How Working Lands Keep Wildlife Moving

A tiny songbird just completed an epic 4,000-mile journey across North America. About the weight of a slice of bread and small enough to fit in your palm, the bird navigated its migratory journey using its remarkable biological compass through challenging conditions.

The journey began in Phillips County, Montana, in the heart of the Northern Great Plains. There, researchers from the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute fitted the bird – a Sprague’s Pipit, tagged #43535 – with a tiny radio transmitter. That summer, the bird flew north into the Canadian prairies, then made its way back south through Montana and North Dakota, eventually wintering in the grasslands of Mexico. Come spring, it turned north again. Along the way, its tag activated Motus towers – radio receivers that transform these once-invisible migrations into data, helping scientists map the pipit’s path.

And what that data showed was extraordinary.

This bird survived because it found what it needed at each stop: safe landscapes within working ranches. Places with native grasses swaying in the wind. Soil rich with life. Healthy landscapes shaped over thousands of years by the natural rhythms of grazing animals.

That's not luck. That's restoration at work.

Why Northern Great Plains Conservation Matters

Grasslands like the Northern Great Plains are one of the most threatened and least protected ecosystems in the world. More than 70% of native prairie has already been converted to cropland or lost to invasive species. 

And the ripple effects show up in the sky.

Grassland birds are vanishing faster than any other group of birds in North America. The Sprague's pipit with its spiraling song. Baird's sparrow with its musical call. The longspur with its bubbling warble. They disappear, leaving silence as their habitat transforms.

Their survival hinges on the health of a cross-continent migration route. If even one stop along the way is lost, it can unravel the entire journey. 

Fewer and fewer grassland birds make it each year. 

But Pipit #43535 did. And its survival signals something important: restoration works when done well and done together.

Conservation Ranching Is Reviving America’s Grasslands

In Montana, rancher Leo Barthelmess moves his cattle every few days through carefully planned rotations. His approach mirrors the natural rhythms of bison that once roamed these plains – brief, intense grazing that gives native prairie plants time to recover and thrive.

Leo is one of more than 1,250 land stewards across the Northern Great Plains working to bring these ecosystems back to life. They’re restoring resilient grasslands, pasture by pasture – replanting native grasses, removing invasives, and rebalancing landscapes long pushed to the edge.

With support from the Bezos Earth Fund and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), hundreds of restoration projects are underway across U.S. grasslands. So far, more than 1.7 million acres of priority habitat are being improved or restored. That’s an area of land larger than Delaware. Twice the size of Yosemite. Once-degraded prairies are now showing signs of life.

A Future for Wildlife and for Ranching Communities

The results are palpable. Birds are flocking back to restored habitat. Soil is regaining its vitality. And ranching families are demonstrating that conservation offers a path to keep working lands in family hands for generations.

But this progress is still fragile. Each year, more grasslands disappear – cleared for crops or overtaken by invasive species. 

The good news? Ranchers are stepping up to meet the moment. Across the Great Plains, new conservation ranching groups are forming. In just two years, the number of ranchers asking for support through NFWF’s Northern Great Plains program has tripled. Momentum is building. Communities are ready.

A future where wildlife corridors remain intact and rural economies remain strong is still within reach. But it will take sustained investment in this kind of quiet, powerful restoration – often happening far from the spotlight. Because sometimes the most effective conservation doesn’t happen in parks or preserves. It happens on working lands, where people and nature find ways to thrive together.