California Rangeland Watershed Laboratory

The California Rangeland Watershed Laboratory studies and promotes the services that diverse, managed rangeland ecosystems provide to society. The organization's work is based on the principle that application of sound science, adaptive range management, and excellent stewardship enhances water quality, soil quality, stream and floodplain function, aquatic and terrestrial habitat, native plant and wildlife species, and agricultural productivity.

CRWL works with affiliated research laboratories, UC Cooperative Extension advisors, ranchers and rangeland managers, as well as natural resources conservation, management and regulatory organizations. Its website includes  links to useful publications, a list of CRWL's new projects and events, and detailed information about a "featured project."

The project currently featured on the website was designed to evaluate temporal and spatial patterns of cattle grazing across Sierra Nevada mountain meadows to assess potential management risks/compatabilites for sensitive wild species, such as the Yosemite toad.

After collecting baseline data, the researchers compared three meadow fencing treatments over the course of three years. They monitored hydrologic, water quality, cover habitat factors and toad occupancy during the breeding season.

The three treatments were:

• Fencing to exclude cattle from the entire meadow
• Fencing to exclude cattle from potential toad breeding and rearing areas, with grazing allowed in the remaining unfenced portion of the meadow
• Cattle grazing allowed across the entire meadow

Concentrations of water quality constituents were uniformly low all years, regardless of treatment. Occupied pools were shallower, warmer, and more nitrogen enriched than unoccupied breeding pools. The researchers found no evidence of improved toad breeding pool habitat conditions following fencing compared to standard US Forest Service grazing management.