private Lands Across the Great Plains” — allowed Audubon to pilot the program, refine its bird-focused standards, and test a market-connected certification model that could deliver added value to producers. That initial investment proved the concept: bird-friendly ranching could deliver measurable conservation outcomes while remaining economically viable for ranchers. 

The next chapter—scaling impact—has been powered by the Farm Bill’s Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). Through the RCPP and its significant $3.25 million investment, Audubon and its partners expanded Audubon Conservation Ranching from the Midwest to priority grassland regions in 10 states across the Northern and Southern Great Plains, helping ranchers to implement a suite of approved conservation practices, including prescribed grazing, range planting, fencing, water infrastructure, riparian restoration, and invasive plant management. An additional, large component of this project is soil carbon and soil health testing, which creates a rigorous baseline for Audubon and ranchers of certified lands to track and demonstrate improvements in these grassland habitats over time. These investments translated federal conservation dollars into coordinated, landscape-scale action on working lands where birds need it most, while propelling the network of Audubon Certified ranches over 100. 

Today, 150 ranches have earned Audubon Certified Bird-Friendly Land status across the Great Plains, Midwest, and the West, encompassing about 4.5 million acres of bird-friendly management. Audubon’s Bird-Friendliness Index—a standardized monitoring framework that measures abundance, diversity, and resilience of grassland and arid land bird communities on Audubon Certified Bird-Friendly Land, compared to neighboring, typically conventionally managed lands—demonstrates how grassland birds are responding on these well-managed acres. The index on certified lands has improved by more than 8% annually, providing accountability for public investments and confidence for producers and partners alike. Birds are clear beneficiaries, while ranchers value a cost-covered certification that carries conservation credibility along with growing consumer awareness. 

Looking ahead, the Farm Bill continues to fuel innovation. With a new Conservation Innovation Grant awarded in 2024, Audubon is piloting annual bird occupancy payments that directly reward producers for maintaining habitat used by high-priority grassland birds. Ranchers in the Upper Midwest whose lands support species such as Grasshopper Sparrows, Short-eared Owls, and Upland Sandpipers will be eligible for payments tied to real biological outcomes. This approach aligns incentives even more closely with conservation results, reinforcing the Farm Bill’s role as a driver of outcome-based, working lands conservation. 

At a time when grassland birds urgently need solutions at scale, Audubon Conservation Ranching shows what’s possible when science, stewardship, and smart Farm Bill investments collide, keeping grasslands productive, resilient, and bustling with birds.