Strengthening Collaboration Through a Changing Environment

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Last month, Partnering to Conserve Sagebrush Rangelands convened virtually for the 2nd Annual Collaborative Forum to empower cross-boundary sagebrush collaboration. This year's theme was strengthening collaboration through a changing environment. The event aimed to strengthen the toolkit for the Sage Capacity Team (SCT), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and the community of partners they work with. The SCT is a group of field-based natural resource professionals supported by multiple organizations in key locations to advance sagebrush conservation across the West. Many of the partners that support and who work with the SCT members attended the workshop to share about their accomplishments, lessons learned, and what they’ve achieved together. 

“Collaboration should be our mindset,” said John Ruhs, BLM Idaho State Director and IWJV Management Board Member, during one of the sessions. “Call it partnership, being friends, being a good neighbor. Let’s work together to get results on the ground.” 

The forum started with Ruhs and other BLM leadership discussing successes, challenges, and opportunities relating to outcome-based grazing, conifer removal, and fire management in sagebrush ecosystems. Their presentations grew an understanding of the BLM sagebrush operations both internally and externally as well as how to support local efforts.

The Sage Capacity Team welcomed everyone to the forum through a fun video clip giving faces and places to their positions.

To strengthen collaborative capacity among partners, Laura Van Riper, BLM Social Scientist, provided skills-building for engaging partners collaboratively and resolving conflict. She said that if you listen with respect a new perception will result and you may see possibilities and solutions that were hidden before. This session helped partners learn about building trust and improving communications to foster the best possible outcomes among collaborators, getting beyond positions (what people want) to address interests (why they want it).

“Conflict is what brings people to the table,” said Van Riper “It helps us to find new ground, rather than common ground.” 

To kick off the second day of the forum, SCT members provided insights into how their partnerships have improved conservation outcomes for ecosystems, wildlife, and people. When the Soda Fire hit in 2015, SCT member Brenda Richards, the Idaho Rangeland Conservation Partnership Coordinator, talked about the importance of long-term relationships with the BLM to help move forward quickly on rehabilitation and emergency stabilization efforts. 

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“Having relationships built early pays off ten-fold,” said Richards. Tanya Thrift, Acting District Manager for the BLM Boise District, emphasized that Richards was able to get folks to come to the table who wouldn’t have otherwise. After the fire, BLM and other partners were then able to maintain investments in post-fire rehabilitation by getting some permittees to commit to outcome-based grazing, addressing challenges like invading cheatgrass, which contribute to ongoing fire risk. 

The virtual presentation then traveled south to the Bi-State area in California and Nevada. SCT member Amy Sturgill, Bistate Local Area Working Group Coordinator, and Heather Stone, BLM Supervisory Natural Resource Specialist, reported on Sturgill’s role in the successes of the Bi-State Local Area Working Group. 

“This SCT member truly does it all, from helping with conifer removal projects to managing data to communicating with tribal partners to increasing scientific capacity relating conservation efforts,” said Stone. Stone explained that the biggest contribution that Sturgill makes to their collaborative is that by being a neutral coordinator she is providing continuity as people within the group change.

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The audience then traveled digitally to southwestern Montana where SCT member Sean Claffey works as the Southwest Montana Sagebrush Conservation Partnership Coordinator. Claffey expressed that the notion of “can’t” isn’t in the vocabulary of partners working there on sagebrush conservation. Supporting funding and field capacity for projects from conifer removal to the installation of beaver dam analogs, Claffey said his job is mainly to ask, “How can I help by engaging whoever is on the other side of the fenceline?” Pat Fosse, Assistant Field Manager at the BLM Dillon Office, said that his work has been critical to the “all hands all lands” approach partners are taking to improve conservation outcomes in southwestern Montana.

IWJV’s Sagebrush Communications Specialist Hannah Nikonow rounded off the forum by facilitating a conversation between a journalist and a federal public affairs director on how best we can be telling the story of sagebrush conservation and sharing information with interested stakeholders. Getting the right words out on projects when working with media can be a major challenge for partners. Jennifer Jones, Deputy State Director of Communications for the BLM in Idaho, and Christine Peterson, freelance journalist, emphasized the importance of building relationships with journalists and preparation for improving communication efforts.

Here are some of the major presentations delivered at this forum:

Here are a few of the corresponding PowerPoint presentations mentioned above:

The speakers and panelists showed that building relationships are what allows us to resolve conflict and stand together in changing and challenging times. One participant noted in a post-event survey that “collaboration is often the most difficult and most rewarding thing we do” and that “the value of trust and relationship building in all capacities is so important. It really emphasized how much we need to hold on to the connections we foster.”

The partners couldn’t say enough about the contributions of the SCT to making their work possible. As the SCT and their partners return (albeit virtually) to their corners of the sagebrush sea, we are so excited about how they continue to build bridges that help to improve conservation outcomes for communities, sagebrush ecosystems, and their inhabitants - human and wildlife.

Learn more about these partnerships and the work being done across the sagebrush landscape by visiting www.PartnersInTheSage.com. You can also contact our staff anytime. 

Hannah Nikonowconifer removal, fire & invasives, wet meadows, partnership