Rangeland Management Benefits Livestock and Wildlife

Item Type text; Article

Authors Peterson, Mary; Lutz, Kenneth; Berlinger, Ben

Citation Peterson, M., Lutz, K., & Berlinger, B. (1992). Rangeland management benefits livestock and wildlife. Rangelands, 14(2), 73-75.

Publisher Society for Range Management

Journal Rangelands

Download date 27/09/2021 13:09:48

Item License http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Version Final published version

Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/638853 RANGELANDS 14(2), April 1992 73

Rangeland Management Benefits Livestock and Wildlife Mary Peterson,Kenneth Lutz and Ben Berlinger

Total resource management is bringing multiple bene- been using 45 daysfor the minimum rest period and 90 fits to the Waldroup Ranch near Branson in southeast days for the maximum. Colorado."I kept thinking that we should be gettingmore out of the ranch owner After breeding season, Winford combines the two production grasslands," says herds. He then re-planshis moves because hehas Winford. "I was for help in seeing what we grazing Jerry looking all the pastures available to the one herd. The cattle usu- could do differently." in one for four to seven Winford had read some articles on Holistic Resource ally stay pasture days, depending When was on the plant growth conditions. Management (HRM) by Allan Savory. Savory Winforduses electric in additionto his scheduled to a in Las Animas, Cob., he portable fencing give presentation permanent fencesto divide his ranch into the30 pastures. decided to go. HAM principlestaught him to look at the He says he still needs to work on this aspect because the whole instead of justfocusing on oneaspect of ranching. in Winford pastures range from 200 to 900 acres. Winford believes After attending HAM Rancher School 1985, smaller are better. made a commitmentto the to the pastures apply principles every- Because of limited Winford has an of the Ranch. water, developed day operations Waldroup extensive He has installed over 18 miles Winford, with the of Kenn Lutz, USDA Soil Con- wateringsystem. help of that water to 21 facilities servation Service district conservationist in Tri- pipeline carry watering (SCS) located in various aroundthe ranch. nidad, Cob., conducted a evaluation of the pastures thorough The cell centers are purposely made small. ranch conditionsand resources. They then set up along- Berlinger says that Winford built them small so that the cattle don't range grazingplan to improve and diversifytherangeland resources and production. Atthe School, Winford learned about time dimensional grazing—planned grazings based upon plant growthand adequate recovery periodsbetween grazings. He decided that this would be a major part of his long-rangeplan to improvethe conditions of the rangeland. Usingthe time dimensionalgrazing concept, Winford looks at the grass plants. Previously,if he saw greenwhen he looked out at the range, he thought he was doing well. 'That's the first thing I learned with my training," says Winford. "That (looking at the range) isn't the answer. You need to be looking straightdown atthe ground to see what's going on underyour feet. Not onlydo you need to look at the grass plants, but you also need to be con- cerned with the soil surface.The soil surface is the key to getting somethingto grow out there." Ben Berlinger, SCS range conservationist in La Junta, Cob., explained that time dimensionalgrazing gives Win- ford the maximum control over the severity and fre- quency of grazing on grasses. In this way, he minimizes overgrazing while at the same time allowing moreof the forage plants in each pasture to be evenly utilized by his livestock. Winford starts by deciding the number of herds he'll run. This determines the numberof pastures he will have to allocate to each herd. Then Winford figures out the minimum and maximum grazing periods foreach pasture. He usually averages two herds—one young herd and one broodcow herd—on about30 pastures. Winford has The west center pasture on WaidroupRanch before (1986) and Mary M. Peterson is Public Affairs Specialist, SCS, Lakewood, colorado; his Kenneth E. Lutz, District conservationist, Trinidad, colorado; and Ben P. after(1990) using a planned grazing system to improve range- Berlinger, Area Range Conservationist,La Junta, Colorado. land. Photos by Kenn Lutz. 74 RANGELANDS 14(2), April 1992

Monitoring the range/andannually. Photo by KennLutz. congregate inside thecell centers."The cattle don't have plan for the ranch is the realizationthat the existing wild- room to lie down around the water tanks, so after drink- life species can be of assistance with the improvement of ing the water, they return to the pasture. This provides the land and are renewable resources that should be less stress on the livestock while facilitating easy live- managed for profit and public use. stock moves from one pastureto another,"says Berlin- Winford was instrumental in organizing a group of ger. SCS providedWinford with technical assistance in seven adjoininglandowners who in cooperationwith the planning and constructingthe pipeline andwatering sys- Colorado Division of Wildlife (DOW) established the tem. SCS alsoprovided cost-share money forthese under Mesa deMaya Wildlife Ranching Area. The ranchers, with the Great Plains Conservation Program. assistance from the local DOW district wildlife managers Another important part of Winford'stime dimensional and SCS, developed a long-rangemanagement plan for grazing is the monitoringof the process. Results are mon- itored by fixed photo pointsand annual random sampling of the vegetative responses in key locations. Lutz says that Winford's planned grazing system has resulted in increased vegetative production, species diver- sity, and ground cover. All improvements on the ranch have been installed to benefit livestock production and improverange condition. Benefits to wildlife have been secondaryin nature, but, nonetheless, an important part of Winford's goals. The ranch property has hIstorically been home to resi- dent populationsof antelopeand mule deer. The present antelope population is among the best in southeastern Coloradoand compares to any within the state. The mule deer population is small but of good quality with "trophy bucks" residing within the property boundaries. Winford considers residentwildlife an the population Two hunters who participate in the Colorado Wildlife Ranching asset rather than a liability. Included in the long-range Programshow off theirtwo prized bucks. Photo by Mary Peterson RANGELANDS 14(2), April 1992 75 pronghornedantelope and mule deerpopulations. grasses are blue grama, western wheatgrass, sideoats The goals of this plan are to increase public access, grama, Indian ricegrass, New Mexicofeather grass, alkali preserve and improvewildlife habitat, and develop coop- sacaton, and little bluestem. Forbs that are frequently erationamong DOW, sportsmen, and landowners. Under found on the ranch are scarlet globemallow, purple the ColoradoWildlife Ranching Program, the landowners prairieclover, vetches.Winterfat, fourwing saltbush,James work directly with the DOW on harvest rates, long-term Frankenia, Bigelow sagebrush, pale wolfberry, and one- population goals, and flexible hunting seasons that are seeded juniper are commonly occurring shrubs. compatiblewith ranchingoperations. The landscape is dominated by the short-grass prairie Through this program,over 159,000 acres of private and pinon juniper vegetation types. The topography is and state lands in the Mesa de Maya Wildlife Ranching gently rolling uplands. The average precipitationis about Area have been openedfor public use. In 1991, over 200 12 inches. hunter days of public use on this area were recorded. On the WaldroupRanch, the whole Winford family— Habitatis being maintained and improvedby propergraz- Jerry, hiswife Karen, theirtwosonsAllen and Justin, and ing management andthe development of additionalwater Winford's father Lloyd—is part of the decisionmaking sources. process. Winfordsays, "The ColoradoDOW's Wildlife Ranching As far as long-termgoals, Winford wants to be able to Program is a good tool that allowsthe private landowner run morecattle, manage wildlife populations, and improve to make useof public huntingto the benefitof the sports- the land at the same time. He says he knew he had to run men and landowner." morecattle to make money, but he didn't think there was The landowners and DOW officials agree on the number any way hecould. Winford thought the land was stocked of permits to be allocatedfor each area. The landowners with all the cattle he could possibly run without hurting then market the permits however they see fit. Some the land. market the permitsthemselves, some marketthe permits He says, "I don't want to increase my cattle numbers to outfitters who in return market them to hunters, and and sacrificethe land." Now he sees that he can increase some give them away. The public has overwhelmingly the numberof cattle and improvethe productivity of the accepted this program. land at the same time. ToWinford, this is the best of both The rangeland on Winford's ranch is dominated by worlds. Loamy Plains and Shaley Plains range sites. Dominant

High Technology on the Range John Capurro, Gary Brackley, Chris Pacheco and Liz Warner

Moreand moredemands are being maximum and average air ternpera- the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service made of western rangeland in spite ture;snow waterequivalent; and daily signedacooperative agreement author- of its vastness and limited accessibil- precipitation. izing installation and operation of ity. Effectiverange management re- Thesedata, while useful, are insuf- the site. quires accurate resource data but ficient to assist range managers in The location was chosen for two time constraints make it difficult to deciding when remote rangewill be reasons. First, manuallycollected data collect it in a timely manner. All of ready for grazing and the possible were available. Secondly, the loca- these factorsnecessitated a new data forage production from these areas. tion represented two range sites collection system. SCS employeesassembled electronic common throughout northwestern One solution is the SNOTEL equipmentcapable of gathering the Nevada, northeasternCalifornia, south- (SNOwpackTELemetry) systemoper- missing data. The additionalsensors eastern Oregon and southwestern ated by the USDASoil Conservation measure relative humidity,solar radi- Idaho. Service.This system, operational since ation, wind run, wind direction, fuel The daily data are transmittedto 1977, gathers daily sensor datafrom moisture, soil temperature and soil the SCS West National Technical 564 remote sites includingminimum, moisture. Center in Portland, Ore. Interested A site for the SNOTEL individuals can call the computer John Capurro is District Conservationist,Reno study sys- Field Office, SCS, Reno, Nev.; Gary Brackley, tem was selected within the Sheldon and review and retrieve collected State Range Conservationist,SCS, Reno, Nev.; Chris Pacheco, Water Supply Specialist, SCS, National Wildlife Refuge in northern data whenever they desire. Portland,Ore., and LizWarner, SCS Public Affairs Washoe County, Nevada. SCS and Specialist,Reno, Nev.