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Decatur, Texas — Three Dixon Water Basis ranch properties, totaling greater than 21,000 acres, have been designated Audubon Licensed bird-friendly habitats by the Nationwide Audubon Society via the chook nonprofit’s Conservation Ranching program. The land certification underscores the inspiration’s dedication to grassland administration, particularly via rotational cattle grazing as a way to create a mosaic of habitat for grassland birds.
Audubon Conservation Ranching is a wildlife habitat program working to stabilize declining grassland chook populations in Texas and throughout the U.S. As detailed on this yr’s State of the Birds 2022, grassland birds are among the many fastest-declining chook species in the USA, with a 34% loss since 1970. The Dixon Water Basis’s north Texas ranch in Cooke County – the Leo and Pittman items – consists of 5,000 acres of tallgrass prairie, a lot of it native. Right here, the Dickcissel, Japanese Meadowlark, and Northern Bobwhite are species of precedence. On the basis’s 16,000-acre Mimms Ranch northwest of Mara in Presidio County, the west Texas rangelands help many alternative chook species, together with the Burrowing Owl, Cassin’s Sparrow, and Scaled Quail.
The Dixon Water Basis, which exists to advertise wholesome watersheds and the sequestration of carbon via regenerative land administration, views the Audubon certification as an evolutionary subsequent step on the group’s environmental path.
“We see the Audubon Conservation Ranching program and the Audubon certification as being in alignment with our mission to advertise wholesome watersheds via good land administration,” mentioned Casey Wade, Vice President of Ranching Operations for the Dixon Water Basis. “By elevating animals tailored to thriving on native grass, we’re capable of maintain 1000’s of acres of rangeland in meals manufacturing whereas additionally conserving habitat for the wildlife that make the most of these grasslands. By holding the grasslands intact, with good habitat for wildlife, good floor cowl, and wholesome soils, these grasslands may even be capable of catch extra rainfall, cut back runoff and erosion, and sequester extra carbon.”
Thomas Schroeder, Conservation Ranching Supervisor for Audubon in Texas, says that partnerships like with the Dixon Water Basis assist illuminate the position of cattle as habitat helpers. “Variety is the secret for grassland birds,” Schroeder mentioned. “Managed rotational grazing permits for the simultaneous intense grazing of some pastures and choose resting of others, important for making a fascinating grassland mosaic for birds with differing habitat wants,” Schroeder mentioned.
By assembly all Audubon Conservation Ranching program necessities – that are third-party verified – beef produced on the licensed Dixon Water Basis ranches can carry the Audubon Licensed bird-friendly seal, a client bundle label that acknowledges product origin as lands managed for birds and biodiversity. The provision line from the Dixon Water Basis runs via the Grassfed Livestock Alliance, with product retailing on the contemporary meat counter at Entire Meals Market places in Texas, in addition to Arkansas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma.
For extra details about Audubon Conservation Ranching in Texas, contact Thomas Schroeder.
About Audubon Conservation Ranching
A wildlife habitat initiative of the Nationwide Audubon Society with a singular market entrance, Audubon Conservation Ranching’s objective is to stabilize declining grassland chook populations in partnership with ranchers – on whose land 95 p.c of grassland birds reside. Audubon Conservation Ranching’s enrollment contains greater than 100 ranches, overlaying greater than 3.5 million acres which have earned standing as Audubon Licensed Chook-friendly Land. Incentivizing this habitat work for birds and biodiversity are shoppers with an urge for food for conservation, who help it with the acquisition of merchandise grazed on these lands. Buyers see a particular bundle designation – the Audubon Licensed bird-friendly seal – that units these merchandise aside. For extra data, go to Audubon.org/ranching.
About Audubon
The Nationwide Audubon Society protects birds and the locations they want, in the present day and tomorrow, all through the Americas utilizing science, advocacy, training, and on-the-ground conservation. Audubon’s state packages, nature facilities, chapters, and companions have an unparalleled wingspan that reaches tens of millions of individuals annually to tell, encourage and unite various communities in conservation motion. Since 1905, Audubon’s imaginative and prescient has been a world wherein folks and wildlife thrive. Audubon is a nonprofit conservation group. Be taught extra at www.audubon.org and @audubonsociety.
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