- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
![Yosemite toad. (Photo: Rob Grasso)](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/anrnews/blogfiles/19633small.jpg)
A five-year study of Yosemite toad populations in an area fenced off from cattle has shown that exclusion from grazing doesn't help the endangered amphibian, reported Kate Campbell in AgAlert.
"The toads use water areas and the cattle use drier meadow areas, which provide better forage," said Ken Tate, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis.
The study, "Determining the Effects of Cattle Grazing Treatments on Yosemite Toads in Montane Meadows," found "no benefit of fencing to Yosemite toad populations." Researchers said their results "do not support previous studies that found a...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
![Medusahead, barb goatgrass and yellow starthistle were some of the weeds researchers discussed at the field day.](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/anrnews/blogfiles/15053small.jpg)
UC Cooperative Extension range research was featured at a field day Saturday in Tehama County, reported Julie Johnson in the Corning Observer.
Josh Davy, UCCE advisor in Tehama County, reviewed test plots were 60 varieties of annual and perennial range grasses were growing. Ken Tate, UCCE specialist, and Leslie Roche, postdoctoral researcher, both in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis, gave an update on their long-term grazing research projects evaluating the effects of...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
UC Davis Cooperative Extension watershed specialist Ken Tate and interim director of the Western Institute for Food Safety and Security at UC Davis Rob Atwill will design and conduct the study. The first samples have already been...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
![Ken Tate, left, and Rob Atwill.](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/anrnews/blogfiles/3835small.jpg)
UC Davis Cooperative Extension researchers Ken Tate and Rob Atwill responded to a story about High Sierra grazing published last month in the Sacramento Bee in the California Farm Bureau Federation's newspaper AgAlert.
The Sacramento Bee story suggested that cattle grazing in high-elevation areas of the Sierra Nevada causes water contamination. Following is an opening excerpt of Atwill and Tate's commentary. See the AgAlert link for the complete 600-word response:
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
![A lake in the high Sierra. (Photo: Mike Poe.)](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/anrnews/blogfiles/3786small.jpg)
U.S. Forest Service regional forester Randy Moore said the agency and its collaborators take the quality of high Sierra water seriously, according to an op-ed article that ran in the Sacramento Bee over the weekend.
The op-ed came after a May 1 Sac Bee editorial encouraging the Forest Service to limit grazing to lower elevations.
Moore wrote that the Forest Service is working with the State Water Resources Control Board to develop a water quality management plan for California national forests. The plan will establish best-management...