Progress report for FW24-008
Project Information
Prescribed grazing services are becoming a popular vegetation management tool on the West Coast. Land owners and land management agencies are contracting livestock owners and grazers to reduce their seasonal fuel loads, and weeds infestations with the use of livestock, primarily small ruminants. While the opportunity to prescribe graze presents livestock owners with a secondary source of income, it often poses a threat to the condition of their animals. The primary reason for this contradiction is the unrealistic expectation of land owners and land management agencies around the necessary level of reduction to address fire fuels and weeds management objectives. This project intends to identify the appropriate level of impact to reduce fire fuels risks and weeds infestations without compromising the health of the environment or livestock.
Impact and response of vegetation and animal condition will be recorded through the entire process and be used to create an educational video highlighting the benefits or consequences of each level of impact.
Determine what level of RDM post grazing for fuels reduction best supports the environment, sheep and community needs.
Provide collected data to landowners in an effort to educate on the appropriate level of impact.
Empower landowners to consider long term impact alongside their seasonal fuel reduction goals.
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May 1st 2024 |
-Define appropriate plots -Photo and video capture green season |
Jaime Irwin (PI) supported by Kayleigh (TA) for determining |
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June 15th 2024 |
-Measure Available forage -Photo and video capture dry out prior to grazing treatment |
Jaime Irwin (PI) supported by Kayleigh (TA) for measurement of forage |
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July 15th-August 15th 2024 |
-Evaluate body condition of all animals pre graze (Video document scoring process) -Graze research plots to predetermined levels of impact and record factors (Stocking rate, number of days, acreage grazed per paddock, additional strategies, supplementation) -Evaluate body condition of animals from each group post graze (Video document scoring process) -Take Photos and Video of impact immediately after graze |
Jaime Irwin (PI) with Kaos sheep and Team Members |
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September 2024 |
-Take video of RDM levels 1 month after grazing impact -Video record the collection of the following Data: -Measure RDM -Measure Soil surface temperature -Measure Soil Moisture -Measure Species diversity -Assess Fire Risk |
Jaime Irwin (PI) will schedule site assessment with CalFire Representative to Assess Fire Risk of each Plot, Kayleigh (TA) performing measurement of RDM, Soil temp/moisture and assessment of plant species diversity and assessing Fire risk of each plot. |
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October 2024 |
-Compile all photo and video documentation to create an educational video that truthfully represents project results. -Provide this video to producers, professionals and |
Jaime Irwin (PI) will organize field day with Kayleigh (TA) |
Cooperators
- - Technical Advisor
- - Producer
Research
The project takes place on BLM managed land in the Northern California Coast Range characterized by the Mediterranean Climate which often produces fine, flashy fuels in the Oak Savannah ecosystem. The fuels present a safety risk to communities in the wildland urban interface throughout the region. Target grazing attempts to address these safety concerns but poses a risk to livestock given the poor forage quality during the season of treatment. This study hopes to address the concerns of the livestock operators for their livestock as well as the communities they are trying to protect.
Six, 5 acre plots with 3 different levels of impact. All six plots will be characterized by the same soil and vegetation type. Each level of impact will have a supplemented group and a group not offered supplement. Sheep will graze at a density of 100 head per half acre per day (or until level of impact is achieved) in order to best replicate average target grazing project demand and approach.
Data will be collected 4 times throughout the project: green season, dry season pre graze, immediately following graze, one month post graze. Photo points and line transects will be established pre-treatment and data will be collected from these locations throughout project implementation. Data collected will include soil coverage determined using Residual Dry Matter calculations, soil temperature, soil moisture and plant species diversity along established transects. One month post-grazing a CalFire representative will assess the fire risk in all 6 plots.
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TEST PLOT/GROUP OF 100 HEAD |
LEVEL OF IMPACT/SUPPLEMENT? |
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PLOT 1/GROUP A |
High Impact/ No Supplementation |
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PLOT 2/GROUP B |
High Impact W/ Supplementation |
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PLOT 3/GROUP C |
Med Impact/ No Supplementation |
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PLOT 4/GROUP D |
Med Impact W/ Supplementation |
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PLOT 5/GROUP E |
Flash Graze/ No Supplementation |
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PLOT 6/GROUP F |
Flash Graze W/ Supplementation |
Data will be analyzed to determine whether a lower level of impact is sufficient to reduce fuel load and provide the community protection in the wildland urban interface, while also maintaining the condition and health of the livestock performing the work, and maintaining the health of the landscape.
Research Outcomes
research on animal side has shown decrease in animal body score rates
Education and Outreach
Participation Summary:
We realized hiring a videographer and coordinating with one would not be possible for the project as the main two weeks of grazing was intense coordination with herder on site of when we needed to move the sheep. So we bought a drone and videoed the progress that way, you can see sheep condition and vegetation management
We will still higher a video editor to create an educational video that 1) shares about the difficulty grazers face in balancing livestock needs with hiring company goals 2) provides footage of varying levels of impact achieved in test plots 3) offers insights provided by collected data 4) captures fire professionals assessments of risk in varying levels of RDM.
This video will be posted to Youtube, with comments enabled. It will be made available to producers by networking with CA wool growers, our local RCD and UC ext offices. We also intend to provide this video to a new website called Match.graze in hopes it can be offered as a resource to landowners interested in grazing. We intend to send our findings and final video out to contract grazers all over the west coast using our own broad network and contract grazing contact lists made available through UC ANR.
We are currently working on passing the video and photo footage off to a video editor the make a video
We will finish in the spring when we acquire vegetation growth information
Education and Outreach Outcomes
educational video about the project and findings