NRCS honors Native Americans with new brochure, story map

Across the West, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service works with Native Americans to restore sagebrush range through the Sage Grouse Initiative, part of the Working Lands for Wildlife program.

NRCS highlighted these growing partnerships recently though a new brochure and story map, “The Dance of the Sage Grouse: Bridging Culture and Conservation.”

The poster-sized brochure features the vivid artwork of Washoe Tribe member Louinda Garity along with stories about successful NRCS conservation partnerships to restore sagebrush habitat while making tribal lands more productive for livestock. Garity’s artwork depicts the sage grouse dancing in early spring with Nevada’s Stillwater Range in the background. For Nevada tribes, sage grouse provided food and feathers for decoration while the sagebrush itself is traditionally used for shelter, medicine, tea and spiritual cleansing.

“We are acutely aware of the need to protect and nurture this environment,” says Garity. “Our tribes take our sacred dances from the movements of the sage grouse, deer and all animals native to this area. People that don’t live here just see a vast barren desert, but nothing could be further from the truth. … Our people have been here for more than 10,000 years — and how did they survive this climate? I wanted to show the desert not as barren, but as a living ecosystem.”

Download the brochure and view the story map at www.sagegrouseinitiative.com/sagebrush-community/the-people.