The Nature Conservancy in Montana - Land stewardship on the Rocky Mountain Front

Land stewardship on the Front

Cow drinking at solar powered water well

Cows drinking from solar powered well
© TNC photo by Dave Hanna

The enhancement of prairie and rangeland resources is a long-standing goal for Conservancy-owned and managed lands. To that end, managers at Pine Butte Swamp Preserve have tested and implemented range management strategies and technologies that can be applied on neighboring ranches.

Solar powered wells

The Conservancy has installed water tanks with solar water pumps on two properties it owns: at Pine Butte Swamp Preserve and in the Blackleaf area. Parts of these properties are leased to local cattle producers for grazing. The water tanks were located away from streams as a way to protect riparian areas from cattle damage and to allow better distribution of livestock on the range.

Weed management

In the last few years, the Conservancy has stepped up its weed management efforts on the Front. In addition to actively controlling such weeds as leafy spurge and spotted knapweed on its own properties, Conservancy staff have helped coordinate weed management on more than 7 of the Front's 11 drainages. They've also worked with a variety of public agencies to mobilize landowners in the effort, which involves weed mapping, hand pulling and spraying of weeds, biological control and planning for desirable plant communities. (More on Conservancy weed efforts) In 2005, the Conservancy and its partners created the first Front-wide weed map, which will help managers monitor weeds and apply effective control strategies. By 2008, we'd conducted weed programs on every watershed along the Front.

Fire management

We use fire as a management tool at Pine Butte - not only as a benefit to the landscape, but an educational tool about prairie grassland regeneration. Cooperative fire-management agreements with private landowners have allowed the Conservancy to work across property boundaries for the health of the ecosystem. Our findings on long-term weed and fire management strategies will enable us to design and implement beneficial practices for our lands and those of our conservation partners.

When major wildfires threaten to burn the grasslands of the Front, one response is to bull-doze a fire line in hopes of impeding its spread. This action can, however, scar the land and encourage weed invasion. Conservancy staff would prefer approaches that are less damaging to the land. One potential approach involves intensive grazing of cattle to make fire lines; that is, grazing the grass down so there's no fuel for the fire to spread. During the late summer fire season of 2007, Conservancy staff, landowners and agencies collaborated to try the grazing approach. The attempt had mixed results, but may be an option worth considering in the future.

The Conservancy is involved in a concerted national effort to learn about fire management, both as a tool and in the prevention of damaging wildfires. It's called the Fire Learning Network.

Grazing systems

To round out our hands-on research, the Conservancy has agreements with our grazing lessees at Pine Butte Preserve. We are implementing grazing systems that mimic the buffalo's seasonally intensive use of the grass and that integrate into the ranchers' agricultural operations. These efforts will not only improve the health of native grasslands, but also provide local economic benefits.

In this system, a solar panel provides electricity to pump water into tanks. Because the pumps don’t require power lines, the water tanks can be located wherever they are needed. This allows ranchers to use pastures that have abundant grass but get little use because they have no water.