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https://reasonstobecheerful.world/prairie-farmers-preserve-most-threatened-ecosystem-forever/>
"Dallas May spotted the first shoots of grass a few months after a wildfire
tore across the ranch he runs with his family in Lamar, Colorado, in 2022.
Propelled by winds up to 70 mph, the blaze killed some of his livestock,
destroyed 42 miles of fencing, and burned through vegetation and beaver lodges
along the creek.
“It was a moonscape,” May recalls. “Everything was charred and gone.”
Before the fire, May had barely noticed the spindly stalks of needle and thread
grass amid the many types of grass on his pastureland. But after the rain came,
the sprouts shot up from the scorched ground. Over the following months, a
succession of different grasses sprouted from seeds stored in the soil.
“We had an entire natural seed bank,” May says.
That’s because for decades, May and his family have managed May Ranch near the
Arkansas River — a major tributary of the Mississippi River — to encourage
native habitat to thrive alongside their cattle. This region is part of a swath
of grassland that sweeps from central Canada to northern Mexico, vital to many
species of birds that migrate across North America.
But today, these temperate grasslands are considered the most threatened major
ecosystem in the world. Less than 40 percent of the region’s 550 million acres
of historical grasslands have survived, and an average of two million acres are
lost annually, converted for development or cropland.
Ranching, though, is a natural fit on this landscape. Grazing cattle help keep
wild grassland healthy, subduing woody and invasive species. And through
conservation-oriented practices, ranchers like May are not only preserving
habitat for birds, they’re also yielding benefits for carbon sequestration,
water quality and biodiversity.
“Grazing is probably one of the most essential functions that you need to
appropriately manage grassland,” says Rich Schultheis, coordinator for Playa
Lakes Joint Venture, a bird conservation organization working across the
western Great Plains. Ranchers are key partners: Without them, he says, “we
would be in such a worse place.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
