Get reliable rangeland science

The grazing management efforts began on the Mt. Trumbull Allotment in the late 1960s. Management began in rotating cattle from low elevation pastures to high elevation pastures through the winter, spring, summer and fall. The grazing management and range improvements were formalized in a management plan in the late 1960s.�The focus will be on plant species frequency and composition �and changes or maintenance of same .Early trend monitoring in small plots set in pastures in the late 1960s.. The trend of plant species was static through the 1970s. In the early 1980s, frequency and dry weight rank transects were placed across the allotment. The data from these transects are now 30 years old and shows high plant diversity-both forage and non-forage. Maintaining the plant diversity of 12-20 species through the last 30 years demonstrates proper use over the years. There are cool and warm season grasses, forbs, browse and shrubs. Forage and non-forage species are performing equally well. The rancher has shown a keeness in moving the cattle at the right times with the use levels on the forage. This has occurred in wet and drought years. The emphasis of the discussion will be on the drought years from 1998 to the present and how species have held up under dry conditions under use levels experienced.