Erosion Control

A collection of 148 posts

Bio-Diversity

Get Paid for Watching the Grass Grow: Carbon Sequestration, Texas-Style

Fans of carbon credit transfers should focus on grassland restoration through holistic planned grazing. Unlike many carbon credit boondoggles, planned grazing is not based on fake science. And it works – thereby helping wildlife, habitat, and ranchers. NOTE: this post is taken from Forbes.com. The article was published on December

"Invasion Biology"

Holistic Planned Grazing on Rangelands: Why the Gap Between Researcher Beliefs and Rancher Experience?

In this paper published in the Journal of Environmental Management, Texas A&M range scientists and their colleagues discuss why—70 years after the development of holistic planned grazing, and notwithstanding the positive experience reported by so many producers who use it—academicians and researchers remain closed to its

"Invasion Biology"

To Fight Climate Change, Heal the Ground

Soil health and soil fertility should be the goal of every farmer and rancher. Imagine the changes in habitat and wildlife practices if every action and every inaction – such as using fertilizers and pesticides, or removing animals – were tested according to how that action would affect soil health and fertility.

"Invasion Biology"

Gone With the Wind - Russian Thistle

Thistle is a great rescue plant for desertified ranges. Quail love thistle seeds and the bugs it hosts, and many wild and domestic animals use it when it is young and tender. NOTE: This article appeared in the June 2017 edition of Texas Wildlife Magazine. The article is posted with

"Invasion Biology"

Allan Savory: How to Green the World's Deserts and Reverse Climate Change

Desertification is a fancy word for land that is turning to desert,” begins Allan Savory in this quietly powerful talk (now viewed by 4-million). And terrifyingly, it’s happening to about two-thirds of the world’s grasslands, accelerating climate change and causing traditional grazing societies to descend into social chaos.

book review

Book Review: Baker Morrow - Best Plants for New Mexico Gardens and Landscapes

It’s difficult to find good advice on suitable plants for the deserts of Northern Mexico, far-West Texas and New Mexico, because such advice is geographically generalized, which doesn’t address the actual situation in the desert. Within short distances in the desert, the temperature, rainfall and elevation can change

"Invasion Biology"

TPWD Mule Deer Habitat Advice

I was surprised to learn at a TPWD mule deer seminar that the way we graze cattle at Circle Ranch harms plants and water function. So I read all the studies on which these conclusions were based and found they did not study what they claimed to study. I wrote

Agri-business

Eco Profits - Whose Money Harms The Environment?

Author Dan Dagger says in part, “Environmental corporatism is guilty of the same offense of which it has made a career of accusing capitalism, the free market, and private enterprise: Getting rich at the expense of the environment. And its consumers are just as blind to the damage they cause

"Invasion Biology"

On The Iberico Trail

In Spain, free-ranging pigs which forage for themselves and fatten on seasonal acorns produce hams that can bring $2,000 apiece.  In Texas, free-ranging pigs which forage for themselves and fatten on seasonal acorns are considered unfit to eat. Why the difference? Anticompetetive regulations which favor Big Pork, and bureaucratic

Conservation

This Farm Is Trying To Change The Future Of Organic Pork

It is possible to create a humane, self-sustaining, and profitable hog farming system and to make organic pork more widely available. NOTE: post initially appeared on RodalesOrganicLife.com on December 12, 2016 The Rodale Institute’s hog facility has one goal: Show farmers everywhere how to create a humane, self-sustaining,

Animal Development

5 Rules for Bigger, Better and More Mulies

A great article by Steve Nelle that outlines how to have more and healthier mule deer, quail and pronghorn. 1. Grazing management is the single most important way to affect mule deer food supply. When grass conditions permit, practice light-to-moderate seasonal grazing, in some rotational form (examples include “holistic planned

"Invasion Biology"

Plan to Spray Herbicides along the Rio Grande Alarming, Risky

Down river from Big Bend, here is what they think of the plan to spray cane: Following the December 6, 2016 post on this topic, I came across this article from March 2016 dealing with the reaction of communities on the lower Rio Grande to the proposed use of glyphosate,

"Invasion Biology"

Circle Ranch Open Gate Day, August 26, 2016

On August 26, 2016, Holistic Management International (HMI) held an Open Gate educational day at Circle Ranch in far-West Texas. We demonstrated desert grassland restoration using ‘Plug and Spread’ water harvesting from eroded gullies, and Keyline contour plowing.   Circle Ranch Open Gate, August 26, 2016 from Christopher Gill on Vimeo.

"Invasion Biology"

Desert Grassland Restoration: Creosote Bush

CREOSOTE BUSH (Larrea tridentata) is generally misunderstood as an invader plant.  In fact creosote is a symptom –  but not the cause –  of dying desert grasslands. Creosote will predominate as grasslands decline but eventually it also dies. 1. Creosote bush flowers and fruits Creosote bush is one of the most common

Bio-Diversity

Farmers Put Down the Plow for More Productive Soil

Holistic farming concepts are completely portable to rangeland management.  The goal of all ranch managers should be the increase of soil fertility.  From this, all else will follow.   Article originally posted to NYTimes.com on March 9, 2015   FORT WORTH — Gabe Brown is in such demand as a speaker that

Animal Development

In Australia, Cowboys Use Satellites to Home In on the Range

Technology is making holistic planned grazing cheaper and easier. NOTE: Post initially appeared on WSJ.com on January 24, 2016 Ranchers saddle up satellites to track herds; water-trough weigh-ins Murray Grey has a beef with traditional ranching methods. Each year in punishing heat, Mr. Grey has mounted a horse to

carbon-sequestration

A Secret Weapon to Fight Climate Change: Dirt

We don’t need to agree whether there is climate change, or whether people are to blame for it, to know this: People are responsible for grassland decline. Grasslands are the planet’s largest terrestrial carbon sump.  Fixing grasslands will remove atmospheric carbon.  Healing grasslands with holistic practices is common

Bio-Diversity

Cover Crops, a Farming Revolution With Deep Roots in the Past

Gardeners readily understand the following: “Modern farming practices like applying fertilizer and herbicides and not tilling their fields, or “no till,” have helped farmers increase yields and reduced labor, but they have also unintentionally interfered with root systems, increased erosion and disrupted underground microbial activity and insect life that are

"Invasion Biology"

Wildfire Danger Grows on Destocked Public Lands in Far-West Texas

When animals are removed, wildfire risk is increased. Cattle, burros, aoudad and elk will reduce this risk, and help deer, pronghorn and sheep in the process. NOTE: Post initially appeared on SAExpressNews.com on February 3, 2016 Big Bend National Park Still Burning Firefighters continue to battle a brush fire

Bio-Diversity

Book Review - The Plug and Spread Treatment - Achieving Erosion Control, Soil Health and Biological Diversity

Book Review: The Plug and Spread Treatment: Achieving Erosion Control, Soil Health and Biological Diversity …By Bill Zeedyk Habitat managers, who are struggling to control the gullies responsible for draining and drying rangelands throughout the desert southwest, have a useful new book written by Bill Zeedyk of Albuquerque, NM. Bill

Conservation

The History of Keyline

PA Yeomans was a true hero of environmentalism.

"Invasion Biology"

Desert Grasslands Restoration: Manejo Holistico in Chihuahua - Las Damas Ranch

At Circle Ranch, holistic planned grazing of herds including the one above has been very beneficial to wildlife and habitat.  Planned grazing is increasingly used in northern Chihuahua, as described below. NOTE: this post has been re-published with permission of the author and HMI – after originally appearing in HMI’s

Erosion Control

Notable & Quotable: John Steinbeck on Dry Years and Wet Years

‘But there were dry years too, and they put a terror on the valley.’ John Steinbeck was of a generation that lived close to the land. Grapes of Wrath, and The Red Pony reveal his farmer’s insight. Writing about California’s Salinas Valley, where he grew up, in the

"Invasion Biology"

Restoring Desert Grasslands or Creating Desert Badlands?

For 60 years, this National Park Service land has been “protected” from cattle, unintentionally accelerating its desertification. Here is a typical Big Wildlife program being pursued at Big Bend National Park to “protect” degrading habitat.   (ABOVE PDF can be viewed here -> ) I don’t doubt the sincerity or

"Invasion Biology"

Restoring Desert Grasslands: Circle Ranch Jardineros

When we use our Yeomans Keyline plow to subsoil and stimulate desert ranges and plants, we take pains not to plow through cholla cactus, armadillo bush, allthorn, sumac, mesquite, and other trees and shrubs. This often leaves untreated spots. These we address with animal impact from cattle, which we move