WASHINGTON — Thanks to Brad Pitt, the sage grouse may have a future.

Or rather, federal officials say the outlook for the rare Western bird is improving because Jason Weller — a man described as the secret weapon of the conservation movement — once saw himself as Pitt’s character in the cowboy drama “Legends of the Fall.”

The vision compelled Weller in 1995 to respond to a college newspaper ad looking for ranch hands in Montana.

The ad “made it seem as if it was going to be a Brad Pitt, grow-my-hair-out ‘Legends of the Fall’ experience,” Weller said.

It wasn’t. “I worked my tail off,” he said.

But Weller credits the dawn-to-dusk days as the start of a journey that’s put him in the center of the fight over the sage grouse.

As chief of the conservation division at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, he’s become a rare commodity: A former ranch hand who can convince ranchers that protecting the bird is in their best interest.

“We are sort of the best-kept secret in government,” Weller said.

Behind him is a program run through the Natural Resources Conservation Service that seeks to recruit ranchers — rather than fight them — in the effort to save the sage grouse, a bird known for its flamboyant mating ritual.

The project seeks to help all types of sage grouse, although attention lately has focused on the greater sage grouse. Its population once numbered in the millions, but widespread development has contributed to a sharp decline; as few as 200,000 are left.

The drop has been so dramatic that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is in the process of deciding whether to list the greater sage grouse as an endangered species — a designation that would bring with it stringent restrictions in the 11 Western states, including Colorado, that are considered part of the bird’s range.

That possibility has sparked a major political battle, and Weller has stepped into the melee. Using as leverage the restrictions that would go along with an endangered listing, Weller and his office are offering ranchers a deal.

In exchange for helping protect the bird on their land, ranchers essentially would be spared — for 30 years — from being forced to do anything more if the greater sage grouse is listed as endangered. This even includes leeway if some of the birds are killed accidentally on their property.

“If you agree to implement pro-sage grouse practices, Fish and Wildlife will give you 30 years of predictability,” Weller said. “It doesn’t matter if the bird is listed or not. It’s like an insurance policy.”

As an added incentive, the Agriculture Department has doled out at least $267 million of federal funds to ranchers who have set aside part of their land for conservation or agreed to follow a checklist of pro-sage grouse measures vetted by Fish and Wildlife.

Some of the results have been significant, according to federal figures. Since 2010, the Sage Grouse Initiative has recruited more than 1,100 ranches and led to the conservation of 4.4 million acres.

Most of that acreage is the property of ranchers who have agreed to follow the checklist and who often are paid to do jobs such as cutting down invasive conifers, which are bad for the bird’s habitat. At least 361,000 acres are for conservation easements.

One Colorado participant is Ray Owens, who manages the Bord Gulch Ranch in Moffat County.

The ranch has gotten about $300,000 from the Sage Grouse Initiative to make improvements, he said. These include the installation of nearly 20 miles of wildlife-friendly fencing and water wells designed to lure livestock away from sensitive wetlands considered crucial to the development of sage grouse chicks.

“Between the fencing and the water, we’ve been able to protect the habitat,” said Owens, who added the improvements are helpful for cattle, too. “What we do for the cows helps the sage grouse, and what we do for the sage grouse helps the cows.”

That idea — helping ranchers and the bird simultaneously — is what Weller called the “secret of the pudding.”

It’s also aided the agency in enlisting allies. A broad spectrum of groups has pledged support, from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association to the National Audubon Society to the energy company ConocoPhillips, which promised $1 million in January to help the Sage Grouse Initiative.

“We often see the rancher demonized, and we have to recognize these people are trying to make a living on a very tough landscape,” said Brian Rutledge of the National Audubon Society.

But backing from environmentalists has not been universal. Some fear the program could be used as cover to ignore other threats such as energy development and “unhealthy levels” of livestock grazing.

And the Natural Resources Conservation Service — at least for now — cannot say for sure what effect the program has had on the population, although officials there expect to get back survey results in the next couple years that will show an improvement.

“This program is not going be a substitute for strong regulations,” said Erik Molvar of WildEarth Guardians. “It’s helpful, and it’s prudent. But it’s not going to solve the problem.”

Travis Bruner, executive director of the Western Watersheds Project, struck a similar tone and questioned whether the program has led to “further subsidization of the livestock industry.”

“Sage grouse habitat on public lands should be given more priority,” he said.

An estimated 31 percent of sage grouse habitat is on private land, and Weller said enlisting landowners was critical. “At the end of the day, you could invest significant money in public lands and never move the needle,” he said.

Federal officials are so committed to this approach that they mirrored the sage grouse program with six other species, such as the gopher tortoise. Efforts also are underway to expand the concept and encourage landowners to help preserve entire ecosystems.

“It all started with sage grouse,” Weller said. “This was the laboratory.”

But in his own life, the idea of bringing together landowners and environmentalists began one summer with a rancher named Dave Larson.

“Every day, I try to think ‘what would Dave think?’ ” Weller said.

For his part, Larson likes the sage grouse program.

“That’s a good deal. The federal government is not your friend,” Larson said. “I don’t give a damn about the environment necessarily, but I do give a damn about my checkbook.”