Outdoor Heritage Habitat Initiative

Through the Outdoor Heritage Habitat Initiative, Outdoor Heritage funds were leveraged with North Dakota Game and Fish Department Private Lands Open To Sportsman and Save Our Lakes programs.

• PLOTS enrollment includes new and existing habitat which provides cover for wildlife and hunting access for sportsman.

The Outdoor Heritage Habitat Initiative was designed to address:

• the loss of grasslands by providing options for producers who have expired CRP and were not accepted back into CRP, and
• water quality degradation by offering producers options for improving water quality through a variety of practices available through the SOL program.

Project Goals

• Maintain North Dakota’s hunting heritage by providing producers with options to develop habitat on their land and make improvements to their operation.
• Maintain North Dakota’s hunting heritage by increasing wildlife habitat and public access for hunting by enrolling 3,000 acres of new and existing habitat into the PLOTS program.
• Maintain North Dakota’s important recreational fisheries by improving water quality through the enhancement of 1,600 acres of shoreline, riparian areas, grassed waterways and other habitat into the SOL program.
• Provide alternative income source for agricultural producers interested in developing wildlife habitat, improving their operation and providing public access.
• Provide recreational opportunities for resident and nonresident hunters and anglers.
• Provide an important forage reserve for cattle producers.

Implementation and Delivery

The Department utilized existing staff to deliver the Outdoor Heritage Habitat Initiative on private lands using PLOTS and SOL programs as the delivery mechanisms. PLOTS and SOL programs are well recognized by farmers, ranchers and hunters as leading conservation programs in the state. Private lands biologists have a proven track record of delivering private land programs and are well respected by North Dakota farmers and ranchers. Biologists have worked with thousands of private landowners over the last 20 years to develop or enhance more than one million acres of habitat and public access.

The Department’s PLOTS and SOL programs are flexible in many ways. They are designed to fit a producer’s operation by developing specific management plans. These programs are meant to compliment the producer’s operation, and provide cost share for infrastructure, management and maintenance all while enhancing wildlife habitat.

Funding

The Outdoor Heritage Habitat Initiative requested and received $2 million over a 10-year period. $300,000 of existing PLOTS funding and $300,000 of SOL funding were available as a cash match to provide additional payments for walk-in public access. $110,000 of Department private lands biologists salaries, vehicle mileage and equipment, such as signs and posts, were used as indirect match and $5,000 of Department funds were used as other match for promotion, information and education for the project. Every dollar of funding was delivered to on the ground projects. No staff time, equipment or materials was purchased with these funds.