permaculture

[Mark <mpludwig@facstaff.wisc.edu>]

At 04:20 AM 9/11/02 -0500, you wrote:
> Hi Mark,
>
> >>  Could you elaborate on this a bit?  Are you saying this land was grazed
> properly, poorly, what?  <<
>
> I was saying, that at the Bambhurger Ranch in Central Texas after they
> cleared the juniper they worked to restore a tall grass ecosystem,
> introducing vegetation and holding off on the grazing until that vegetation
> was established.  Then 5 or 10 years later they reported that springs were
> flowing better and longer.
>
> In the case of the Bambhurger Ranch I don't think grazing itself actually
> had anything at all to do with spring flow.  It was mostly a factor of
> replacing juniper with tall grass and mechanically supressing further
> juniper encroachment.
>
> When other ranchers heard about this practice (don't know if I could
> actually call it a study) of clearing trees and increasing spring flow,
> quite often they used it as justification to clear trees but hardly ever did
> I hear about other ranchers following up tree clearing with introducing tall
> grasses and prairie forbes.
>
> In other words, they simply cut down the trees and put the cattle right back
> in without the native revegetation regime.  Most grazing systems in Texas
> are lackadaisical (the cattle take what they want and leave only noxious
> weeds) and ultimately lead to the decline of a grassland system.
>
> So it's hard for me to believe that tree clearing and lax grazing would lead
> to increased spring flow.
>
> Kirby

I have been surprised how well even poorly managed pasture keeps stream 
banks and other riparian factors pretty happy.  Most cattle won't go to far 
into wetlands as the vegetation isn't very palatable and they aren't all 
that happy slogging through soft ground.  Of course you get much better 
production and more benefits from a properly rotated pasture.


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