Investing in Working Lands for Birds, Habitat, and Rural Communities

Earlier this month, the voices of farmers and ranchers, those who steward America’s working lands, echoed through the halls of Congress. Eight individuals from Audubon’s Conservation Ranching and Conservation Forage programs traveled to Washington, DC, for our first-ever Capitol Hill fly-in focused solely on the Farm Bill. While Audubon has long championed policies benefiting birds and rural communities, this moment calls for continued investment in working lands as a vital solution for birds, habitat, and people. 

At Audubon, we know policy is essential for birds, but people bring those policies to life.  

“Private landowners are the ones who bring the ‘alphabet soup’ of voluntary conservation programs to life,” I told attendees at a packed Congressional briefing. They take programs with acronyms like RCPP, EQIP, ACEP, and CRP and turn them into active conservation. Partnering hand-in-glove with the likes of Frates Seeligson, a 4th-generation rancher whose baby shoes were cowboy boots, at the Pajarito Ranch in south Texas is how wildlife habitat happens. 

And it’s urgently needed. According to the 2025 State of the Birds report, grassland birds have declined by 43 percent in the last 50 years—the steepest population drop of any bird habitat group in North America. Species like the Bobolink have lost more than half their populations. Without action, some may disappear altogether. These declines reflect the widespread conversion and degradation of grasslands—much of it privately owned and managed. 

This is why the Farm Bill matters for birds. With over half of the U.S. land used for agriculture, working lands are among our best hopes for large-scale conservation. The Farm Bill is the nation’s largest source of funding for voluntary conservation on private lands, offering technical and financial assistance to improve soil health, water quality, habitat, carbon storage, and long-term land productivity. The investments it provides help farmers and ranchers adopt voluntary conservation practices that support birds while keeping their operations viable. 

To spotlight these impacts, we welcomed ranchers from California, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma, and Texas to Washington, DC. Over three days, they met with 38 congressional offices across 10 states. They also headlined a Hill briefing packed with Hill staff, agency leaders, and conservation partners. 

These landowners represented a powerful and unified message: conservation works, and the Farm Bill makes it possible and profitable to continue their heritage of ranching on their land.

“Grassland loss has accelerated, and the Great Plains alone is losing 1 to 2 million acres of grassland each year,” said Eric Perner, who manages the Double P Ranch and his regenerative meat brand, REP Provisions, in Oklahoma. “At this rate, our nation’s grazing lands—and the food security, rural livelihoods, and ecosystem services they provide—may vanish within just a few generations. This isn’t just a land issue. It’s a human health, food security, economic resilience, and biodiversity crisis issue.” 

Perner’s words speak to what’s at stake.  Farm Bill programs help keep the land viable for people and wildlife alike. 

Colton Jones, who runs Cheyenne River Buffalo Ranch and the Wild Idea Buffalo Co. with his wife Jilian in western South Dakota, emphasized the public-private partnership that defines these efforts. “We’re going to do conservation anyway,” he said during the briefing, “but these programs make it so much easier to scale our impact.”  

These landowners bring their own dollars and sweat equity to the table, and the public receives essential environmental payoff: rooted soil, clean water, and wildlife–including abundant wings over these working lands. 

That’s why Audubon is urging Congress to prioritize birds and the working lands they depend on in the next Farm Bill. We are advocating for: 

1. Robust Funding for Successful Conservation Programs, including 

• Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) 

• Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) 

• Conservation Innovation Grants  

• Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) 

• Forest Landowner Support Program 

• Working Lands for Wildlife 

These programs deliver proven results for habitat, erosion control, and rural economies. 

2. Strengthen the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) by: 

• Increasing the annual rental payment cap to $125,000 and supporting sustainable grazing through the CRP Improvement Act (S. 174). 

• Adjusting rental rates to boost enrollment of marginal lands 

3. Enhance Conservation Across Fields, Forests & Rangelands through legislation like:  

Increased Technical Service Provider Access Act (H.R. 575): Expands access to expert assistance. 

• Forest Conservation Easement Program (S. 1050): Improves flexibility for conserving working forests. 

• Pacific Flyway Enhancement Act (H.R. 1420): Supports habitat for migratory waterbirds through seasonal wetland protection. 

• Voluntary Public Access Improvement Act (S. 704): Increases funding for recreational access and habitat protection on private lands. 

A unified vision for birds and rural communities 

The power of the fly-in wasn’t just the facts; it was in the people. From Daniel Sinton of Avenales Ranch in California, to Melissa Larsen of Thousand Hills Lifetime Grazed in Minnesota, to Jason Fairhead of Fairhead Ranch and Primal Plains in Nebraska, these farmers and ranchers made it clear: Farm Bill conservation isn’t just for farmers or the birds. Through food, habitat, water, wildlife, or way of life, grass-based agriculture connects us all.