Point Blue Conservation Science is collaborating with the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), cooperating ranchers, Resource Conservation Districts (RCD�s) and several other conservation partners to improve foothill rangeland watersheds in California�s Great Valley, Sierra Meadows, and Modoc Plateau that have experienced surface soil compaction, increased bare ground, and a shift in plant communities that is now dominated by annual vegetation.� Point Blue Partner Biologists are partnering with NRCS and RCD Conservationists and are working closely with ranchers, land trusts, and some public lands to plan, design, and implement prescribed rangeland grazing and management practices.� With financial support from NRCS Farm Bill programs, cooperating ranchers utilize technical assistance from Point Blue Partner Biologists, NRCS conservationists, RCD�s and other conservation partners to increase soil water retention in foothill watersheds, increase livestock forage, improve water supply reliability both on-site and downstream, enhance ranching productivity, and expand riparian corridors and wetland habitat for migratory birds and other wildlife.� In addition, we are partnering with and mentoring ranchers and other land managers as Leopoldian Land Stewards to ensure long-term stewardship of ecological and production benefits on their land. Point Blue�s companion effort, the Rangeland Monitoring Network (RMN) continues to measure hydrological function restoration and soil carbon, changes in vegetative trends, and the wildlife habitat benefits of the prescriptive grazing and associated conservation practices. Our multi-year study is providing empirical evidence on the effectiveness of prescribed grazing and rangeland management practices in providing reliable water supplies, improving soil quality, sequestering soil carbon, increasing vegetation functional group diversity, reducing invasive weeds, and improving wetland, riparian, and upland fish and wildlife habitats.� The information derived from the implementation and subsequent monitoring is allowing us to provide timely monitoring data to inform management in the short term and to analyze long term trends that accrue from planned grazing management.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.