Improving rangeland diversity. NRCS photo by Bob Nichols
Managing Grasslands for Climate Resilience and Environmental Restoration
Protect Grasslands, Regenerate Soil, Sequester Carbon
Do you own, manage, or hold conservation easements on grasslands? Or do you work with ranchers or owners or managers of grazing land? Learn how grasslands can be managed to:
- Increase soil carbon sequestration
- Improve water infiltration, water quality, and riparian habitat
- Restore soil health
- Reduce fire risk
- Produce more forage (and more profit)
By permanently protecting eligible grassland, you might even be able to get paid for carbon credits.
These topics and more will be presented at the Northwest Grazing Conference 2017: Managing for Resilience, May 10 and 11, Pendleton Convention Center, Pendleton. Oregon.
Find more info at the main conference page. Ready to sign up? You can
Grassland Carbon Credits—Get Paid to Permanently Protect Grassland
Max DuBuisson, Director of Policy for the Climate Action Reserve; Mik McKee, The Climate Trust; and Rebecca Haynes, Environmental Defense Fund, will present a session on carbon offset credits.
Learn how you can earn carbon offset credits for permanently protection grasslands in the Grassland Carbon Credits session on day two of the conference.
Markets for carbon offset credits have existing for more than 20 years, gaining significant size and maturity in the last decade. However, these markets have only recently been able to provide incentives for grassland conservation
In 2015 the Climate Action Reserve, a private, nonprofit carbon offset registry, developed an offset project protocol for the avoided conversion of grassland to cropland. These projects are attractive to landowners who are interested in long-term conservation, but require additional incentive to commit to permanent protection. They are also attractive to land trusts who need an additional source of funding to support conservation activities.
The long-term management of a grassland carbon project dovetails neatly with the existing work of land trusts. Also in 2015, the Reserve, along with several partners, received a two-year Conservation Innovation Grant from the USDA NRCS to support implementation and outreach related to grassland carbon projects. This session will include an introduction to carbon markets, a basic overview of the grassland protocol, how to assess the feasibility of a grassland project, and information regarding the project economics.
More Sessions on Land Conservation and Restoration
Water Quality and Riparian Management
Tipton Hudson, Kittitas County Director, Washington State University Extension focuses on sustainable rangeland grazing, ecosystem monitoring, and protecting and improving riparian function and watershed health through smarter grazing practices. He works with ranchers, regulators, and natural resource professionals to support the adoption of management practices that improve rangeland conditions and water quality.
Tip’s session on Water Quality and Riparian Management will be repeated both days.
Soil Carbon Sequestration
Peter Donovan, co-founder of the Soil Carbon Coalition, believes opportunity for increasing carbon and water in the soil is huge. And that increasing soil carbon will help drive improvement in social and economic conditions as well as enhance biodiversity and ecological resiliency.
Peter has spent the past several years touring the country collecting soil carbon data as part of the Soil Carbon Challenge. He will share what he’s learned through his many years of practicing Holistic Management and working with innovative natural resource stewards.
Peter’s session on Soil Carbon Sequestration will be on day two of the conference.
Targeted Grazing
Karen Launchbaugh, rangeland scientist and Director of the University of Idaho Rangeland Center, is editor of Targeted Grazing: A Natural Approach to Vegetation Management and Landscape Enhancement, a handbook on grazing as a new ecological service.
From the Introduction to Targeted Grazing, by Dr. Launchbaugh and John Walker:
“Grazing by wild and domestic animals is a powerful natural force working in all ecosystems. The kind and abundance of plants that characterize any plant community are a result of the climate, soils, and herbivores including insects, wildlife, and livestock that inhabit that place. The regenerative or destructive power of herbivory to shape plant communities has been demonstrated time and time again as humans have managed the grazing of domestic livestock. For better or worse, livestock grazing has been applied for thousands of years in ways that change plant communities. Along with fire, grazing is the oldest vegetation management tool.
“Today, livestock grazing is being rediscovered and honed as a viable and effective tool to address contemporary vegetation management challenges, like controlling invasive exotic weeds, reducing fire risk in the wildland-urban interface, and finding chemical-free ways to control weeds in organic agriculture. The challenge of converting livestock grazing from a ubiquitous land use into a powerful vegetation shaping tool requires a paradigm shift for both land managers and livestock producers.”
Dr. Launchbaugh’s session is on day two of the conference.
Targeted Grazing and Fire Control
Chris Schachtschneider will continue the targeted grazing theme. Chris is Livestock and Natural Resource Assistant Professor with University of Oregon Cooperative Extension, Umatilla County. He will present his recent research on where and how targeted livestock grazing can play a role in fire control.
Chris’s session is on day two of the conference.
Biochar to Improve Degraded Range
Jim Archuleta, is a Forest Soil Scientist with Umatilla National Forest. He’s also a member of the steering committee of the Northwest Biochar Working Group. Jim has collaborated on research on how land managers can convert waste wood to biochar that is used to improve degraded soil.
Forest managers remove excess wood from forests to reduce wildfire hazard. The woody material is typically burned in slash piles. This process can harm soil and pollute the air with smoke and particulate emissions. Burning the wood in the absence of oxygen creates charcoal (biochar). This process reduces air pollution and the harmful impacts on the soil.
The biochar can be applied to soil to improve soil productivity and water infiltration. Biochar is a stable form of carbon, so this also sequesters more carbon in the soil.
Jim’s session will be on day two of the conference.
Intros to Holistic Management Land Planning and Monitoring Methods
Everything you wanted to know about Holistic Management, but were afraid to ask!
The Roots of Resilience Team will be presenting introductions to the full suite of Holistic Management land planning and monitoring methods. These sessions will all be on day two of the conference.
- Introduction to Holistic Management—how to develop a Holistic Context for decision making and test your decisions based on your context
- Introduction to Monitoring—the basics of ecological monitoring and recognizing indicators of ecological health
- Introduction to Holistic Land Planning—how to plan for infrastructure and other improvements to your land
- Holistic Planned Grazing—an extended afternoon session on how to develop a grazing plan that that puts your animals in the right place at right time for the right reason
More conference info at the main conference page or, if you’re ready to sign up, you can
