- Author: Stephanie Larson
Valuable forage for livestock and wildlife is often lost on rangelands after wildfires. What should landowners, affected by recent fires, do to migrate the impacts to their rangelands - oak savannas, chaparrals and woodlands, which have undoubtedly lost grass production from recent fires?
The effect the fire has on the resulting vegetation and production can vary based on the timing and intensity of the fire, and the quality, quantity and type of forage and subsequent rainfall.
Estimating Loss
Estimating the cost of such losses cannot be based on traditional grazing rental rates for livestock because the impact of forage production is more for ranching than the impact of grazing. All residual dry matter (RDM) is removed with fire, and the soil profile is disturbed. In addition to the loss of forage, the next 2 years of forage production could be impacted along with the length of adequate forage-growing periods and species competition.
University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) publication 8446 Estimating the Cost of Replacing Forage Losses on Annual Rangeland can be downloaded free of charge to assist with calculating ranch losses and help reporting to the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA). A UCCE advisor can assist with completing forage loss calculations and reporting requirements to FSA. In addition, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) offers financial assistance in the form of a cost share (EQIP) for reseeding rangeland. This program is valuable because it provides enough financial help to make the practice economical.
When calculating losses most often the equivalent in hay is considered in monetizing the forage loss value (1 ton of forage lost = the cost of a ton of hay). USDA releases a weekly Direct Hay Report that can be used to determine the cost of replacement forage. This is usually the most practical method, but there are other costs to consider.
Assistance from the FSA and NRCS can assist landowners in replacing forage loss, livestock, and fences. Check with our local FSA county office to make sure that all production acreage is on file so that it is covered, and that all applicable programs are signed up for. In many cases, there are deadlines to file for assistance that are put in place once losses occur.
Seeding
A fire, one occurring late summer or early fall, can burn the RDM remaining following the grazing season. With RDM burned, there is a higher chance of erosion after the first rains, especially if early rains are heavy. Erosion control is essential to prevent or control water and soil erosion on lands, especially those with steeper slopes. Effective erosion control techniques will inhibit surface runoff and are important measures to prevent water pollution and soil loss.
The type of seeding depends on your resource goals. If you want to reseed following a fire, contact our UCCE office to assist in designing the most appropriate mix. Site conditions, management, and rainfall vary between properties which can change appropriate seeding recommendations. It is worth getting this part right, otherwise the effort may be wasted. It is generally recommended to use a blend containing a mix of annuals, which will germinate early and assist with holding the soil, along with perennials which are long lived grasses that are productive, but require specific management for success.
Seeding is best be done immediately prior to fall rains as grass fires don't provide enough ash for broadcasted seed to make good seed to soil contact allowing for seed to be adequately covered. No till drilling seed is best or if broadcasting, cover the seed with a harrow after broadcasting. Broadcast seeding too early can results in birds eating the seed prior to germination. Flying seed on with an airplane should be done just prior to rain.
If an establishment of desirable forage species already existed, seeding may not be necessary since grass fires that occur in summer or later should have little effect on mature seed laying on the soil surface. This would negate much of the benefit in seeding; however, production will still be less due to the lack of soil cover, particularly if it's a dry winter. Fires that occurred in higher brush densities can get hot enough to affect seed on the soil surface. Their advantage is that they do provide a nutrient rich seed bed and source of cover for seed to fall into. Reseeding these areas can be successful by dropping seed into the white ash. Because weed competition is usually eliminated by these hot fires, and fertility is high, these seedings have been successful in the past.
Hydro Seeding
Hydro seeding (or hydraulic mulch seeding, hydro-mulching, hydra seeding) is a planting process that uses a slurry of seeds and mulch. It is often used as an erosion control technique on construction sites, as an alternative to the traditional process of broadcasting or sowing dry seed, or on recently burned areas, on sites that have high erosion potential following a fire.
Links
- UCCE Sonoma email: cesonoma@ucanr.edu
- NRCS Petaluma office: (707) 794-1242 ext 107
- FSA Petaluma office: (707) 664-8593
- Author: Karen Giovannini
Matchmaking grazing animals with grass and rangelands
Professional grazing of overgrown rangelands, pastures and parcels is proven to reduce the spread of dangerous and costly wildfires.
Do you have land but no livestock and feel concerned about fire fuels on your property? Or are you a livestock owner that can provide a grazing service and/or need land and forage for your animals? Match.Graze can help.
Match.Graze is a free online platform connecting landowners statewide who want grazing animals to livestock owners with animals that can provide vegetation management services, created by UC Cooperative Extension.
From small semi-rural communities to large open spaces, grazing can provide an affordable solution to the inevitable accumulation of fire fuels. Grazing can be more cost-effective for reducing fuels on landscapes that are too steep, rocky or remote for mowing or chemical treatment, or in the wildland-urban interface where burning is not an option.
“I've noticed on several fires, including extreme fires, the fence lines where the fire just stopped. And the one variable, the one difference, was grazing,” said Marshall Turbeville, CAL FIRE battalion chief.
Cattle, sheep, goats and other grazing animals all have different roles to play in grazing for fire fuel reduction. If you want to use livestock to help reduce fire risk in your area, visit MatchGraze.com.
“Every property is different and requires thoughtful consideration of how it should best be grazed,” said Stephanie Larson, director of UCCE in Sonoma County, UCCE livestock and range management advisor and co-creator of the livestock-land matchmaking service. “UC Cooperative Extension is here to serve, put Match.Graze to work and let's prevent catastrophic fire while helping landowners and agriculture.”
To find a local grazing partner, visit MatchGraze.com,
set up a free account, create a pin on the map and make a match.
- Author: Stephanie Larson
- Author: Michelle Nozzari
- Editor: J. M.
Updated Sept 17, 2020 to add link. Visit: MatchGraze.com
As previously mentioned in the September 2018 issue of the Farm Bureau newsletter, the frequency, intensity, and size of wildfires in northern California have increased. This trend is alarming given that California's fire season is expected to become longer and start earlier. The fire season started in early June this year as Sonoma County experienced smoke from Sand Fire in Yolo County. To mitigate future fire, the County of Sonoma has adopted a new hazardous vegetation abatement ordinance which mandates that parcels of 5 acres or less must maintain defensible space around all buildings/structures and remove all vegetation that poses a fire risk. As policymakers in our communities and across the state continue to explore initiatives to prevent wildfire, the agricultural community can demonstrate real impacts in reducing fire fuel through managing existing vegetation on our working landscapes - forest and rangelands. We need to educate the public on the importance of managing these valuable landscapes using a multitude of tools, especially grazing. The extent to which the public understands fire risks and accepts the adoption of all potential tools for forest and rangeland health will increase the likelihood of potential collaborative management strategies imperative to community resiliency.
Grazing is a cost-effective vegetation management alternative that works best in cases where other options are impractical and financially ineffective. Specifically, targeted grazing can be more cost-effective on landscapes that are too steep, rocky, or remote for conventional vegetation management (like mowing or chemical treatment), or in the urban-wildland interface where burning is not an option. Targeted grazing is the application of a specific kind of livestock at a determined season, duration, and intensity to accomplish defined vegetation or landscape goals. This concept has been around for decades and has taken many names, including prescribed grazing and managed herbivory. The major difference between good grazing management and targeted grazing is that targeted grazing refocuses outputs of grazing from livestock production to vegetation and landscape enhancement. The concept of a target requires that one has a clear image on which to focus and then aims something (i.e., an arrow) at the target to accomplish the desired outcome. In the case of targeted grazing, the land manager must have a clear vision of the desired plant community and landscape, and the livestock manager must have the skill to aim livestock at the target to accomplish land management goals.
As mentioned in the June 2019 Farm Bureau newsletter (Quackenbush), sheep grazing is being applied on lands throughout the county to help reduce fire danger. Targeted grazing is a very different business model than simply grazing for livestock production. Effective targeted grazing focuses on impacting target vegetation at exactly the right time for specific landscape or vegetation goals. Traditional livestock production, on the other hand, focuses on putting weight on animals or increasing reproductive success. Traditional livestock operations generate income from the sale of animals and animal products; these operations focus on body condition and the nutritional status of the animals at specific production stages. Targeted grazers generate income from vegetation management services; these operations may accept a drop in body condition or reproductive success to achieve desired impacts to low-quality forage as long as this service is paid for. Both models can reduce fire fuels; no one model is better than the other.
Last month, UC Cooperative Extension and SRJC Agriculture and Natural Resources Department offered a grazing school at Shone Farm. Landowners and targeted grazers learned how to implement targeted grazing on local working landscapes. Participants gained knowledge on how to design a grazing program on their own managed lands or if they decided not to own animals, how to use this knowledge when hiring a targeted grazer. A neighborhood grazing partnership was created at the school along with new opportunities for targeted grazers.
Additionally, UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE) Sonoma/Marin, is creating a “Match.Graze” system which connects landowners, who have no animals, to targeted grazers, those that can bring their animals on property to perform vegetation management service. If your parcel (s) is/are greater than 50 acres, this system will be a great resource. While it is more cost-effective for target grazers to grazer larger parcels, those with smaller parcels in neighborhoods or communities can join together to have multiple parcels of varying sizes in the same geographic area receive vegetation management by the same grazer. If you want more information about the use of grazing, how to set resource goals for your rangelands, or help to find a grazer for your parcel, call the UCCE office at 707-565-2621 or complete this survey to help UCCE better meet your desire to manage vegetation to prevent future fires in Sonoma and Marin Counties. The survey can be found at www.ucanr.edu/rangeland.
- Student Author: Liane Ware
- Livestock & Range Management Advisor and SRJC Adjunct Faculty: Stephanie Larson
- Editor: Karen Giovannini
This spring, I am teaching the Santa Rosa Junior College Rangeland Management class. This is my opportunity to educate aspiring students on the importance of rangelands and how to manage them. Their educational experiences include classroom lectures and field trips, learning about rangeland principles and then practice application.
Students are also required to give their impressions of what they are learning in the form of a blog. This blog was written by student Liane Ware. Stephanie Larson
On rangelands, common objectives and goals for the application of prescribed fires include removing invasive plant species (both native and exotics), controlling the amount and size of woody species to allow more open grasslands / savannas, making plants more palatable for livestock, increasing forage by removing lignified cover, and increasing crude protein in the vegetation. Burning can clear out unwanted vegetation including dense shrubs. It also removes overgrowth and layers of dead fuels. Plus, a forb flush typically follows fire depending on the season.
Rx Burns Benefit Ecosystem
Prescribed burning of rangelands can attain goals beyond cattle weight gain and improved forage quality and quantity. Fire can improve plant diversity and maintain native species. Perennials that were present historically but are now less abundant can start to regenerate with less pressure from competing annuals. Nutrients can be made more available to plants as well. With the improved rangeland vegetation and soil comes better wildlife habitat and nesting. The increase in crude protein for is a benefit for both livestock and wildlife grazers. Fire can also serve to manage heavy fuel loading on areas where grazing is not desired or feasible such as steep hillsides and/or locations where compaction should be avoided. Furthermore, prescribed burns on rangelands can help to mitigate uncontrolled wildfire by keeping woody plants in check (especially volatile fuels such as juniper).
Cool and Warm Season Burns
Prescribed fire planning must take into account the goals and the season.
- Cold season burns are intended to be cool on the surface to regenerate growth of herbaceous and grass species. These burns leave shrubs on the landscape.
- Warm season burns are better for the control of woody plants and generally do not have a different effect of the other species as that of cold season burning. It is important to plan the burn for the objective and to time conditions appropriately.
Matching the frequency, intensity, and duration of the prescribed burning as closely as possible to the historical fire regime of rangelands is critical for the goals of restoration, grazing, regeneration, and resiliency. Low-severity fires can restore the ecological characteristics of the rangeland. Roots stay intact, some vegetative cover remains, and the organic matter is not lost. The soil benefits from the short-term boost in nutrients. New growth is invigorated. Also, serotinous species can germinate, which provides additional beneficial plant-soil interactions such as stability, aeration, filtration, infiltration, bulk soil density improvements, and increases in soil organic matter.
Alternatively
However, if the fire intensity and duration on the rangelands are excessive, the severity increases. Too severe of fire can penetrate through organic matter layers of litter and humus and cause damage to the soil below because of higher temperatures reaching deeper below the surface for longer periods of time. When that happens, the soil is degraded, thereby impeding its necessary properties, functions, and relationships to varying extents. Additionally, soil may be exposed and eroded, nutrients can be volatized, water repellency can increase, and soil biota may be destroyed. Effects such as these are more common with wildfires in areas where fire has been stifled.
Therefore
That is why maintaining regime frequency is so important, and why prescribed burning should be used more. Improving the soil and vegetation of rangelands keeps them healthy. In fire-evolved landscapes, rangeland management should include prescribed burning to enhance and maintain biodiversity and ecosystem functions.
Careful planning with prescribed fire can benefit the land and those who use it.
Works Cited (Informal)
“Assessment of Prescribed Fire as a Conservation Practice,” Samuel D. Fuhlendorf et al.
“Fire as a Tool in Land Management,” Global Rangelands
“Planned Burns in the Great Plains,” Cindy Salo, Great Plains Fire Science Exchange
“Texas Rangelands,” North Carolina State University
“Using Prescribed Fire for Range Management,” Forest Encyclopedia Network
/h3>/h2>/h2>/h2>/h2>- Student Author: Dani Danielsson Bidia
- Livestock & Range Management Advisor and SRJC Adjunct Faculty: Stephanie Larson
- Editor: Karen Giovannini
This spring, I am teaching the Santa Rosa Junior College Rangeland Management class. This is my opportunity to educate aspiring students on the importance of rangelands and how to manage them. Their educational experiences include classroom lectures and field trips, learning about rangeland principles and then practice application.
Students are also required to give their impressions of what they are learning in the form of a blog. This blog was written by student Dani Danielsson Bidia. Stephanie Larson
The state of Texas has a long tradition of private property rights. Many privately owned ranches are home to Rio Grande River. These families have used their ranches for agriculture for centuries. Over the last decade and a half farmers, ranchers and property owners along the border have had threats looming of government officials constructing a stronger barrier through their ranches. Farmers and ranchers face concerns that building a stronger barrier will cut them off from acreage, water and disrupt movement of wildlife. Farmers and ranchers depend on water from the Rio Grande to irrigate crops and water livestock. Ranch owners also depend on water access for recreational use, such as fishing for Catfish and Alligator Gar; and rely on wildlife for fire risk reduction.
Studies conducted on areas where there is already a border wall in place, such as the analysis co-authored by Stanford biologists, Paul Ehrlich and Rodolfo Dirzo have shown negative effects on the environment and wildlife. The wall has prevented natural wildlife migration. Thus creating hardships for animals when in search of water, food and mates. Migration of wildlife is not only important to the existence of wildlife but to maintain a healthy ecosystem and is critical in reducing wild fire risk. Plant species such as the last surviving Sabal Palm Trees in Southern Texas are also at risk.
Sixty-two threatened, endangered and candidate animal species would be potentially threatened by the implementation of a stronger barrier. These species include Mexican Gray Wolves, Jaguars, Ocelots and Quino Checkerspot Butterflies. Of these sixty-two species, twenty-five of them will have their critical habitats degraded or destroyed. Among the species with potential for critically degraded and destroyed habitats would be Jaguars, Arroyo Toad and Peninsular Bighorn Sheep. Low flying birds, such as the Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy Owl will also be isolated on one side of the border or the other.
As outlined here, there are far reaching consequences for the roughly 2,135,000 acres within 50 miles along our southern border that will affect rangelands, agriculture and ecosystems if a stronger barrier is built.
Citations
Website Title: National Geographic
Article Title: 6 ways the border wall could disrupt the environment
Date Published January 10, 2019
Date Accessed April 09, 2019
Website Title: UANews
Article Title: Border Fence Blocks Wildlife Movement, UA Study Finds
Date Published February 19, 2018
Date Accessed April 09, 2019
Website Title: Newsweek
Article Title: The environmental impact of the U.S.-Mexico border wall
Date Published May 22, 2016
Date Accessed April 09, 2019
Website Title: American Rivers
Article Title: Lower Rio Grande (Rio Bravo) [TX]
Date Accessed April 09, 2019
Website Title: OUP Academic
Article Title: Nature Divided, Scientists United: US–Mexico Border Wall Threatens Biodiversity and Binational Conservation
Date Published July 24, 2018
Date Accessed April 09, 2019
Website Title: Woods Institute for the Environment
Article Title: New study examines effects of border wall on wildlife
Date Published August 02, 2018
Date Accessed April 09, 2019
Website Title: The Washington Post
Article Title: Trump's border wall threatens to end Texas family's 250 years of ranching on Rio Grande
Date Published September 08, 2018
Date Accessed April 09, 2019
Website Title: Los Angeles Times
Article Title: Trump promised a border wall. Now these Texans worry the government will take their land
Date Published April 07, 2017
Date Accessed April 09, 2019
Website Title: The New York Times
Article Title: Why a Border Wall Could Mean Trouble for Wildlife
Date Published January 24, 2019
Date Accessed April 09, 2019