Seamus, Meghan, & Maeve working hard on Mother’s Day!
Meghan stacking wool bales with Seamus and Maeve at her side!
Meghan working with her family at her side. If the US Department of Labor had their way this could not happen. Luckily, they were scared into withdrawing their proposal to ban kids from working on a farm or ranch.
post by Brian Lally
Each year, Siobhan’s teacher, Cindy Cobb, takes her third grade class on a field trip to see sage grouse dance. This is an opportunity for the kids in our rural school. Sage grouse are an iconic western bird, and lots of attention is being paid to them due to the possibility that they might become listed as an endangered species. Each spring, the birds gather on open areas in their sagebrush habitat, known as “leks”.
Male sage grouse dance in order to impress the females, who wander among the preening males looking for “the one”. They spread their fan of tail-feathers, puff out their white chests and make a distinctive “cooing” sound.
“Reminds me of people,” quipped Tony Malm, the Wyoming Game and Fish biologist who accompanied the students to the dancing ground.
Trying to impress the ladies
Miss Cobb explained that she likes “hands-on” teaching, and she is known for the many field trips she sponsors for her students.
“My philosophy of teaching is based on a Chinese proverb,” she said. “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.”
“How many kids, or even adults, have seen sage grouse dance?” she asked.
Tony and kids watch the grouse from inside the bus
This lek is below this oilfield installation
Next, the class visited man-made wetlands near Dad, 20 miles north of Baggs. This project diverts water from Muddy Creek and has created wetlands on a formerly dry sagebrush flat. It provides a stopover for migratory birds and habitat for a number of species. Here, Tony explained the various ecosystem services provided by such wetlands, using items swiped from the family kitchen to illustrate.
These wetlands are considered “urban” even though they are definitely way out in the country. This is due to the high level of oil and gas development in the area.
Ducks galore
The Magic School Bus
An urban wetland
Every year in mid-April, we begin the long trek south with the sheep. Most of them have wintered on the Red Desert, north of Wamsutter, Wyoming. They trail sixty miles or so to the Badwater pasture–a checkerboard pasture southeast of Creston Junction. When the Union Pacific put the railroad through in 1865, the U.S. government gave them every other section for 20 miles on either side of the track as an incentive. If they’d just given them a solid ten miles, it would have made life easier for future generations, but that is how it is. Half the sections are privately owned (and many of them were sold by the railroad over the years) and half are BLM-administered lands.
This annual journey includes crossing under Interstate 80 and over the Union Pacific tracks, thankfully on an overpass. It is a trail fraught with hazards, as the traffic is sometimes heavy and the railroad overpass is blind on the approaches. We do a lot of flagging and keep the sheep in the right-of-way as much as possible.
I recently read “Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools, Including the Author,Who Went in Search of Them” by Donovon Hohn–a book which tracks the vast number of container ships who travel from Asia to the United States with consumer goods. I was interested to note that the sheep were passing over railroad cars carrying containers that clearly originated in China.
Containers which came by sea from China.
When we pass through the gate into our good neighbors Duane and Debbie Rodewald’s pasture, we give a huge sigh of relief.
Pepe, surveying the route
Modesto, pushing the sheep under I80
Guard dog leads the sheep under the interstate
The road isn’t closed today.
Sadie helping
Going through Rodewald’s gate–hallelujah!
A blue heron nests on the Little Snake
The other day, we went down to check to pregnant cows and new calves in the Big Pasture, which lies along the confluence of Battle Creek and the Little Snake River. In the trees, we noticed a big bird’s nest, then two, then three, then four. As we looked more closely, we saw that these nests were occupied by blue herons. When we went over to take a closer look, Maeve went down in the mud. She manages to combine being a princess who actually wears a tiara much of the time with being the grubbiest of the five grandchildren. Once we rinsed her off in the river, we looked up and saw the herons watching us. We have done a lot of work on Battle Creek, largely in order to enhance fish habitat, especially for Colorado Cutthroat Trout. This gives us mixed feelings. The rookery is a wonderful demonstration of the health of the riparian area. It also indicates that these herons are eating a heck of a lot of trout. When asked what keeps him awake at night, Pat told the story about the herons eating the endangered trout. In any view,t the herons are lovely, and we look forward to seeing the chicks.
Flying the coop
cows and calves near herons and chicks
Princess Maeve with mud
kite over Squaw Mountain
Sandhill cranes with sideroll
pregnant cows in the Lemmons Meadow
In the lambing seasons of 2010 and 2011, we had terrible cold weather, freezing drizzle and snow. We estimate that we lost at least 1000 lambs, beyond normal death loss, each year to the terrible conditions. This year, we determined to be ready for another hard spring, especially after November blew in with a lot of cold and snow.
We decided to build a shed on the private part of our lambing grounds, which also includes BLM allotments and a Wyoming state lease. Then we would at least have an alternative in case of bad weather. We have always “drop lambed”, which means that we start out with bands of 2000 ewes or so, then move then along morning and night, leaving the newly lambed ewes and their babies behind. This is known as “cutting the drop.” The sheep are constantly attended by our very competent Peruvian sheepherders, and Pat, Meghan, Eamon and I go back and forth with supplies, groceries, and whatever else is needed.
To make the best use of the shed, we decided, for the first time, to pregnancy test some of the ewes. The lambs who are most vulnerable are the white-faced twin lambs. They do not have the hybrid vigor (the result of breeding two different purebred lines) of our Hampshire/Rambouillet cross lambs. We tested, over the course of a week, about 3,400 ewes bred to Rambouillet rams, in order to determine the ones pregnant with twins. We can, this year, keep those ewes close to the shed, and give them shelter and extra care as needed.
Of course, as the saying goes, only fools and newcomers predict the weather. This past winter has been the mildest in recent memory, and spring is appearing ahead of schedule. Of course, that does not mean that May and June will be warm and dry, but it is certainly shaping up that way.
Geri Parsons, a certified veterinary technician and partner in Optimum Livestock Services LLC, is a master at ultra-sounding ewes. She and Dr. Cleon Kimberling, formed their livestock health company following Dr. Kimberling’s retirement as the long-time (and famous) sheep extension veterinarian at Colorado State University. Due to unplanned circumstances, Geri’s keys became locked in her pickup, along with all her gear, at the end of a long day, and a very long way from assistance. We were near the top of the aptly named Cyclone Rim. Luckily, the next day, a newly made key solved the problem, but not before our crew had exhausted their burglery skills.
Eamon bringing the ewes up the chute
Geri works in the tent, out of the wind
Eamon and Pepe
McCoy, keeping them moving
We used all our expertise to try to open Geri's truck
Only one pickup drove by in two days
Cyclone Rim, Red Desert, Wyoming
Hampshire ewe with twins
Spring is almost sprung. We have new lambs on the ground. We raise our own Rambouillet and Hampshire rams which we breed to our commercial ewes, so these babies are born earlier in the year than the lambs from the range sheep. We shed lamb at Powder Flat, so here are some photos. It seems to be a good year for twins and triplets, God bless ‘em!
Christian giving extra milk to triplets
Guard dog hard at work
new lamb trying to get her feet under her
Our cows spent the winter in Laramie, Wyoming, eating hay on the windy plains. We recently brought them home to eat our own hay until the green grass comes. I expected them to fall over after leaving that windy country.
off the truck and into their home corrals
eating hay in the Lemmons Meadow
Where's the wind?
Rock structure in Battle Creek to enhance fish habitat and irrigation
Our valley, the Little Snake, is an area blessed with abundant natural resources. Community members recognize the value of the abundant wildlife, habitat for all sorts of fish and fowl, and rich agricultural lands. Many folks who live here have made a commitment to working with a number of partners in order to enhance these resources.
On our ranch, we have worked extensively with the U.S, Fish and Wildlife Service’s program, Partners for Fish and Wildlife. as well as the Wyoming Game and Fish, the Little Snake River Conservation District, the USDA conservation programs, and many other interest groups to keep our operation healthy and productive.
Here is an article written by Mindy Meade Vohland, a wildlife biologist and our go-to person on our Battle Creek fishery project.
Mindy Mead Vohland
Land Ethic Fuels Public-Private Conservation Efforts in the Little Snake River Basin, WY
By Mindy Meade Vohland
Communities within The Little Snake River valley have a long and remarkable history of natural resource conservation. Conservation partnerships in this region demonstrate not only that wildlife and agriculture are mutually compatible, but that restoration efforts can reap positive rewards for both.
The Little Snake River drains the western slopes of the Sierra Madre Mountains and snakes westward along the Wyoming-Colorado border, ever broadening until it reaches the Yampa River and ultimately, the Green River Basin in Colorado.
The Little Snake River Valley has always supported productive wildlife and game populations. In 1844, explorer John C. Fremont said of the area:
“The country here appeared more variously stocked with game than any part of the Rocky Mountains we had visited: and its abundance is owing to the excellent pasturage…”
The excellent pasturage led to the establishment of viable livestock operations, starting with cattle in 1872. Today, ranching and energy production are the primary land uses. An abundance of game, including some of Wyoming’s largest populations of elk, deer, and antelope, still thrives alongside existing ranches.
The waters of the Little Snake River are fertile grounds for Colorado River cutthroat trout and other fish. This intact aquatic ecosystem and its associated riparian and wetland areas provide habitat for over 150 bird species, including a large, stable population of Greater Sage-Grouse and the largest population of Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse in Wyoming. Regionally, these extraordinary wildlife populations have engendered a community land ethic that links the viability of lifestyle and working landscapes to natural resource stewardship
and conservation. Indeed, local residents and agricultural community members typify this ethos, having established in 1954 the Little Snake River Conservation District (District), a property tax assessment to fund conservation work within the Basin (in 1990), and the first locally led collaborative effort for a 500,000-acre watershed improvement project (in 1993). In 1996, they established a national “Seeking Common Ground” project that demonstrated how livestock operations can positively co-exist with fish and wildlife.
To be sure, landowners, along with government and non-profit partners, possess the willingness and drive to further landscape-level conservation in the Little Snake River Basin. For example, the Muddy Creek Wetlands near Dad, WY, a project of the District and its partners, is the largest constructed wetland complex in Wyoming. Hundreds of species of waterbirds, shorebirds, and waterfowl from both the Pacific and Central Flyways utilize the area for breeding and migration; the site is a WY-Audubon Important Bird Area.
Another project, the “Little Snake River Basin Aspen Conservation Joint Venture,” is set to restore over 12,000 acres of aspen woodlands. Over 16 miles of river and stream projects have been completed on the mainstem of the Little Snake River and within its tributaries. These projects include improving fish passage and riparian plant communities as well as restoring hydrology to perched water tables to enhance oxbow slough wetlands and streamside cottonwood galleries.
Lastly, three area ranches have undertaken conservation easements in order to protect natural resources, keep agricultural operations and economic benefits intact, and protect the scenic landscape from subdivision.
“We are proud that we can provide for both wildlife and our agricultural operation, and enhance them both,” said Patrick O’Toole, a private landowner (and IWJV board member) whose Ladder Ranch partnered with The Nature Conservancy in a conservation easement. Ladder Ranch is a sustainable ranching operation that also serves as an ecotourism destination.
Successes such as these were spurred by a communal land conservation ethic, but realized by a body of collaborative, private-public conservation efforts, many of which were led by the Little Snake River Conservation District. Accordingly, the District received the National Association of Conservation District West Region Collaborative Conservation Partnership Award in 2008 and was named “Conservation Partner of the Year” by the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust board in 2010.
Larry Hicks, Resource Coordinator of the Little Snake River Conservation District, describes his work and the magic of the Little River landscape: “I came here looking for a job. In my 21-year journey, I found my soul, a community and a new way of life – one that exemplifies the moral principles of the land ethic. It’s who we are.”
Mindy Meade Vohland is Wildlife Biologist for Partners for Fish & Wildlife (a division of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service).
Editor’s note: In 2010, the Intermountain West Joint Venture helped catalyze a small NAWCA grant for oxbow wetlands restoration in Wyoming and is looking forward to helping catalyze more conservation partnerships in the region.
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