America’s Grasslands Conference Working Across Boundaries The Fifth Biennial Conference on the Conservation of America’s Grasslands

August 20-22, 2019 Bismarck,

Conference Program Thank You!

Credit: John Bradley

Organizing Committee Co-Hosts

Carolyn Callaghan, Canadian Wildlife Federation Arvind Panjabi, Bird Conservancy of the Rockies Mark Norton, South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Andrew Jakes, National Wildlife Federation Jonas Davis, Ducks Unlimited Greg Butcher, U.S. Forest Service Karl Ebel, Ebel Grasslands Ranch

North Dakota Planning Committee

Kevin Kading, North Dakota Game and Fish Scott McLeod, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Marshall Johnson, Audubon Dakotas Tanner Gue, Ducks Unlimited John Bradley, North Dakota Wildlife Federation Dave Dittloff, National Wildlife Federation Deanna and Cody Sand, Sand Ranch

Conference Co-Chairs

Aviva Glaser, National Wildlife Federation Dana Bohn, North Dakota Grazing Lands Coalition Miranda Meehan, North Dakota State University Kevin Sedivec, North Dakota State University Lekha Knuffman, National Wildlife Federation Chad Njos, North Dakota Grazing Lands Coalition

Cover photo credit: Justin Meissen.

2 America’s Grasslands Conference: Working Across Boundaries - Conference Program RESTORING 30 MILLION ACRES OF NATIVE PRAIRIE PLANTS

At Roeslein Alternative Energy (RAE), we are committed to our mission of helping individual landowners and society as a whole collaboratively discover and implement alternative biomass and energy solutions, in both ecologically and economically sustainable ways to protect and restore our environment and ecosystems. We may not have invented the process of renewable natural gas production, but we are taking it to the next level.

America’s Grasslands Conference: Working Across Boundaries - Conference Program 3 4 America’s Grasslands Conference: Working Across Boundaries - Conference Program Conference Agenda

Credit: John Bradley Tuesday, August 20th

6:45 - 7:30 am Registration - Radisson Hotel, Bismarck

7:30 am - 4:00 pm Optional Full Day Field Trips Depart from Radisson Lobby

• Sand Ranch - Hosted by Cody and Deanna Sand • Miller Ranch, WMA, Agriculture Research Service Grasslands - Hosted by Kenny Miller • Oswald Ranch - Hosted by Darrell Oswald

7:30 am - 1:00 pm Optional Half Day Field Trips Depart from Radisson Lobby

• Audubon National Wildlife Refuge - Hosted by Todd Frerichs • North Dakota State University Central Grasslands Research Extension - Hosted by Kevin Sedivec

3:00 - 5:00 pm Registration

3:00 - 5:00 pm Set up for Posters and Exhibitors - Foyer and Galleria Ballroom

5:30 - 8:00 pm Welcome Reception at the Heritage Center Sponsored by Roeslein Alternative Energy Free shuttles will leave from the Radisson at 5:15 pm and will return at the end of the event. Welcome Remarks: North Dakota Heritage Center, Julie Sibbing, National Wildlife Federation North Dakota’s largest museum features four museum galleries John Bradley, North Dakota Wildlife Federation tracing the state’s rich history Terry Steinwand, North Dakota Game & Fish Dept. from its earliest geologic formation 600 million years ago Wednesday, August 21st to today.

6:45 - 8:00 am BREAKFAST & Registration - Galleria Ballroom

8:00 - 10:00 am Opening Plenary - Belle Mehus Auditorium The Belle Mehus Auditorium is across E. Broadway Avenue from the Radisson Hotel. Please allow enough time to exit the hotel and cross the street.

America’s Grasslands Conference: Working Across Boundaries - Conference Program 5 8:15 - 8:20 am Welcome Lekha Knuffman, National Wildlife Federation

8:20 - 8:30 am North Dakota Welcome Remarks from Lt. Governor Brent Sanford

8:30 -9:00 am Keynote - Silence and Emptiness on the American Serengeti Dan Flores, Author & Historian

9:00 - 9:20 am Conserving America’s Grasslands: The Case for a Transboundary, Working Lands Approach Arvind Panjabi, Bird Conservancy of the Rockies

9:20 - 9:40 am A Prairie State’s Perspective: Threats, Challenges and Opportunities for Conserving North Dakota’s Grasslands Elisha Mueller, North Dakota Game and Fish Department

9:40 - 9:55 am Converting Croplands to Grasslands Jed Rider, North Dakota Rancher

9:55 - 10:00 am Remarks by Senator

10:00 - 10:30 am BREAK - Foyer and Galleria Ballroom, Radisson Hotel

“One of my neighbors said it best…what’s good for a duck, is good for a deer, is good for a cow. And we all live on one small planet.” -Montana rancher, Dale Veseth © WWF-US / Clay Bolt At World Wildlife Fund’s Northern Great Plains Program our vision is a future in which thriving prairies and abundant wildlife help sustain the economy and culture of the people who live in the Northern Great Plains.

www.worldwildlife.org/ranching

6 America’s Grasslands Conference: Working Across Boundaries - Conference Program 10:30 am - 12:00 pm First Concurrent Breakout Sessions

Track 1: Threats, Status Track 2: Decision-making Track 3: Large Landscapes Track 4: Bobwhites & and Conversion and Human Dimensions and Wildlife Conservation Grassland Conservation Room Renoir-Russell Van Gogh-Remington Wyeth-Rockwell Liberty-Manhattan

Moderator Johann Walker Jessica Espenshade Sarah Olimb Jason Singhurst 10:30- An Online Tool for Metrics, Problem Advancing Wildlife NRCS Working Lands for 10:50 am Monitoring Cumulative Solving & their Effect on Conservation across the Wildlife 2.0 Bobwhite in Grassland Loss Grasslands Great Plains Grasslands Initiative across the North Pete Kronberg, North Seth Gallagher, National Fish Jef Hodges, National American Great Dakota Grazing Lands and Wildlife Foundation Bobwhite Conservation Plains: the Plowprint Coalition Initiative Patrick Lendrum, World Wildlife Fund

10:50- Environmental and Understanding Grazing National Grasslands Population Responses 11:10 am Habitat Impacts of U.S. Intensity Choices on the Management: An of Northern Bobwhite Grassland Conversion U.S. Great Plains Example from the and Grassland Birds Tyler Lark, University of Yuyuan Che, Michigan State Northern Great Plains to the Conservation Wisconsin-Madison University Dan Svingen, U.S. Reserve Program within Department of Agriculture- the NBCI Coordinated Forest Service Implementation Program Thomas Dailey, National Bobwhite Conservation Initiative

11:10- Audubon Grasslands Challenges for Rotational Fences Reduce Habitat Grasshopper Sparrow 11:30 am Report: Addressing Grazing Practice: Views For A Partially Migratory Density and Nest Survival Persistent and from Non-adopters across Ungulate In The Northern on Continuously Grazed Emergent Threats to the U.S. Great Plains Sagebrush Steppe Native Warm-Season the Central Grasslands Tong Wang, South Dakota Andrew Jakes, National Grass Pastures in the of North America State University Wildlife Federation Fescue Belt Chad Wilsey, National Kyle Brazil, Center Audubon Society for Native Grasslands Management

11:30- Saskatchewan’s Converting Cropland Conserving The Longest Success of a Grassland- 11:50 am Vanishing Grasslands: To Grass: the Role Migration For Sage based Approach as the Politics Verses of Intensive Grazing Grouse And Pronghorn in Foundation to Northern Grassland Conservation Management Montana’s Hi-Line Bobwhite Management in Lorne Scott, Nature Tong Wang, South Dakota Jason Tack, U.S. Fish and the Midwest Saskatchewan State University Wildlife Service - Habitat and Frank Loncarich, Population Evaluation Team Missouri Department of Conservation

11:50 - 1:00 pm LUNCH - Galleria Ballroom/Welcome and Remarks Collin O’Mara President and CEO, National Wildlife Federation

Help spread the word about #grasslands conservation! Use the social media tags (listed on the back cover) to share your thoughts & photos on Facebook & Twitter.

America’s Grasslands Conference: Working Across Boundaries - Conference Program 7 1:00 - 3:00 pm Second Concurrent Breakout Sessions

Track 1: Working Lands Track 2: Avian Track 3: Grasslands Track 4: Grasslands Approaches Conservation Management and Conservation from Restoration Canada to Mexico

Room Renoir-Russell Van Gogh-Remington Wyeth-Rockwell Liberty-Manhattan

Moderator Mark Norton Catherine Wightman Jonas Davis Tyler Lark

1:00 - Native Grasslands, Oil on the Prairie: Tracking Woody Species Innovation Thinking to 1:20 pm Livestock Producers as Exploring and Encroachment and Achieve the Grassland Ecologists Mitigating the Effects Removal in the Great Plains Conservation WIG (Wildly Karl Ebel, Ebel of Oil Infrastructure on with NAIP and EQIP: Important Goal) Grasslands Ranch Grassland Songbirds What’s it Mean for Birds? James Giocomo, Oaks and Heather Nenninger, Soil and Kyle Taylor, Playa Lakes Prairies Joint Venture Water Conservation Districts Joint Venture of Montana

1:20 - Stewards of Birds, Herds, and Cool Season Grass Impacts Agricultural Transition in 1:40 pm Saskatchewan: A Look Stewards: Enhancing on Native Mixedgrass the Great Plains: Patterns at Over 30 Years of Habitat for Grasslands Prairie Species in the and a Planned Response Habitat Conservation Birds while Maintaining Northern Great Plains Anne Bartuszevige, Playa with Landowners Sustainable Land Use Kenneth Spaeth, U.S. Lakes Joint Venture Jordan Ignatiuk, Nature Elizabeth Emeline, Department of Agriculture Saskatchewan American Bird – Natural Resources Conservancy Conservation Service

1:40 - Building Connections Restoring Quail Habitat Bringing Fire Back to the How Joint Ventures Work 2:00 pm with Working Lands at on Working Lands Landscape to Address with Landowners Through the County Level Ryan Diener, Pheasants Eastern Redcedar the Grassland Restoration Dan Casey, Northern Great Forever/Quail Forever Encroachment in Nebraska Incentive Program Plains Joint Venture Andy Bishop, Rainwater Steve Demaso, Gulf Basin Joint Venture Coast Joint Venture & Aimee Roberson, Rio Grande Joint Venture

2:00 - Working Grasslands A Full-Annual Cycle Prairie Emeralds: Restoring Working in Sync with 2:20 pm Approach to Public Conservation Strategy Mesic Habitats for Sage Nature in Desert and Private Land for Sprague’s Pipit, Grouse and Other Wildlife Grasslands Management Chestnut-collared and Tom France, National Wildlife Alejandro Carrillo, Rio Kevin Kading and McCown’s Longspurs, Federation Grande Joint Venture Curtis Francis, North and Baird’s Sparrow Dakota Game and Scott Somershoe, U.S. Fish Fish Department and Wildlife Service

2:20 - Multiple Species, Grassland Birds and The Role of the USDA- Discussion on Putting 2:40 pm Multiple Partners: Livestock Grazing: NRCS Plant Materials the Puzzle Together: Grass Banking to Finding Common Program in Increasing Plant Grassland Conservation Benefit Grazing and Ground in the Northern Diversity in from Canada to Mexico Habitat Priorities Great Plains Grassland Restoration Kelly Williamson, The Neal Niemuth, U.S. Fish Brandon Carr, U.S. South of the Divide and Wildlife Service - Department of Agriculture Conservation Action Habitat and Population – Natural Resources Program Inc. Evaluation Team Conservation Service

8 America’s Grasslands Conference: Working Across Boundaries - Conference Program 2:40 - 3:20 pm BREAK - Foyer and Galleria Ballroom Hosted by South Dakota Game Fish and Parks

2:50 - 3:10 pm Film “The Disappearing Grasslands” By Christian Ebel, Age 13 - A self-proclaimed Entrepreneur/Grasslands Learner –Wyeth/Rockwell

3:20 - 4:40 pm Third Concurrent Breakout Sessions

Track 1: Conservation Track 2: Grasslands Track 3: Monarchs and Track 4: Grasslands Strategies Policy Pollinators Inventories Room Renoir-Russell Van Gogh-Remington Wyeth-Rockwell Liberty-Manhattan

Moderator Neal Feeken Jim Giocomo Ryan Diener David DeGennaro

3:20 - 3:40 pm Conservation Easement Grassland Wins in the Research Applications Development of New Allocations to Address 2018 Farm Bill of the Integrated Grassland Inventory Localized Spillovers in Aviva Glaser, National Monarch Monitoring Methods and Protocols and Grassland Conversion: Wildlife Federation Program South Dakota Results A Model with Empirical Laura Lukens, Monarch Pete Bauman, South Dakota Evidence using Joint Venture State University Remotely-sensed Data David Hennessy, Michigan State University

3:40 - 4:00 pm Additionality of State & Local Rangeland Management Use of LiDAR to Refine Grassland Easement Strategies: Soil Practices to Support the South Dakota Native Acquisition: Conversion Health Policy from the Pollinators in the Grasslands Inventory Hazard Rate and Ground Up Great Plains Pete Bauman, South Dakota Spatial Spillover Duane Hovorka, Izaak Ray Moranz, Xerces State University Hongli Feng, Michigan Walton League of Society for Invertebrate State University America Conservation/NRCS

4:00 - 4:20 pm Candidate Conservation Learning from and Cattle Preferentially Mapping Intact Grasslands Agreements with Embracing the Graze Common and Abandoned Agricultural Assurances as a Tool Regional Conservation Milkweed in a Lands across the Midwest to Reduce Threats Partnership Program Nebraska Patch-Burn- and U.S. on Private Lands Steve Riley, Oaks and Grazing System Tyler Lark, University of and Reward Positive Prairies Joint Venture Timothy Dickson, Wisconsin Stewardship Actions University of Nebraska in Montana Omaha Kelsey Molloy, The Nature Conservancy

4:20 - 4:40 pm Conservation in an Exploring Conservation Assessing Landscape Assessing Grassland Energy Landscape and Agricultural Suitability for Pollinators Distribution and Change Jesse Beckers, North Policies that Affect in the United States across the North Dakota Natural Implementation of Great Plains American Great Plains to Resources Trust Transcontinental Neal Niemuth, U.S. Fish Inform Conservation Grassland Conservation and Wildlife Service - Sean Fields, Prairie Pothole Aimee Roberson, Rio Habitat and Population Joint Venture Grande Joint Venture Evaluation Team

Buses will leave for Black Leg Ranch from the Radisson Lobby starting at 4:50 pm every ten minutes up to 5:30 pm. Buses will return to hotel at the end of the event.

America’s Grasslands Conference: Working Across Boundaries - Conference Program 9 5:00 - 9:00 pm DINNER at Black Leg Ranch. Tour and talk by Jerry Doan 6:00-6:30 pm. Hosted by North Dakota Natural Resources Trust

Black Leg Ranch

Black Leg Ranch, McKenzie, N.D. was homesteaded in 1882 by George H. Doan in what was then Dakota Territory. The ranch is currently operated by Jerry and Renae Doan and their three sons Jeremy, Jay, and Jayce.

The ranch uses Holistic Management to regenerate the natural resources and allow wildlife to propagate and flourish. Huge strides have been made by the Doan family to improve the soil health of both native rangeland and cropland while improving the bottom line and quality of life for their family. The ranch is a living classroom for many soil health and grazing tours as well as university students and others from across the globe. The ranch has an active internship program allowing college students to engage and learn with hands on experience.

The ranch is home to cattle and bison as well as Rolling Plains Adventures, a full service hunting/guiding operation, and Black Leg Events, an Agri-Tourism operation. These ventures have allowed them to spread a positive message about agriculture to thousands of consumers, including people from all 50 states and 40 foreign countries.

The ranch has been awarded the Burleigh County Soil Health Award, the N.D. NRCS Appreciation Award, the N.D. Inaugural Leopold Award, and the National Environmental Stewardship Award. It was also awarded one of the Top 100 Fresh Perspectives in the nation from Farm Credit Services. The Doan family are advocates for agriculture and have been very active in these circles, working to bring positive change on a state and national level.

Please join us for a short tour of the ranch and a talk by Jerry Doan followed by dinner. Dinner will include some of Black Leg’s own Audubon certified Bird Friendly Beef among various food options and beer brewed at the newly

Door Prize Giveaway!

Win one of four packages containing an assortment of: $50-$100 gift cards from Scheels Sporting Goods (can be used online); locally-sourced Audubon Bird Friendly Ranching certified beef jerky, gifts from the National Buffalo Museum; National Wildlife Federation tote bags and hats; books about backyard wildlife; and more! Must be present during the closing plenary to receive prizes.

10 America’s Grasslands Conference: Working Across Boundaries - Conference Program Thursday, August 22nd

6:45 - 8:00 am BREAKFAST - Galleria Ballroom

8:00 - 8:45 am Poster Session - Galleria Ballroom Refer to page 15 for a list of poster presentations.

8:45 – 10:25 am Fourth Concurrent Breakout Sessions

Track 1: Cooperative Track 2: Grazing and Track 3: Regional Track 4: Continental Scale Partnerships Management Approaches to Grassland Conservation Conservation Room Renoir-Russell Van Gogh-Remington Wyeth-Rockwell Liberty-Manhattan Moderator John Bradley Aimee Roberson Marshall Johnson Andrew Jakes 8:45 - Partners in Conservation Cooperatively Improving The South Dakota Model A Continental 9:05 am of the Chihuahuan Tallgrass Prairie with for Grassland Conservation Approach to Grassland Desert Grasslands Adaptive Management Jim Faulstich, Conservation Nancy Hernandez Marissa Ahlering, The Rex Johnson, and Luke Cliff Wallis, Alberta Rodriguez, IMC Vida Nature Conservancy Perman, South Dakota Wilderness Association Silvestre A.C. Grassland Coalition

9:05 - Creating Learning Cover Crops & Livestock Transboundary 9:25 am Communities for Grazing on Cropland as Grasslands Partnership: Successful Conservation a Tool to Maintain and Coordinating Native Implementation Manage Grasslands – Grasslands Conservation Ken Olson, South Dakota Perspectives from a duck in Alberta, Montana and State University biologist and a rancher Saskatchewan Donn Nelson & Tanner Gue, Linda Cerney, Alberta Ducks Unlimited Prairie Conservation Forum

9:25 - Planned Gardening: Simulated Watershed- Biodiversity Hotspots in 9:45 am Enhancing Our Prairies Scale Impacts of Note that this track the Central and Southern Public Lands Through Grazing Management in split into two 50 Great Plains Partnerships Practices on Streamflow minute sessions. Nicole Rosmarino, Southern Dane Buysse, Ducks Characteristics and Plains Land Trust & Aaron 9:35 am - Engaging and Unlimited Downstream Flooding Hall, Defenders of Wildlife Assisting the Stewards Tong Wang, South Dakota of America’s Grasslands: State University Audubon’s Conservation 9:45 - Ranching for the Future Medicinal Grazing and Ranching Initiative Conservation across 10:05 AM Chad Njos, Cow Unexpected Outcomes and Other Working Borders: Small Chip Ranch Kirsten Robertson, South Lands Programs Environmental NGOs Carolina Forage and Grazing Josh Lefers, Audubon Dakota with Big Ideas Lands Coalition David Paul and Reagan Paul, Branimir Gjetvaj, Public Wild Prairie Beef Pastures - Public Interest 10:05 - Conservation by Building Soil Health on Trilateral Grasslands 10:25 am Committee Rangeland and Converted Initiative Leo Barthelmess, Rancher Cropland Michael Gale, U.S. Fish and Stewardship Alliance Kenny Miller, Miller Ranch Wildlife Service

10:25 - 10:50 am BREAK - Foyer and Galleria Ballroom Hosted by North Dakota Game and Fish Department

America’s Grasslands Conference: Working Across Boundaries - Conference Program 11 10:50 am - 11:35 am Roundtable Discussions Please join any of these opportunities for participants to get together and discuss issues in an informal setting.

Discussion 1 (Wyeth-Rockwell): Social Media Outreach for Conservation - Susan Ellis-Felege Discussion 2 (Van Gogh-Remington): Promoting Grass-fed Beef - Kalie Rider & Deanna Sand Discussion 3 (Liberty-Manhattan): The Need for a Tri-National Grasslands Initiative - Michael Gale & Cliff Wallis Discussion 4 (Renoir-Russell): Land Management Decision Making - Hongli Feng & Adam Reimer

10:50 am -11:35 am Poetry Reading (New York I)

“Two Poets on Learning to see the Grasslands: Can Beauty Save Us?” Saskatchewan Poet Laureate, Bruce Rice, and North Dakota Associate Poet Laureate, Bonnie Larson Staiger, share their work and reflect on learning to see the grasslands, the humans on it, and what lies beneath the impulse toward conservation – for scientists and artists alike.

11:40 am - 1:00 pm Fifth Concurrent Breakout Session

Track 1: Buffalo Conservation: Track 2: Climate, Carbon, Track 3: Northern Grassland Track 4: Producer Challenges and Opportunities and Renewable Energy Pollinators Perspectives and Case Studies Room Renoir-Russell Van Gogh-Remington Wyeth-Rockwell Liberty-Manhattan

Moderator Duane Hovorka Dana Ripper Kyle Brazil Tanner Gue

11:40 am - Buffalo Restoration on Tribal Avoided Grassland Examining Butterfly Grasslands- Bringing 12:00 pm Lands Conversion GHG Emission Abundance in Mixed-Grass Family Together Jason Baldes, National Wildlife Reduction Project Prairie with Restored Crystal and Johnathan Federation Opportunities Disturbance Regimes Neuharth, Prairie Beatriz Zavariz, Climate Brooke Karasch, North Paradise Farms Action Reserve Dakota State University

12:00 - Developing Innovative Leveraging Carbon Surveying Bee Rancho Tres 12:20 pm Solutions for Human-Bison Markets to Fund Communities and Their Papalotes: Our Coexistence across North Rangeland Associated Resources Management and America Easement Purchases across North Dakota Goals Ana Davidson, Colorado State Julius Pasay, The Chyna Pei, North Dakota Enrique Perez, University Climate Trust State University Chihuahua

12:20 - GIS Great Plains Bison Map, Greenhouse Gas Emission Conservation of Native From Dairy to Prairie 12:40 pm Interpretation and Landscape Trade-Offs between Cattle Plant-Pollinator Interactions Julie Mattox, Scale Planning Production and Grassland in North Dakota Grassland Northeast Texas Chamois Anderson, Defenders Conversion in the Working Landscapes Prairie Community of Wildlife Northern Great Plains Cayla Bendel, Classroom Kathryn Ireland, World Pheasants Forever Wildlife Fund

12:40 - Facilitated discussion led by Siting Wind Right for Understanding the Linkage Economic Profiles 1:00 pm Tom France: Challenges of Conservation: Clean and Between Land-use Change, of Regenerative Bringing Buffalo Back to the Green Energy Pollinator Health, and Ranching Success Great Plains Nathan Cummins, The Pollination Services in the Kevin Watt, TomKat Nature Conservancy Northern Great Plains Ranch Clint Otto, U.S. Geological Survey

12 America’s Grasslands Conference: Working Across Boundaries - Conference Program 1:00- 2:00 pm LUNCH - Galleria Ballroom Remarks by Senator

2:00 - 4:15 pm Closing Plenary - Belle Mehus Auditorium The Belle Mehus Auditorium is across E. Broadway Avenue from the Radisson Hotel. Please allow enough time to exit the hotel and cross the street.

2:10 - 2:30 pm A Market Based Approach to Native Prairie Restoration Brandon Butler, Roeslein Alternative Energy

2:30 - 3:30 pm Opportunities on the Prairie - Panel Discussion Ranchers from Canada, the U.S. and Mexico discuss the opportunities for grass based livelihoods that incorporate grassland conservation and restoration. Moderator: Kevin Kading, North Dakota Game and Fish Department

Panelists: Kirsten Robertson, South Carolina Karl Ebel, Texas, Pete Kronberg, North Dakota Jim Faulstich, South Dakota Enrique Perez, Mexico Kelly Williamson, Canada

3:30 - 4:00 pm Closing Keynote: Charting a New Course for Conservation in the 21st Century for America’s Most Forgotten Grasslands Dwayne Estes, Southeastern Grasslands Initiative

4:00 - 4:15 pm Door Prizes! and Conference Closing Aviva Glaser, National Wildlife Federation

America’s Grasslands Conference: Working Across Boundaries - Conference Program 13 “South Dakota provides some of the best hunting and fishing opportunities in the nation thanks to conservation stewardship by our farmers and ranchers, particularly their actions that help preserve and protect our valuable wetland and grassland resources.” - SDGFP Secretary Kelly Hepler

gfp.sd.gov

14 America’s Grasslands Conference: Working Across Boundaries - Conference Program Posters Poster Session will be on August 22nd at 8:00 am in the Galleria Ballroom. *Note that posters will be on display throughout the conference (including before and after the scheduled Poster Session)*

P1. Impacts of the Renewable Fuel Standard on America’s grasslands and waters - Tyler Lark, University of Wisconsin-Madison P2. Grass to Grain: Probabilistic Modeling of Agricultural Conversion in the North American Great Plains - Sarah Olimb, World Wildlife Fund P3. Use of Artificial Nesting Structures for Northern Aplomado Falcon (Falco femoralis septentrionalis) Territories in Chihuahua, Mexico - Jose Roberto Rodriguez-Salazar, IMC Vida Silvestre A. C. P4. Cool-season Grass Performance on Salinity - Wayne Markegard, U.S. Department of Agriculture

P5. Improved Forage Grass Releases by the Bismarck Plant Materials Center and Partners - Wayne Duckwitz, Bismarck Plant Materials Center P6. Defining the Historical Boundaries of the Great Plains Grasslands -Brice Hanberry, USDA Forest Service P7. Introducing the Rangeland Production Monitoring Service - Brice Hanberry, USDA Forest Service P8. Prescribed Fire Behavior in the Northern Great Plains - Megan Zopfi, University of North Dakota P9. Prescribed fire effects on a native grassland small mammal community structure, Grand Forks County, ND -Lynda LaFond, University of North Dakota P10. Public Pastures - Public Interest: A Vision for Multi-Use, Publicly-Owned Grasslands in Saskatchewan - Kristen Martin, Public Pastures - Public Interest P11. Conservation of Silphium albiflormum in Texas: The challenges of boundaries -Bruce Benz & Alyssa Hutchinson, Texas Wesleyan University P12. Characterizing and quantifying the contributions of ranchlands to grassland birds of the Great Plains - Kevin Ellison, World Wildlife Fund P13. Nebraska Ranch Transition Planning Pilot and the Theory of Change - Andrew Horvath, World Wildlife Fund P14. Grazing management across the Southern Great Plains benefitting Grassland Birds -Jordan Menge, Pheasants Forever P15. Native Seed Development for the Piney Woods and Oaks and Prairies region of Texas - Tyler Wayland, Texas A&M University- Kingsville P16. Grass and Forb Fire Recovery Benefit from Ant and Kangaroo Rat Burrows in a Semiarid Grassland -Nancy Nicolai, University of New Mexico P17. Influence of Grazer-type on Flower and Pollinator Abundance in Former CRP Fields Managed with Patch-burn Grazing -Jasmine Cutter, North Dakota State University P18. Pollen resource limitation in the Northern Great Plains - Mike Simanonok, U.S. Geological Survey P19. Using Riparian Vegetation to Identify Thresholds in Prairie Streams - Miranda Meehan, North Dakota State University P20. Implementation and Evaluation of the Comprehensive Management Methodology in Beef Cattle Enterprises in Chihuahua, México - Raul Hernandez, Agro Cultura Empresarial, Mexico P21. Identifying Potential Landscapes for Prairie Dog Ecosystem Conservation - Ana Davidson, Colorado State University P22. The Grassland Human Health Connection: Superfoods of the Grasslands - Kalie Rider, North Dakota Grazing Lands Coalition P23. Plant and Pollinator Diversity in Remnant and Restored Tallgrass Prairies: Are Restored Prairies Better, Worse or Just Different? David Wedin, University of Nebraska-Lincoln P24. Grassland Management Requires Adaptive Management to Take Bigger Risks and Learn from Failures - Jack Norland, North Dakota State University P25. Bobolinks and Bovines: Grassland Bird Conservation through Management Intensive Grazing - Mary Damm and Phil Specht, Prairie Quest Farm P26. Private Lands Stewardship: A model for Landscape Conservation - Jessica Weathers, Bird Conservancy of the Rockies

America’s Grasslands Conference: Working Across Boundaries - Conference Program 15 We are a proud sponsor of the America’s Grassland Conference: Working Across Boundaries.

The Trust works with a diverse collective of partners across the state, offering a variety of voluntary programs to assist with:  Cost share on establishing grazing systems with fencing and water infrastructure  Native plantings and grass seeding  Community and landscape restoration/enhancement projects in oil-producing counties  Restoring and enhancing wetland habitats for wildlife and livestock production A portion of those programs are financially supported by the Outdoor Heritage Fund dollars—putting energy development to work on North Dakota’s landscape to help farmers and ranchers achieve better productivity, improve soil health, and increase wildlife habitat. If your interested in learning more about the programs the Trust offers, please contact the office at (701) 223-8501.

“Farmers and ranchers are good land stewards. Without the cooperation of farmers and ranchers, we won’t accomplish our conservation goals. It’s that simple.” H. Dale Hall CEO, Ducks Unlimited

Ducks Unlimited is proud to partner with farmers, ranchers and landowners to help conserve our natural resources.

WWW.DUCKS.ORG

16 America’s Grasslands Conference: Working Across Boundaries - Conference Program NORTH DAKOTA GRAZING LANDS COALITION Promoting the health and regeneration 2019 EVENTS of North Dakota’s grasslands June 7-8 Bird Bonanza Miller Ranch Ft. Rice June 19 Pasture Walk Golden Valley Soil Conservation District Beach

August 8 Wilson Farm Tour ND Leopold Award Winner Jamestown

August 20-22 America’s Grassland Conference Bismarck

September 11 Summer Tour Gartner Ranch FOR MORE INFORMATION: Glen Ullin 701-355-4458 • [email protected] • ndglc.com

The Southeastern Grasslands Initiative (SGI) and Roundstone Native Seed are proud to sponsor and be a part of the 2019 America’s Grasslands Conference.

In the Southeast, SGI and Roundstone are committed partners in the promotion, conservation, restoration, utilization, and establishment of native grasslands.

America’s Grasslands Conference: Working Across Boundaries - Conference Program 17 Keynote Speakers

Credit: Mike LaLonde

Dan Flores - Opening Keynote stewardship and education programs in northern Mexico, which focus primarily Dan Flores is a writer and on grassland birds and other wildlife, including resident Professor Emeritus of the and migratory species. Arvind has worked to build a History of the American permanent bridge for bird conservation throughout the West at the University Americas. He is involved in several cooperative of Montana. A native of projects in Mexico in Chihuahuan grasslands, western Louisiana and currently a Mexico and the Sierra Madre Oriental. He also resident of Santa Fe, New oversees the Partners in Flight Avian Conservation Mexico, he has written for Assessment Database, a tool for conservation planners the New York Times, the Los that Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, and numerous covers 1600 bird species in 10 countries from magazines. He is the author of ten Panama to Canada. books, the most recent of which is “American Serengeti: The Last Big Animals of the Great Plains”, Elisha Mueller which received the Stubbendieck Distinguished Book Prize in 2017, and “Coyote America: A Natural and Elisha Mueller is a Supernatural History”, a New York Times Bestseller, Conservation Biologist with winner of the Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Award, and the North Dakota Game a 2017 Finalist for PEN America’s E. O. Wilson Prize and Fish Department. As a in Literary Science Writing. His current project, “Wild graduate student at Oklahoma New World,” is a big history of the human/animal story State University, she studied in America that will be published by W. W. Norton. land management and how it influences floral and pollinator communities. After Arvind Panjabi receiving her degree, she traveled throughout the west working as both a Restoration Specialist and Arvind Panjabi is an Avian Botanist in Idaho, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and Conservation Scientist with Kansas. She moved to North Dakota to join the Bird Conservancy of the Game and Fish Department in February of 2017 and Rockies, based in Colorado. quickly fell in love with the Prairie Pothole Region. Arvind has developed and As a Conservation Biologist, she works on public currently oversees Bird land management, energy development, and non- Conservancy’s science, game species, specifically pollinators. Her focus is to

18 America’s Grasslands Conference: Working Across Boundaries - Conference Program protect North Dakota’s native wildlife and the habitat without supplementation. resources they depend on. Dwayne Estes - Closing Keynote Jed Rider Dwayne Estes serves Jed Rider, his wife, Melissa, as executive director at and three boys, Lane, Southeastern Grasslands Beau, and Garrett operate Initiative. He is a Full Professor a managed grazing system of Biology, Director of the in Northwestern North Austin Peay State University Dakota, near Alexander. As a Herbarium, and Principal family, they attended Joshua Investigator for the Center Dukart’s Holistic Management and Holistic Financial of Excellence for Field Biology. Dwayne’s research Planning classes and found interests include the flora, ecology, history, biodiversity, the education they received to be extremely useful. and biogeography of the Southeastern U.S., with The “WHOLE” goal for the Rider Ranch is health. emphasis on grasslands. He has published over To achieve healthy plants, animals, people and twenty publications and co-authored the Guide to lifestyles, we MUST have healthy soils. The Rider’s the Vascular Plants of Tennessee, published in 2015. use their cow/calf operation as a soil regeneration He enjoys mentoring his six graduate students and tool, while striving to direct market beef dense in working hand-in-hand with a dedicated SGI team. nutrients and flavor. He has been active in building diverse support for Southeastern US grasslands conservation, including ​The Rider’s move their cattle through a planned bringing together philanthropists, government grazing system consisting of tame and native agencies, non-profits, corporate and small-business pastures, upper river break’s rangeland, cover partners, private landowners and ranchers, historians, crops, and bale grazing. Their planned grazing educators, and citizen scientists. revolves around rest and recovery. The cattle can’t just exist. They must be applied as a soil regeneration tool whether it is July or January. The goal for the Rider’s is to graze cattle 365 days a year

America’s Grasslands Conference: Working Across Boundaries - Conference Program 19 A national leader in assisting grassland owners access carbon markets, The Climate Trust combats climate change by funding and managing projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Photo courtesy of The Nature Conservancy and Aaron Huey

THE VOICE FOR NORTH DAKOTA’S WILDLIFE, HABITAT AND ACCESS

Keep that voice heard. www.northdakotawildlifefederation.org

20 America’s Grasslands Conference: Working Across Boundaries - Conference Program America’s Grasslands Conference: Working Across Boundaries - Conference Program 21 America Grasslands Conference

Lead Sponsor Pronghorn Antelope

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY, LLC

Plains Bison

22 America’s Grasslands Conference: Working Across Boundaries - Conference Program Thanks Our Sponsors!

Pronghorn Antelope

Sage Grouse

Monarch Butterfly Millborn Seeds

Additional thanks: Delta Waterfowl, Scheels, South Dakota Chapter of the Wildlife Society.

America’s Grasslands Conference: Working Across Boundaries - Conference Program 23 Let’s connect on social media!

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