Project Overview
Annual Reports
Commodities
- Agronomic: grass (misc. perennial), hay
- Additional Plants: native plants
Practices
- Animal Production: pasture renovation, range improvement, feed/forage
- Education and Training: farmer to farmer, networking
- Natural Resources/Environment: habitat enhancement, riparian buffers, riverbank protection
- Pest Management: eradication, physical control
- Sustainable Communities: sustainability measures
Proposal summary:
Improper livestock management along a 2.5-mile section of Nutrioso Creek in the White Mountains of eastern Arizona has caused erosion and impaired water quality. In 1996, rancher James Crosswhite purchased 275 acres that include 1.5 miles of the creek and associated riparian area. His project goal is to rehabilitate the riparian area by fencing out livestock and elk, mowing the rabbit brush and cutting its roots below the terminal bud and broadcasting native grass seed, applying sprinkler irrigation to help the grass establish. He will monitor the grass through September 2004 and then rotate livestock through the pasture to assess forage use. He anticipates that project will improve the riparian zone, which will improve water quality, and at the same time allow him to economically harvest the streamside forage without polluting the water.