In November 2020, Audubon Dakota and partners initiated the North Dakota Conservation Forage Program (CFP) with a $6.9 million grant award from the North Dakota Industrial Commission Outdoor Heritage Fund. This grant is the largest investment in the fund’s history. The CFP will support private landowners in converting up to 25,000 acres of cropland back to native grass, while facilitating the adoption of adaptive land management to improve grassland and soil health through livestock integration. Open enrollment for CFP will begin in early summer 2021. CFP is an important part of Audubon Dakota’s goal of enhancing conservation on 1 million acres across the Dakotas by the end of 2022.
The Conservation Forage Program is a product of vital partnerships between agriculture and conservation groups. With CFP receiving support from agricultural groups like North Dakota Farm Bureau, Farmers Union, and others during the development and Outdoor Heritage Fund process, an ambitious coalition was created w