Mark Menlove

May 13th, 2024

The Sagebrush Sea is one of those special places that is full of surprises. What may appear desolate and dry is actually teeming with life. Known for its vast expanses of blue-green sage, stretching to the horizon like the waves of the ocean, the Sagebrush Sea spans 13 Western states. It supports hundreds of species, from pygmy rabbits to migrating pronghorn and salmon. Many species, like the greater sage-grouse, can survive nowhere else. The high desert is able to support all this life because, even through warmer months with little rainfall, water still flows through this landscape.

In a properly functioning system, streams meander and seasonally flood the surrounding meadows, providing a balanced supply of water during the growing season. But due to invasive species, poor grazing practices and climate change, these natural systems are being degraded at a devastating pace and scale. Preserving the ecosystem’s rich biodiversity largely depends on our ability to protect the water that sustains life here.

Together with the Bureau of Land Management, local communities and other nonprofit partners, The Nature Conservancy is working on a collaborative effort to enhance streams, riparian habitat and wet meadows throughout the Sagebrush Sea and the Colorado River Basin. One of the priority watersheds we are working on is the High Divide, a network of mountain drainages spanning the Continental Divide between Idaho and Montana. It’s one of our last and largest intact sagebrush steppe ecosystems.

The project will restore over 100 miles of streams using low-tech methods that mimic nature, such as installing in-stream structures that act like beaver dams. These structures slow down the flow of water, keep water in the system longer, saturate riparian and wetland habitats, and even serve as natural fire breaks—all of which benefit fish and wildlife.

The High Divide project is just one piece of TNC’s Sagebrush Sea Program, an unprecedented effort to coordinate conservation work across six TNC chapters. This effort combines protection and policy work and leans into TNC’s greatest strengths: partnerships, ground-breaking restoration advances and local community projects. It also connects to our deepest conservation priorities in Idaho, from our decades of work restoring salmon habitat in this same landscape, to our emerging renewable energy program that will explore ways of responsibly building clean energy with the lowest impacts to nature.

Next time you’re looking out over the endless waves of the Sagebrush Sea, think of projects like this that are benefiting the countless plants and animals that live here. Your commitment to conservation truly has an impact on this entire landscape. Thank you for your continued support.

Yours in conservation,

Mark Menlove