- Just ahead on "This American Land"... - You see that tail fan.

You see that chest puff out.

- Check out the mesmerizing moves of this Western bird.

This ecosystem provides habitat for more than 350 species of animals and plants.

Historically, wildlife and cattle have had to compete on this Idaho grassland.

But now, new efforts at restoration are working to safeguard birds and protect ranchers' livelihoods at the same time.

- Hi, I'm Gary Strieker, executive producer of "This American Land."

- We say farewell to the founder of "This American Land."

In his distinguished global career, Gary Strieker put a spotlight on emerging diseases and environmental threats.

That passion gave birth to this conservation news magazine for public television.

We honor Gary's legacy of protecting our planet's natural resources with a new season of "This American Land."

[dynamic music] ♪ ♪ Funding for "This American Land" provided by the Walton Family Foundation.

- Hello, and welcome to a new season of "This American Land."

I'm your host, Ed Arnett, and we've got some great stories for you about America's landscapes, waters, and wildlife.

And every week, you'll get to meet some dedicated people protecting our natural resources, whether that's a remote mountain stream or an urban greenway.

Our first story takes us back to season five, when we introduced you to an iconic species of the American West, the greater sage-grouse.

Once numerous across 14 Western states, this ground-dwelling game bird and the unique habitat it depends on, the only habitat where it can survive, has continued to decline.

We went to Wyoming to assess the current situation and see what's being done to tackle the many threats to the sagebrush ecosystem and ensure the future of sage-grouse.

[soft music] - We sat there in the darkness.

It's a totally still morning.

And all of a sudden, you just hear the thumping of wings overhead.

Just thump, thump, thump, thump of the wings.

♪ ♪ And then the sun slowly comes up over the horizon.

And you just watch the male sage-grouse start to dance.

[warbling] ♪ ♪ And you see that tail fan.

You see that chest puff out.

And then you hear... [warbling] And I can't even describe the sound.

[warbling] It's just so unique.

And they're special.

Most people will never see one.

But when you do, it sort of implants on you, and you never forget it.

♪ ♪ - Well, I'm here with my colleague Alison Holloran, Executive Director of Audubon Rockies.

Alison, maybe you could just tell us a little bit about when you started working on the species to today.

- Sure.

A lot has happened over the past 20-plus years regarding greater sage-grouse.

Increased development across its range, the bird itself, you know, shrinking in population, the habitat disappearing at a record rate.

- Yeah, we've lost over half of the former range of the greater sage-grouse, right?

- We have, yep.

So we're really at a critical time for sage-grouse.

- In 2010, the U.S.

Fish and Wildlife Service determined that greater sage-grouse warranted protections under the Endangered Species Act.

And there are some who believe that this bird does in fact need full protection under the act if it's going to survive.

♪ ♪ But if the bird were to be listed, it can have a dramatic impact on the economies of the Western states from blanket federal regulations on energy development, grazing, and other activities on both public and private lands in sage country.

So the majority of stakeholders felt that an alternative approach was needed to allow local input and decision-making that is more flexible and will ultimately be more beneficial to the birds and to people.

What followed was an extraordinary and historic conservation planning effort by the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, and 11 Western states to upgrade their land management plans to ensure threats to greater sage-grouse and their habitats were addressed.

Conservation organizations, industry, other federal agencies, and private landowners also played a key role at this critical moment in time.

And these efforts paid off.

- Today, I'm proud to mark a milestone for conservation in America.

- On September 22, 2015, then-Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell announced that the greater sage-grouse did not warrant protections under the Endangered Species Act.

And all the federal agencies had to do was implement those new conservation plans.

♪ ♪ - And then, change of administration.

We work the next four years.

And those plans were not implemented.

And here we are in 2022 looking at, oh, my gosh.

You know, we have climate change.

We have cheatgrass invasion.

We have more development on the landscape than the West has ever seen.

- And you know, it's a little bit more than just about sage-grouse, right?

It's about the ecosystem, which provides habitat for 350 plus species of animals and plants but also a way of life and recreational opportunities.

- Oh, absolutely.

Greater sage-grouse is just an umbrella species for the entire ecosystem.

You do good things for sage-grouse, you're gonna be doing good things for other wildlife species.

[soft music] - Hundreds of species and thousands of people rely on the ecosystem that spreads across 165 million acres in 13 states and 3 Canadian provinces.

But it's only about half of what the original Sagebrush Sea covered.

More than a million acres a year are now being lost, and it's that habitat loss that tops the list of threats to this iconic bird.

Now, this is a real problem across the entire Western United States: cheatgrass.

This is an invasive annual grass.

It's a very flashy fuel.

And it's replacing native grasses and forbes and destroying our ecosystems here in sage country.

♪ ♪ Once a fire starts in cheatgrass-infested sagebrush, it burns hotter and faster than normal.

And once the fire's over, it's very likely cheatgrass alone repopulates that charred land.

♪ ♪ And we're left with cheatgrass only, little or no sagebrush, and no sage-grouse.

Well, Pat, this is a beautiful example of really quality sage-grouse habitat.

Isn't it?

- It is.

It is.

You've got a nice diversity of shrub height.

You've got beautiful understory.

- Dr. Pat Deibert has been working on sage-grouse for more than 30 years and currently is one of the Bureau of Land Management's leading experts on the species.

- Yeah, this is a great site.

She can get under there, lots of good cover overhead, and side cover from the aerial predators.

For sage-grouse to die of old age is pretty much unheard of.

They die because they get eaten.

- Pat, sage-grouse are what we call an obligate species, which means they have to have sagebrush.

- That's correct.

- There's no other choice.

- They will not survive if we lose our sagebrush, our healthy sagebrush ecosystems.

♪ ♪ - The land management plans developed in 2015 were designed to eliminate all ground disturbances in about a third of the very best sage-grouse habitat and minimize disruptions from energy development, mining, and other disturbances in the remaining habitat.

This attempt to balance land uses was critical for all to buy in to the sage-grouse conservation plans.

- These are resources that are valuable to the public.

I like hitting a light switch and having my lights come on.

- Driving your truck.

- Or driving a car, yeah.

I mean, we can't say no.

But if we knew how to better conserve, we might be able to do a better job at extracting these essential resources and conserving the bird itself.

And it's not the intent of conserving one resource over another.

But in some areas, we have to do that.

♪ ♪ - So this situation we're in is a perfect example of how people can put their differences aside and work on a very complex problem.

Examples like Audubon Rockies Conservation Ranching Program and bringing those private landowners into play is really important, isn't it?

- Absolutely.

What gives me hope is that so many people are involved in trying to conserve this species.

♪ ♪ - So this is probably one of the rockiest places on the ranch.

- Tim and Lisa Millikin have been part of the Audubon Rockies Conservation Ranching Initiative since 2019.

So what kind of challenges do you have, you know, pulling off a herd and getting them to market?

- The country itself, you know, this country is pretty rough, so... - They're an example of Western landowners lending a hand for conservation.

In return, they get an Audubon certified bird friendly beef stamp of approval.

So consumers know they're buying from great stewards of the land.

- We're bird friendly.

We're taking care of the land and our animals.

We got wildlife-friendly fences.

And then the Audubon has helped us put in another water source.

You know, the Audubon was, you know, save the birds.

And so we didn't know how, as a rancher, you know, how that would partner together.

But it's all been positive.

- The conservation community has always approached private landowners as we want you to do this.

Yes, we want you to do certain things for birds.

- Right.

- We're bird conservation organization.

But at the same time, it was what can we do for you?

[twangy music] - Private lands are vital for sage-grouse conservation, encompassing roughly 30% of the species habitat.

The Bureau of Land Management is responsible for nearly 70 million acres of the remaining sagebrush ecosystem.

But a lot of that habitat has been degraded.

And it's critical that we not only preserve the best remaining habitat, but also restore degraded portions of the sagebrush ecosystem to ensure the long term survival of sage-grouse and all the species that depend on it.

- We've known what the problem's been.

We've identified the problem.

- David Wilms is the Senior Director of Western Policy for the National Wildlife Federation.

- Congress actually gave us this generational opportunity to address some of these habitat issues.

And it's this point, we don't know how much is gonna go to sagebrush restoration.

- But it's more than we've had in--ever.

- Absolutely.

It's more than we've ever had.

And there's an opportunity to really influence how that money is spent right now.

- How could the science be used to prioritize where we put our dollars?

Dr. Matt Holloran is a wildlife biologist working with the Bureau of Land Management and a leading sage-grouse scientist.

- In areas where we have good moisture regimes, those habitats, those sagebrush habitats respond.

[soft music] And there are a ton of very smart people trying to figure out how to restore habitat.

- The old adage that it takes a village rings clear here in sagebrush country.

It took a village to keep the bird off the Endangered Species list, and it will take that same village to reverse the continuing negative trends for sage-grouse populations and their habitat and thwart the potential future listing of this icon of the American West.

- To lose this is a really damning statement on us, to know that we are not taking care of this resource.

We're losing part of America's heart.

[warbling] [soft guitar music] - Improving habitats for sage-grouse also helps other species, including people.

Ranchers on these lands know that the health of their land depends on a diversity of vegetation and wildlife.

Our correspondent Kris Millgate takes us to the Curlew National Grassland in Southern Idaho.

That's where some simple fixes and some savvy engineering are stabilizing the habitat.

It's also improving the water supply for both cattle and this entertaining native bird.

- The U.S. Forest Service manages 20 grasslands across the country.

Only one is in the Intermountain West.

It's Curlew National Grassland in Southern Idaho.

It's cattle country with a disappearing bird still strutting around on the dry sagebrush landscape.

Because of that bird, sage-grouse, the curlew is getting a facelift.

This is what restoration looks like in cattle country when a river runs through ranch.

[soft piano music] - Grasslands have a tremendous amount of value.

It's important that we manage them so deliberately.

♪ ♪ It goes beyond just the intrinsic value of the habitat.

It's about the working landscape.

- Probably the favorite thing about living here is the wide open spaces.

- It's quiet.

[laughs] We don't have any neighbors.

We're pretty attached.

We wouldn't want to live anywhere else, I don't believe.

- Sagebrush steppe is the habitat type that you see right here.

This is what sagebrush steppe is.

We're in it.

♪ ♪ [bird calling] [warbling] - And of course, sage-grouse is a big part of it, a very important part of the curlew.

As the sage-grouse is threatened from a variety of reasons, it's a special place.

It's also important for working ranching.

- The curlew has been managed hard historically.

Generations have been down here.

Things have changed.

- A lot of landowners, their fathers and grandfathers spent their entire lives removing sagebrush.

- You read about, like, pioneers, and they chopped a lot of that sagebrush down with axes.

And then they took it and put it in a big pile and burned it.

- There is an argument that there's too much sagebrush.

You know, you hear that from some people.

But really when it comes right down to it, you know, this does serve an incredible function for wildlife and for livestock.

[cows mooing] - My great grandfather settled here in 1938.

[upbeat music] There's, like, about 18 permittees that rely on the Curlew Grasslands for all their grass.

- In the past, the cattle have been grazing out of the stream.

And our aquatic habitat ultimately suffers.

And we lose our stream bank.

So we're getting them some alternative water sources.

If you can move the water, then the cows will move toward the water.

- There's only a few streams on the Curlew National Grasslands.

And those streams in certain spots, they're so down-- you sometimes can't even tell a stream's there.

And when you get glimpses of them, there's raw, vertical banks.

So tremendous amount of bank erosion has gone on.

We're not gonna take it back to what it historically used to be.

What we're doing is re-elevating the channel.

100 feet of stream channel can be done in two to three hours.

[uplifting music] ♪ ♪ [beeping] The Juniper are actually going in for stream bank stabilization, something that stabilize-- holds the banks in place while the vegetation gets established.

Yeah, right in there.

Then you can pull the tops back towards the bank.

The neat thing is, is by using natural things that we already have around us, we can keep costs down.

So it's a cost savings for the public.

♪ ♪ - One of the most important small parts of that habitat type that sage-grouse need to be successful in the sagebrush steppe ecosystem is the wet area of that system.

[static droning] [soft music] - As a wildlife biologist, the main reason we come out here is to do wildlife surveys or check up on primarily sage-grouse and sharp-tailed grouse.

[cows mooing] Livestock operation in general is not a problem.

Sometimes some of the infrastructure can be, particularly fences.

Sage-grouse like to fly in the dusk or at dark.

And they fly at very, very low level, just sagebrush height.

They can fly into those fences and get killed.

So one of the things we're doing there is marking them with little plastic tags so they can see them.

♪ ♪ We estimate about 900 to 1,000 tags per mile of fence.

That's a fair amount of work and money to put in to this particular species.

Is it worth it?

Absolutely.

- We've got a declining sage-grouse population.

It's in the best interest of everyone to get that population back to a healthy level, whether it's our sportsmen or whether it's the people who rely on that landscape for their livelihood.

- There are challenges to be able to work when you have multiple interests on a piece of ground.

You know, what's more important, a species or my livelihood?

That's a hard question to answer.

So what I try to do is find other ways.

So we're not pitting them against each other.

That's the only way we'll make this work here for this species and for a lot of other things across the West.

[soft guitar music] - We're sad to report on the death of Gary Strieker, the creator of "This American Land."

He had successful careers across the globe as a lawyer, an Africa correspondent for CNN, and then, he chose to devote the rest of his life to conservation and energizing others to protect our fragile planet.

[soft music] Born in Breese, Illinois, to blue-collar parents, Gary Strieker showed an early talent for storytelling, a love of the outdoors, and a curiosity for the broader world.

♪ ♪ Fresh out of law school, Gary made his way to Africa, where he joined the Peace Corps as a volunteer lawyer.

Taking on various jobs from international law to development banking, Gary would eventually decide to call the African continent his home.

[people singing in non-English language] Gary's sense of adventure, connection to the African people, and love of photography landed him work as a freelance journalist and was eventually hired to oversee CNN's Nairobi Bureau.

- Gary was truly a great journalist.

I think the body of his work is unparalleled.

[gunfire] Such a complex continent with such varied stories.

Stories that Gary did had an impact.

- Gary had obviously been in Africa for years and years.

And he had done all the important stories.

But his real passion was in environmental stories.

And in those days, no one was really doing it.

- Hi, I'm Gary Strieker, executive producer of "This American Land."

- Returning to the U.S., Gary's passion for environmental reporting gave birth to a brand-new conservation news magazine for public television.

[dynamic music] - "This American Land" gave us an opportunity to dig into the stories that need to be told.

- Smith Island's fate is a preview of what could happen to low-lying islands everywhere as Earth's climate warms.

- And long before anyone else realized how important the climate crisis was, some of the earliest stories we did on "This American Land" were on sea level rise.

- These are species that are threatened by climate change and need to be protected.

- On Iñupiat populations in the state of Alaska who literally had to move their communities, so important stories that very, very few people were doing, and Gary took them all on.

- Hello, and welcome to "This American Land."

I'm your new host, Ed Arnett.

♪ ♪ Speaking science to the public is a tricky thing.

You have to do it in a way that resonates with people.

♪ ♪ Well, this is quite a contrast.

- When you look outside the fence, you can see that grazing effect.

- A picture's worth a thousand words.

That explains the story.

There's lots of science, but that picture right there liaises that science in a way that anyone can understand that.

♪ ♪ Gary spent his entire career reporting on stories well before they became headlines, putting a spotlight on emerging diseases from distant lands in his documentary series "Global Health Frontiers."

♪ ♪ - This is very typical of the type of market you'll see all across China.

- The first of these series was just outside of Wuhan, China... [both speaking Chinese] Where they discussed viruses moving from animals to humans.

This was years before COVID happened.

Gary was light-years ahead of us.

[soft music] - Storytelling years ahead of its time that gave voice to the voiceless, trademarks of this very unassuming, soft-spoken journalist.

♪ ♪ - Gary was an incredibly disarming person.

He did not fit the traditional mold of an aggressive type A journalist.

Just a soft-spoken man of the people.

- Yellowstone is America's first national park, spreading across three states.

Blowing steam and showing off amazing wildlife, it draws more than 4 million visitors a year.

[laughing] Whoa!

- I know.

- So many of the stories Gary pursued looked forward.

How do we protect this wilderness?

How do we clean up this river?

How do we make sure that this runoff from a farm doesn't impact folks downstream?

To make sure that there's a beautiful landscape in this country for generations to come.

- Gary Strieker was a true Renaissance man, a defender of planet Earth, master storyteller, provider, mentor, and humanitarian.

He will be missed.

♪ ♪ - I think we owe it to him to keep educating the public so they care about what we sometimes take for granted.

I think this is exactly what Gary would have wanted for us to take his passion, his dream, and keep it moving forward.

♪ ♪ [soft guitar music] - Gary said that he created "This American Land" to inspire conservation through storytelling.

We can't all go out and start our own television show.

But we can all do something to restore and protect the beautiful outdoor places that we love.

Gary motivated all of us who work on the show, and we're proud to keep it going.

We hope that all of you find ways to preserve and enjoy the natural wonders in your community.

In our upcoming episodes, we'll give you some ideas on things you can do to help.

And now here's a look at some stories from our next show.

- Highways make life easy for humans, but they can be deadly obstacles for migrating animals.

An investment in roadway fencing and underpasses can keep all species a little safer.

And coming up later this season, what does training on this Mojave desert marine base have to do with these desert tortoises?

The U.S. military has its sights set on conservation.

These women have escaped dangers in other parts of the world.

Time spent outdoors is helping them gain the strength and courage to build a new life.

A colossal effort to save one of the most beautiful species on Earth.

New ropeless fishing gear can keep them from deadly entanglements.

These innovative new devices can also protect the livelihoods of the fishing crews that share these Atlantic waters.

So stay with us all season on "This American Land" for those stories and meet more conservation heroes.

- Thanks for joining us, and be sure to check us out on social media.

We'll see you next time on "This American Land."

- For more information about "This American Land," check out our YouTube channel and watch us on PBS Passport.

Funding for "This American Land" provided by the Walton Family Foundation.

[dynamic music] ♪ ♪