Wildlife Conservation on KFYR-TV North Dakota's NBC News Leader

Wildlife Conservation |

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6/24/2008

Outdoor writers from across the country are in Bismarck this weekend to sharpen their skills at their annual conference. The Natural Resources Conservation Service took the writers on a field trip today to an Gabe Brown`s farm in Menoken in the hopes of showing them some of the many ways North Dakotans are working to sustain their land.

The NRCS views Brown as a model farmer when it comes to conservation practices.

"I`m not as concerned about how many bushels per acre that I can grow," says Brown, "as I am how profitable can it be and can I do in a sustainable way that protects the resource."

Brown`s a no-till farmer, practices rotational grazing, and uses minimal herbicide among many other things. All the practices combined have drawn more wildlife than ever to his farm.

"I don`t care if we`re talking white tailed deer, canadian geese, sharped tailed grouse, pheasants...they`ve increase substantially as we`ve gotten into this more sustainable system."

A sustainable system that he says wouldn`t have been possible if it weren`t for the help of the Natural Resources Conservation Service. Chief Arlen Lancaster, of the NRCS traveled from Washington this weekend to get that point across to the outdoor writers visiting the area.

"The idea is let`s get better awareness that a working agricultural operation is providing working benefits that we`re all going to benefit from," says Lancaster.

Lancaster says Gabe used farm bill programs that other farmers and ranchers have access to as well. He`s hoping the outdoor writers can spread the word about how beneficial and accessible conservation practices are for farmers.

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