Across the Western US, public lands ranchers work to balance cattle grazing with sustainable rangelands that support healthy streams and habitat for wildlife. The story of Three Creeks involves 37 ranchers who manage livestock across 128,000 acres of public and private lands in Rich County, Utah. The area is a mix of ranchers’ private lands plus federal land (BLM and Forest Service) and state land. In 2001, the BLM faced litigation over livestock grazing on these public lands. This threatened economic stability for ranchers due to potential restriction of grazing. In response, permittees sought alternative management options to ward off further litigation. Over ten years they worked with the BLM, USFS, and the State of Utah to design and implement a new grazing plan whose goal is to maintain rancher livelihoods and improve rangeland and stream conditions.
In this talk, Taylor Payne from the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food and Kris Hulvey from the nonprofit Working Lands Conservation will share the story of Three Creeks Project.
Please join us as we share what we are learning about implementing innovative, flexible grazing management on public lands, and the benefits this type of grazing can bring.
The Speakers:
Dr. Kris Hulvey is an ecologist and the Lead Scientist at Working Lands Conservation (WLC). WLC is a nonprofit organization that partners with diverse stakeholders to design and test new management strategies for working lands, with a focus on Western rangelands. Key to this work is building strong relationships that result in transparent science. Currently, Kris and WLC work on projects in Utah, New Mexico, and Colorado rangelands with interdisciplinary teams including federal and state managers and ranchers, to determine how innovative grazing systems on public lands can improve riparian and upland conditions while also supporting rancher livelihoods.
Taylor Payne is a grazing and rangeland coordinator for the Utah Grazing Improvement Program in Northern Utah. He has extensive knowledge in public lands grazing issues where he spends most of his time assisting livestock owners with management improvements. He enjoys his young family very much and appreciates working with ranchers that share the same interest as he does.
This event is hosted by Alianza Agri-Cultura de Taos, Working Lands Conservation, Chama Peak Land Alliance, Taos Land Trust, and National Grazing Lands Coalition in partnership with Taos Valley Acequia Association, Taos County Economic Development Corporation, Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, Trout Unlimited, Quivira Coalition, Western Landowners Alliance and Farmers Outreach
