Grazers Popular Once Again

DAYTON - Landowners like to experiment when it comes to problem solving. Should we leave a field in summer fallow this year? Do we mow or burn the wheat stubble?

Several property owners in Columbia County are now looking at old ways to solve a persistent problem - bring­ing back grazing to control invasive, unwanted grasses and brush. "You might say we've come around in a circle," said Doug Warnock, a Walla Walla grazing management consultant who worked for many years in the county's WSU Extension office."In the last few years, people have rediscovered multi-species grazing." Need forbs or invasive grasses removed? Try a herd of sheep. At least two land­owners in Columbia County are happy with a sheep-munching experiment started this summer.

Got a problem with irk­some brush? Yellow star this­tle? The experts recommend goats. The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation are giving it a try this fall on Jasper Mountain near Dayton, and the plan fitperfectly with the tribe's goals to "respect, restore and enhance first foods."

In September, the tribe hired 1,700 goats to relocate to the Rainwater Wildlife Area just south of Dayton along the South Fork Touchet River. Jerry Middel, project manager, has struggled with controlling yellow star thistle on the steep, vegetated slopes of Jasper Mountain above the river.

For the last five years, the tribe has applied herbicides on the ridge tops above the South Fork Touchet and Griffin Fork, which are now relatively free of the thistle and rush skeleton weed. Now these areas are dominated by native, mid-length peren­nial grasses like blue bunch wheat grass and Idaho fescue and forbs like lupine, wild onion and Indian paintbrush. But the steep canyon grass­lands can't be sprayed, Mid­del said. "This project will ideally have multiple benefits," he said. First, goats prefer weedy species over grasses, so ben­eficial grass populations should not be reduced, he said. Secondly, the goats will potentially push grass seed into the soil essentially tilling and planting grasses for next year's crop. Third, the poten­tial for grassland fire will be reduced as the goats move through the area. This effort, Middel said, will be carried out for at least three years, and after that point ecological monitoring plot data will reveal if the project was successful. Grazing has a long history in Eastern Washington, but more recently the practice developed a bad reputation as overgrazing begat land degradation. Now that graz­ing has all but disappeared in the Touchet Valley, land managers are looking back and inventing ways to renew the process without further damage. "Now we're able to do something very effective and not harm the desirable plant communities by using more of a planned or prescriptive grazing," Warnock said.

Also referred to as "tar­geted grazing," this new ap­proach to weed control via the appetites of sheep, goats and sometimes cattle can be an environmentally friendly, cost-effective and low-main­tenance option. Jeanne Walters, Columbia County's weed board coor­dinator, said that controlling such invasive species as yel­low star thistle is a constant battle.

"It's a huge problem be­cause each plant can produce so many seeds," she said.

The county cost-shares close to $46,000 with local farmers to control the spread of yellow star thistle. This usually involves spraying chemicals. In some cases, landowners have had suc­cess with the introduction of Eustenopus villosus, a weevil that lays its eggs in the thistle's seed head. But some property owners have expressed an interest in using prescriptive graz­ing.

So far the county hasn't signed any contracts to cost-share with local landowners for targeted grazing, but that may be coming, Walters said. "Right now it's somewhat expensive to import the ani­mals to the county, which has made it prohibitive for many landowners, but with the price of herbicides and ap­plication

rising, we may see it happen," she said.

And it is happening. Deb­bie Fortner, a soil conserva­tionist with the Columbia Conservation District and Natural Resources Conserva­tion Service, recently discov­ered a cereal rye problem on her own property.

She hired 1,400 sheep to troubleshoot. Large numbers of animals, usually imported from Idaho or nearby states, are required to get the job done effectively.

"Sheep are peaceful crea­tures and low-impact when managed correctly," she said, even with such large numbers. Robert and Janet Phinney, who own property above Dayton, have discovered the benefits of prescriptive graz­ing as well. In fact, after the sheep finished "tidying up" at Fortner's place this sum­mer, the Phinneys had the herd, along with the Peruvian shepherd, three herding dogs and three guard dogs move to their property to help with grass and forbs removal. The Phinneys are also hoping that such grazing, which will be repeated sev­eral times each year for the next three or four years, will also help with firecontrol.

The 2006 Columbia Com­plex fire raged through many acres of their property.

"Here's another case of going back to more natural means, in this case with re­ducing fire fuel," said Walla Walla's Warnock. A handbook entitled, "Targeted Grazing: A Natu­ral Approach to Vegetation Management and Land­scape Enhancement," pub­lished online by the Univer­sity of Idaho's department of Rangeland Ecology and Management, calls targeted grazing, "a new ecological service" and gives advice to those interested in contract­ing for grazing services and those thinking of going into the business of grazing. "This concept has been around for decades and has taken many names, including prescribed grazing and man­aged herbivory," the hand­book authors write. "The ma­jor difference between good grazing management and tar­geted

grazing is that targeted grazing refocuses outputs of grazing from livestock production to vegetation and landscape enhancement."

In other words, prescrip­tive grazers are focused on managing vegetation and not on managing livestock. Contracting with companies who bring in the grazers along with herders and guard dogs means landowners can continue to focus on land management and don't have to switch gears to raising livestock in order to use graz­ing on their properties.