Minnesota Sharp-Tailed Grouse Society

10/08/2026

10/07/2026

10/07/2026

"As I have no qualms shooting a young rooster early in that hunting season, I have no qualms about shooting young grouse. But, about a decade into a love affair with sharptails that is now going past 40 years, I started to give a kitchen pass to birds that were noticeably small and clearly innocent.

But I decided to pay some annual penance for what I sometimes did to the birds in September. Especially the small, young ones. That meant going out to hunt sharptails on-purpose in October, the later the better for paying a full price. And sometimes, November.

I pay this penance with miles, with wind-burned cheeks, with fingers slowed by cold instead of sweating inside of gloves, and with the specter of “maybe just maybe” instead of “when” it will happen."

Read "Penance" by Tom Carpenter here: https://bit.ly/4AOVnyo

Artwork by Ross Hier

10/02/2026

GREAT PLAINS GRASSLAND CONSERVATION & MANAGEMENT - An Upcoming Webinar on Nov. 12, 11:30 am CT

Join Working Lands for Wildlife's (WLFW) Great Plains Grasslands Science Advisor and University of Nebraska–Lincoln professor Dirac Twidwell and leading rangeland researches and practitioners for a focused update on grassland conservation across the Great Plains.

They will share updates on rangeland wildfire and post-fire restoration, woody species encroachment managed at scale across the Plains, and the continued emergence of spatial analyses and continent-wide modeling of grasslands and wildlife population responses.

Register at https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_99QsBfrlSiyg42N_pf0WWw #/registration

This webinar is part of WLFW's "Science to Solutions Seminars: For Western Working Lands".

09/20/2026

FLIPPING THE SCRIPT from Reactive & Fragmented Triage to Proactive Defense of Large-Scale Ecosystems

North American grassland birds (including prairie grouse) have experienced steeper population declines than any bird group, yet conservation efforts remain largely reactive and fragmented. Data reveal an ecological core in the north-central Plains where community-level abundance is either increasing by >100% or remains high and stable, providing a strategic roadmap for a “Defend the Core” approach. This approach flips the script from reactive triage centered on isolated population fragments to a proactive strategy of maintaining large-scale ecosystem integrity.

Conversely, we found that population losses are more spatially clustered than wins, reflecting the relentless, one-way movement of woody encroachment and agricultural conversion. There is an opportunity for operationalizing a Great Plains Conservation Design that is ecosystem-centric and rooted in the sustainability of the private-land cattle production that maintains these open spaces.

The three main conclusions:
• The Great Plains still has functional ecological cores. Prioritizing intact grasslands cores for proactive conservation is more effective and efficient than disparate, disconnected conservation efforts in areas that are already degraded.
• Protecting and expanding these grassland cores from woody species and land use conversion provides the best opportunity for protecting all grassland bird species.
• Conservationists and landowners can come together to create a shared vision for productive grasslands that support livestock production while supporting grassland birds.

The above are excerpts from "Working Lands for Wildlife" news & an article in "Biological Conservation", respectively, at https://www.wlfw.org/news and https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0006320726003678?via%3Dihub

Learn more about NAGP's collaboration with the Lesser Prairie-Chicken Landowner Alliance to proactively maintain ranching/grassland strongholds at https://www.grousepartners.org/lpcla. Our goal is to expand this grassland conservation model to other areas of prairie grouse country.

08/21/2026

08/05/2026

Please take a moment of your time and follow the directions to ask the USFWS to retain the 2024 drain tile setbacks. This is extremely important for sharptails and a multitude of prairie/grasslands/openlands species!

NAGP Supporters, by this Friday, August 7, Please Ask the USFWS to Retain 2024 Drain Tile Setbacks

WE NEED YOU TO ENGAGE on this important issue for prairie grouse, waterfowl, upland birds, pollinators, other wildlife, and other wetland benefits.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is reviewing its 2024 Drain Tile Setbacks Rule. This policy protects the Prairie Pothole wetlands found in the Northern Great Plains and safeguards their surrounding grasslands.

NAGP supports retaining the current science-based, site-specific protections. Weakening them could diminish permanent conservation easements funded by hunters and the American public.

We ask you to:
- Go to the Federal Register and click the green "Submit Public Comment" box at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/07/24/2026-14995/national-wildlife-refuge-system-request-for-information-on-implementation-of-drain-tile-setbacks
- Ask the USFWS to Retain the 2024 Drain Tile Setbacks final rule and its no-drainage standard.
- Make comments as an individual, not as a NAGP member or any another organization member. Comment as a hunter, birder, conservationist, landowner, etc.
- Add a personal story for greater impact of why prairie pothole wetlands and their surrounding grasslands are important to you.

For additional detail, see this video by Chasing Green, and articles by Sportsmen's Foundation and Ducks Unlimited -
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02nImFHhyyU
- https://sportsmensalliance.org/news/fws-drain-tile-setbacks-what-you-need-to-know-and-how-to-comment
- https://www.ducks.org/save-the-duck-factory



Thank you!

07/15/2026

07/06/2026