On a global scale, rangelands are a fairly diverse array of biomes - deserts, scrub, prairies, and chaparral, but in Sonoma County, they comprise oak savannahs and grasslands; one such is our vernal pools. Vernal pools are defined by the US Environmental Protection Agency as “…seasonal depression wetlands that occur under the Mediterranean climate conditions”. They are a rare and interesting sight to see in the spring after they have filled up with water. Especially this year, you could see the most beautiful concentric rings of various wildflower species as the water evaporates or infiltrates into the ground.

Vernal pools exist in areas of a grassland where there is an isolated area of compacted clay or bedrock. This is because the water cannot penetrate it and therefore, stays on the surface instead of absorbing into the soil. Depending on their size and amount of rainfall, they may fill and dry up many times within a season, or may not fill at all in a drought. Many species of wildlife, including birds and amphibians, depend on these pools. They are a cache of fresh water and food and, for some, a good place to lay their eggs because they are safe from predation by fish. 

For the first time in four years, US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) opened grazing permits for several properties in the Santa Rosa plains, allowing grazing. Grazing was returned to these properties because its removal caused vegetation to over grow, reducing habitat for the endangered species present. Not having this grazing “disturbance” resulted in a species loss; the very species that were to be protected. Two examples of grazing benefits are listed below. 

Fig 1 California tiger salamander (Ambystoma californiense), CaliforniaHerps.com

Fig 2 Sonoma Spineflower (Chorizanthe valida), UC Berkeley

Fig 3. Contra Costa goldfields (Lasthenia conjugans), UC Berkeley

Fig 4. Santa Cruz tarplant (Holocarpha macradenia), UC Berkeley

California Tiger Salamander

Managed livestock grazing is thought to benefit the habitat for California tiger salamander (Ambystoma californiense) (Fig 1). Some Bay Area populations of these salamanders depend on ground squirrel burrows for refuge sites. Livestock grazing keeps vegetation low, making the grasslands more suitable for California ground squirrels (USFWS 2003). Salamanders that inhabit vernal pools may also benefit from grazing. These ephemeral pools are wet only during the winter/spring rainy season, and too much vegetation in and around their edges can cause drying pools to lose depth too quickly. Because it reduces this vegetation, grazing can keep the pools wet longer, giving salamander larvae more time to grow up (USFWS 2004).

Opportunities for Native Plants

Grazing of non-native vegetation is essential to create opportunities for many native grassland plants. For example, there is only a single remaining natural population of the federally-endangered Sonoma spineflower (Chorizanthe valida) (Fig 2) and it declined dramatically after livestock was removed from its habitat area (Davis and Sherman 1992). Similarly, populations of the federally-endangered Contra Costa goldfields (Lasthenia conjugans) and Santa Cruz tarplant (Holocarpha macradenia) plummeted and died out when grazing was removed from their habitats (USFWS 2005; Hayes 1998).

Nowadays, 90% of the US's vernal pools have disappeared due to human encroachment and land conversion. Like the rangelands they exist on, they can be beautiful and vital places if properly managed! With the arrival of the Spanish missionaries, Sonoma County's grasslands changed dramatically. They became dominated by non-native annual plants, mostly from the grasslands of the Mediterranean Basin. Despite the general replacement of native plants by these non-natives, enough native species have survived to prompt global recognition of our grasslands as hot spots of biodiversity.

Because livestock grazing (primarily by cattle) can effectively reduce the biomass, height, and thatch accumulation produced by non-native annual plants, it has become an essential tool for managing our local grasslands. Grazing has been shown to be a benefit by 

reducing the risk of a catastrophic wildfire, maintaining and enhancing habitat for many native grassland plants and animals,

and maintaining the open character of our iconic grasslands and oak savannas.

Ranchers should be encouraged to continue their sustainable livestock production practices and their long history of good stewardship. In addition, they should be compensated for implementing other conservation services on rangelands.

Rangeland owners in the Bay Area face substantial pressure to develop their land.  The short term financial gains from developing rangeland for vineyards or residential construction can be very large.  In Sonoma and Marin Counties several conservation groups, including the Marin Agricultural Land Trust and the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District, are dedicated to preserving rangeland and the cultural and environmental amenities that only open space can provide.  The most common instrument for rangeland preservation is a conservation easement.  The University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE), in partnership with UC Berkeley researchers, is currently engaged in a project that explores the

possibility of simultaneously expanding rangeland conservation and
increasing rancher welfare through the use of
novel conservation easement payment structures,
including annuities and variable
Payments for Ecosystems Services (PES).

A conservation easement is an agreement between a landowner and a conservation group that ensures that a parcel of land is not further developed.  Conservation easements are permanent—even if the original owner decides to sell the parcel, the easement remains in force.  Conservation groups typically compensate landowners by paying them a substantial one-time lump sum.  Since an easement decreases the resale value of the parcel, the landowner's property tax liability is often decreased as well. Another important motivation for landowners is securing financial stability for future generations (Rilla and Solokow 2000).  Conservation groups are motivated by a range of social, environmental, and ecological goals, including preservation of public goods: open space, biodiversity, soil health, and rural lifestyles (Cross et al 2010). 

Under PES systems landowners are monetarily compensated for
making changes to their land management practices. 

For example, the owner of a parcel of forest land might receive an annual payment in return for abstaining from logging on the parcel.  Depending on the terms of the agreement, the land owner could receive the same payment amount every year, called an annuity, or a variable payment based on the level of ecosystems services that the parcel provides.  A conservation group would regularly monitor the parcel to ensure that the terms of the PES agreement had not been violated. PES systems have been successfully implemented in France, Costa Rica, Honduras, and Brazil, but are relatively rare in the United States. 

While traditional conservation easements have proven effective as a conservation tool, the lump sum payment structure is not necessarily attractive to all landowners.  The UCCE's current research and outreach campaign focuses on the areas in which landowner and conservation group incentives overlap, with goal of determining whether alternative payment structures might suit some landowners' preferences better than a traditional lump sum payment.  Variable PES and annuity payments are two such structures.  Both alternative payment structures would stay attached to the land indefinitely, and potentially align better with landowner motivations, such as financial stability for future generations, and conservation group motivations, such as preservation of rural lifestyles. 

Many families in Sonoma and Marin Counties have been ranching on their parcels for several generations, developing deep and personal connections to their land.  As a result, those landowners may have a greater interest in whether or not subsequent generations continue to ranch on their parcels.  These landowners could potentially find an annuity more attractive than a lump sum, and a PES based on the amount of residual dry matter (RDM) on the parcel, which would reward ranching and active land management, might be more attractive still. 

PES and annuity payment structures would expand the menu of land conservation options available in Sonoma and Marin Counties,

without restricting conservation groups' ability to continue to offer traditional lump sums.  With more options comes the possibility of more land conservation, more money in the hands of ranchers, and better alignment between rancher and conservation group motivations. 

For more information about this project, please contact Stephanie Larson, 707-565-2621, slarson@ucdavis.edu or Reid Johnsen, rlkj@berkeley.edu. 

The Santa Rosa Junior College Range Management class toured Point Reyes National Seashore (PRNS) to learn about the park history, livestock grazing, and issues surrounding public land management. The class met with Range Management Specialist, Dylan Voeller, Rich Grossi, a 4^th generation rancher, and Rich Grossi's granddaughters, 6^th generation. 

The class learned about the direct link between urban consumers and local food producers, providing a powerful conduit for educating the public about the importance of local food production and rangeland management. Sonoma and Marin Counties are perfect models for demonstrating how 

preserving family farms contribute to
social, economic and ecological sustainability at
local, regional and even national levels.  

 Ranching PRNS, albeit smaller scale, remains a local industry, which provides job creation, training and business succession, and market expansion for many other ranchers and farmers. 

Through the 1980s and 1990s and into the early 2000s, efforts to conserve threatened and endangered (special status) species on western rangelands often meant removing livestock ranching.  Research findings, demonstration results, and failed conservation efforts in recent years involving endangered species has supported the continuation of livestock ranching and the reintroduction of grazing to some rangelands that were “protected” through grazing removal. At the landscape level,

research has demonstrated that livestock ranching
maintains extensive, open spaces by
reducing land use conversion, fragmentation of habitat, 
and vegetation type conversion from invasion of brush.

Threats to native biodiversity, including special-status species, are likely to increase with removal or decrease of grazing. Research and experience have shown that grazing is strongly linked to maintaining habitat for some special-status species on PRNS lands, while they have been inconclusive for others. Sonoma alopecurus (Alopecurus aequalis var. sonomensis) is found in eight naturally occurring populations in Sonoma and Marin Counties; the four sites in Marin County all occur at PRNS and are all grazed by cattle; Sonoma spineflower found solely in a grazed pasture at PRNS.  Tiburon paintbrush and Marin dwarf flax occur on serpentine grasslands, with six occurrences of Marin dwarf flax on Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) grazing lands.  PRNS staff concluded, “Marin dwarf flax may benefit from a moderate level of cattle grazing through the reduction of taller competing vegetation as the flax is subject to shading by competing grasses or may be suppressed by build-up of thatch from previous year's herbage if left ungrazed.” (USNPS 2001).

Documented research, along with good stewardship provided by generational ranchers, has demonstrated the benefits provided to the ecosystems at Point Reyes National Seashore.

Reference:

U.S. National Park Service. 2001. Biological Assessment on the Renewal of Livestock Grazing Permits in Point Reyes National Seashore and the North District of Golden Gate National Recreation Area Marin County, California. 65 pp.

The Santa Rosa Junior College Range Management class visited Pepperwood Preserve to learn about the livestock grazing program and their range management plan's goals.  Pepperwood Preserve is a 3,120-acre nature preserve in northeast Sonoma County owned and operated by the non-profit Pepperwood Foundation. The preserve is a mosaic of grasslands, oak woodlands, Douglas-fir forests and chaparral.

The annual rainfall averages 34 inches and almost entirely comes between October and May. The preserve is primarily an upland habitat with perennial springs, but no perennial streams. The students learned about grazing history, as California grasslands evolved in the presence of grazing mammals and have adapted to grazing disturbance. The grasslands of Pepperwood have a history of grazing by domestic animals, which was first documented by a survey crew in 1858. Sheep herding gave way to cattle grazing during the Bechtel family's tenure from the 1940's through the 1970's. Since becoming a nature preserve in 1979, until 2012, the preserve utilized seasonal (winter and spring), open range grazing, moving herds of between 80 and 300 stockers between 3 pastures of about 300 acres each.

In 2013, Pepperwood initiated a Conservation Grazing Program using electric fencing to control herd density, manage seasonal timing and increase rest periods between animal impact events. Rangeland research and practical experience has demonstrated that animal disturbance can have a positive impact on grasslands and some native fauna if properly managed for conservation goals. 

Grazing is a tool many land managers use to create disturbance in grasslands to improve soil health, reduce thatch cover, combat invasive weeds, increase native species diversity and restore historical impacts once created by native fauna.

The use of domestic grazing animals to achieve conservation goals is not new and is sometimes referred to as targeted or prescribed grazing or holistic grazing. Pepperwood prefers the term “conservation grazing” because it speaks directly to the goals of their grazing program.

Cattle managers use electric fencing and portable water systems to maximize the ability to control animal density and duration on varying grassland types and environmental conditions. The Conservation Grazing Program at Pepperwood intends to demonstrate that by using variable density, short duration grazing and adequate periods of recovery, rangeland managers can make progress towards conservation goals.

References available upon request.