Wednesday,December23,2015The Nugget Newspaper,Sisters,Oregon15
Ladies’ Night Out celebrates the ranching lifestyle
TheHighDesertMuseum
celebratesthespiritofranch
women as captured in the
exhibit “Tough by Nature:
Portraits of Cowgirls and
R a n c h Wo m e n o f t h e
AmericanWest,”withaneve-
ningofcowgirlpoetry,liba-
tionsandmusiconJanuary8,
2016.
Listen to the rhythm of
thetrailandranchingwayof
lifeaspoetsEllenWaterston,
JessicaHedges,LindaHussa
andCarolynDufurrenaread
from selected works. Their
words will bring to life the
essence of the ranching
womenwhoseportraitshang
intheexhibit.
“Lynda Lanker captured
the stories and images of
the women and cowgirls in
her exhibition, and Ladies’
Night Out will bring to life
those portraits with words
and music,” said Curator
of Western History Laura
Ferguson.
AuthorandWritingRanch
founderEllenWaterson is a
poetandliteraryartsadvocate
wholivedonaranchinrural
Oregonandwrote“Wherethe
CrookedRiverRises:AHigh
DesertHome.”
Jessica Hedges’ poetry
gives depth and soul to the
simpledailychoresofevery-
dayranchinglife.Herwords
connect to those who have
lived the ranching lifestyle
andtothosethatwantto.
photo provided
Rancher and poet Linda Jan Youren, 2004, by linda lanker, one of the paintings featured in the
Hussa lives in northeast High Desert Museum’s exhibit Tough By Nature.
Californiaontheedgeofthe
BlackRockDesert.Anauthor essays, and teaches grades Evening of Music and
of seven books of poetry 3-8inatwo-roomschool,25 CowgirlPoetryrunsfrom6to
8p.m.andtherewillbeano-
andnon-fiction,sheartfully milesfromhome.
In addition to the read- hostbarandhorsd’oeuvres.
explores the way of life of
ings, local bluegrass band Cost is $5 for members
ruralWesterners.
CarolynDufurrenadraws Bend n’ Strings will add and $10 for non-members.
inspiration from the land their sweet harmonies and RSVP at www.highdesert
andlivesofherneighboring acousticsoundstothefestive museum.org/rsvp or contact
theMuseumat541-382-4754
ranchers.Dufurrenahaspub- evening.
Ladies’ Night Out: An ext.241formoreinformation.
lishedtwobooksofpersonal
Funds help ranchers protect sage grouse
USDA’sNaturalResources
ConservationService(NRCS)
ismakingabout$40millionin
financialassistanceavailable
in2016toagriculturalproduc-
ersacrosstheWestwhowant
torestoreandprotecthabitat
forthegreatersagegrouse.
This funding comes from
the national Working Lands
forWildlife (WLFW) initia-
tive, an innovative partner-
shipbetweenNRCS,theU.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service
(USFWS) and private land-
owners that supports strug-
glinglandscapesandstrength-
ensagriculturaloperations.
Intotal,USDAwillinvest
$50millionthisyearthrough
WLFW across the nation;
$40millionofthosefundsare
goingdirectlytowardgreater
sage grouse conservation in
theWest.
“The decisions of agri-
cultural producers can have
significant impacts on wild-
life,” said NRCS Oregon
State Conservationist Ron
Alvarado.“Bymanagingland
with sage grouse and other
wildlife in mind, producers
canbenefitentirepopulations
whilealsostrengtheningtheir
agriculturaloperations.”
Conservation efforts to
restore and protect the sage-
brush landscape led the
USFWS to determine in
September that the greater
sage grouse did not war-
rant protection under the
Endangered Species Act.
Since 2010, NRCS and con-
servation partners have
workedwithrancherstomake
conservationimprovementsto
4.4millionacresofsagebrush
habitatacrosstheWest,ben-
efitting sage grouse and 350
otherkindsofwildlife,includ-
ingmuledeer,elk,pronghorn
andgoldeneagles.
With the support of con-
servationpartnersandranch-
ers, NRCS launched the
Sage Grouse Initiative in
2010. Those efforts became
themodelforWLFW,which
begantwoyearslaterandnow
covers a variety of species
Merry Christmas
& Happy Holidays
from Eric, Deb, and the
medical team at Your Care!
We wish you and the ones you
care about a very merry and
healthy holiday season!
Bring this ad in for a fl u shot at
no cost to you! (Expires 12/29/15)
Walk-In & Urgent Care
Serving our Sisters Community...
acrossthecountry,including
thesagegrouse,NewEngland
cottontail, Southwestern
willow flycatcher, golden-
winged warbler, gopher tor-
toise,bogturtle,andthelesser
prairie-chicken.
“Working Lands for
Wildlife helps land manag-
ersintegratewildlife-friendly
measures into their work-
ing lands and also ensures
they can keep those lands
working,” said Zola Ryan,
NRCS district conservation-
istinHarneyCounty,oneof
Oregon’s eight sage grouse
counties.
In Oregon, the WLFW
funding will be provided to
producers primarily through
the Environmental Quality
Incentives Program (EQIP).
This is a voluntary finan-
cial assistance program that
reimburses producers for
a portion of the expense to
install conservation prac-
tices on private agricultural
lands.Conservationpractices
include removing invasive
juniper trees and other coni-
fers,treatinginvasiveannual
grasses, developing grazing
managementplans,andmore.
“Not only are these prac-
tices good for sage grouse,
but they promote an overall
healthyrangelandecosystem,”
Ryansaid.
NRCS also offers sage
grouse funding through the
Agricultural Conservation
Easement Program and the
Conservation Stewardship
Program. For more informa-
tionabouttheseandotherpro-
grams,contactalocalUSDA
ServiceCenter.
Applications will be
screened and ranked for
funding based on priority
natural resource concerns.
The sage grouse priority
areas for Oregon are identi-
fied in the SGI 2.0 Oregon
ImplementationStrategy.This
documentisavailableonthe
NRCSOregonSGIwebpage.
The next application
deadlineforEQIPfundingis
January15,2016.
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