We visit a couple ranchers in the Oklahoma panhandle who are participating in the NRCS Lesser Prairie Chicken Initiative.
Jordan Shearer, a Slapout, OK, rancher, talks about how participation in the Initiative has given him technical expertise on range management and helped improve his grassland, even following exceptional drought in 2010-2012. Loren Sizelove ranches near Shearer, and he's the Beaver County Extension Agent. The drought took its toll on Sizelove's herd, and he had to disperse 60 percent of his herd. His participation in the Initiative has resulted in payments for deferring grazing, and deferring calving. And in the event of accidental "take" on his land -- the injuring or killing of a Lesser Prairie-Chicken -- he won't be held liable.
PARTICIPANTS
Jordan Shearer
Rancher
Slapout, OK
Loren Sizelove
Rancher
Laverne, OK