Managing Conservation During a Drought

Powell, WY—October 6, 2006—As yet another dry growing season sizzles to a close in Wyoming, The Nature Conservancy’s Heart Mountain Ranch near Powell wraps up with an important question: Is it possible to improve Wyoming’s rangelands during a drought?

The Conservancy’s 13,000-acre Heart Mountain Ranch has recorded some measurable success fostering conservation during this year’s severe drought, thanks to its revolving bank of forage available at reduced cost to ranchers working to improve range conditions. Landowners who participate in Heart Mountain’s grassbank program have some flexibility during the drought, even when there’s a lack of adequate forage for livestock.

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In all, Heart Mountain provided a total of 2,491 animal unit months (AUMs) between May and September this year to ranchers pursuing a variety of conservation projects on their home ranges.

Maria Sonett, co-manager of Heart Mountain Ranch, says that in these dry times, the grassbank program has been a real solution for some ranchers. “The drought turns up the heat on competition between wildlife and livestock for forage,” says Sonett. “We’ve been able to help alleviate some of that tension. We’re assisting ranchers committed to providing rest for critical ranges—and this is helping wildlife.”

“If we wanted to improve our range without the grassbank, we’d have had to sell cattle because it was so dry,” says Tim Flitner, whose family owns the Diamond Tail Ranch. “We would not have had the room to shuffle them anywhere else, and it would have taken our operation back a few years.” The Flitners participated in Heart Mountain’s grassbank program this year to rest and grow grasses on some of their normal range—approximately 400 acres of mixed private and federal lands on the western slopes of the Bighorn Mountains—in preparation for a prescribed burn next year that will improve both wildlife habitat and livestock forage.

“From our perspective, we’re thinking it’s about time somebody else stepped up, and The Nature Conservancy has,” Flitner says. “We’ve been feeding wildlife for years and leaving feed for elk—that’s all out of our pocket. I think it’s about time somebody else got on board and joined our camp.”

The Flitners initiated the prescribed fire project and have worked with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), the Conservancy, and the US Forest Service to get it going. Everyone hopes next year’s prescribed burn will help re-establish a mosaic of sagebrush with open grassy meadows for livestock—and for wildlife such as elk.

Other conservation outcomes that emerged from Heart Mountain Ranch’s 2006 grassbank season include a project with local ranchers to rest 5,126 acres of critical elk and bighorn sheep habitat on Sheep Mountain in the eastern Absarokas for a fifth consecutive year, continuing to make this forage available for wildlife.

These conservation efforts have taken place during a drought that has plagued Wyoming ranchers for years. Precipitation this year ranged from 15 to 42 percent below average, according to the University of Wyoming’s Cooperative Extension Service.

Despite the conservation outcomes it fostered, the Conservancy’s grassbank program was no stranger to the challenges every agricultural producer in the state faced from this season’s dry conditions. “By August, Heart Mountain’s irrigated grass pretty much stopped growing”, says Sonett. Grassbank participants on native and irrigated pastures removed their cattle between two and four weeks earlier than usual, mirroring what happened in many areas throughout the state. The majority of ranchers along the west side of the BLM’s Cody Field Office had to come off their allotments early, says Tricia Hatle, Range Management Specialist for the Cody District BLM.

The ability to be flexible is important for all ranchers, and critical to those with the goal of conserving Wyoming’s lands, waters and wildlife, says Sonett. Building in flexibility and finding other options is key to both ecologic and economic sustainability.

In a drought, “the first line of defense is knowing what’s coming,” says Mike Smith, who works for the University of Wyoming’s Cooperative Extension Service and taught a rangeland monitoring workshop at Heart Mountain Ranch in September. “You have to be willing to look ahead. You don’t need to sit around thinking it’s going to rain. Even if it does, it might not do that much good for you. Timing is everything.”

People make a big difference, too, says Sonett. “Of course, the bottom line is the people involved,” she says. “People are the ones who make the conservation happen or not. But the grassbank provides that critical alternate forage at a “do-able” price. Achieving conservation during a drought first requires a committed group of good people working together toward a shared outcome. And then, affordable grass eases the way.”