FOR THE BIRDS, FOR YOUR RANCH

Your next metric for healthy land comes with feathers.

- Courtney Leeper Girgis

If you step outside into the morning sun but don’t hear birds singing, you may have a problem.

“Birds are a leading indicator of what’s happening in your ecosystem,” says Chad Lemke, a Texas rancher who took over his family’s operation in the early 2000s with his wife, Rhona. Parts of the ranch, two hours west of Austin, have been in Lemke’s family since the late 1800s. Today, the family raises cattle, sheep, and goats for breeding stock and grass-finished meat.

The Initiative

Lemke has always enjoyed watching quail and turkey trot across the rolling landscape. He says his holistic “land first, animals close second” management approach set him up to consider wildlife needs. He intentionally excludes livestock from grazing areas where deer raise fawns or ground-nesting birds prepare to brood. However, he had not considered tracking bird populations until 2018, after connecting with the National Audubon Society’s Conservation Ranching Initiative.

Audubon’s Conservation Ranching Initiative was conceived about a decade ago in Missouri by conservationists concerned about grassland bird populations. Grassland birds, which include northern bobwhite quail and meadowlarks, have declined by more than 50% in the past 50 years, more than any other bird group, says Chris Wilson, Conservation Ranching Initiative director.

The program aims to incentivize good grassland habitat management on private lands, where most grassland birds dwell, with a market-based approach. Participating ranchers work toward Audubon’s “bird-friendly land” certification, verified by the third-party Food Alliance. The status comes with a seal that can be used to market meat and live animals at a premium.