Join us for a two-part presentation and virtual meeting: First, hear about the Three Creeks Project in Utah, exemplifying innovative, flexible grazing management on public lands and the benefits this type of grazing can bring. Then, after a short break, we’ll discuss how this approach might work here in New Mexico. Bring your curiosity and ideas to share!
In the presentation, Taylor Payne from the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food and Kris Hulvey with the nonprofit Working Lands Conservation will share the story of Three Creeks.
Across the Western US, public lands ranchers work to balance cattle grazing with sustainable rangelands that support healthy streams and habitat for wildlife. The Three Creeks Project involves 37 ranchers who manage livestock across 128,000 acres of public and private lands in Rich County, Utah. The area is a mix of ranchers’ private lands plus federal land (BLM and Forest Service) and state land. Threatened by litigation over livestock grazing on these public lands, permittees sought alternative management options. Over ten years they worked with the BLM, FS, and the state of Utah to design and implement a new, collective grazing plan whose goal is to maintain rancher livelihoods while improving rangeland and stream conditions.
Taylor Payne is a grazing and rangeland coordinator for the Utah Grazing Improvement Program in Northern Utah. He lives in the ranching community where the Three Creeks Project is taking place and has worked with the ranchers involved for the last 15 years. He will share insights into the barriers faced by the ranchers when working with federal agencies, and the solutions that the group put in place to move forward a collective grazing plan.
Dr. Kris Hulvey is an ecologist and the Lead Scientist at Working Lands Conservation who has worked with the community and other partners to track the benefits of the new grazing plan for streams and rangelands, providing data that can be used for adaptive management. She will share the exciting results that she is seeing after only three years of implementation.
Webinar agenda:
- 6pm Presentation: The Three Creeks Project in Utah
- Break (5 min)
- 7pm Q/A & Discussion: Can we bring this approach to New Mexico?
Adaptive Multi-Paddock Grazing in a Nutshell
Multiple small paddocks facilitate short duration/high stock density grazing followed by adequate rest and recovery periods
The Art of Grazing
The importance of high intensity planned grazing and rest to restore soil health in New Mexico’s brittle environment
‘Growing Soil’ Through Adaptive Grazing
Fernando Falomir describes the use of cattle as the primary tool for land restoration
New Mexico Grazing Exchange
This interactive website facilitates matchmaking between landowners and livestock farmers or contract graziers