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Rangeland monitoring, health workshops coming in SeptemberKansas The Kansas Grazing Lands Coalition is pleased to provide two one-day workshops Tracking Pasture Health for ranchers and land managers led by Charley Orchard, Land EKG, Bozeman, Mont., said Tim Christian. The workshops are set for Sept. 22 at the Ted Alexander ranch near Sun City and Sept. 29 at the Calvin Adams ranch south of Beloit. Each workshop starts at 8 a.m. Tracking Pasture Health workshops provide an overview of the ins- and outs- of land and grazing monitoring, said Christian. The outdoor, hands-on training focuses on the myths of monitoring, the five most useful monitoring techniques, grazing scoring methods, forage production calculations, understanding transects, production and grazing budgets, rapid ecological assessments, and interpreting the monitoring results to allow for positive actions. The Land EKG technique allows the user to consistently track relative soil and plant community health by assessing four basic ecological components: water cycling, nutrient cycling, energy flow, and biotic state--all depicted on an eco-graph. The Land EKG technique uses a system of field summaries to document current ecological conditions and leads producers to more profitable, defensible, and sustainable land management decisions. Producers can expect to optimize profit, help promote land stewardship, better prescribe best land management practices, and be able to document and defend their decisions as it relates to ownership and leases. Alexander has employed Orchard's monitoring techniques for a number of years, and attendees will see the benefits he has derived from the system. Adams ranch has undergone similar monitoring techniques and will prove to be an interesting location for attendees to observe his findings as well. Orchard is a fourth generation Wyoming rancher who is nationally recognized as a leader in rangeland monitoring and health. He created Land EKG out of necessity to document the effects of management practices on his family's grazing lands. Land EKG is a process that provides land managers with hands-on tools to help analyze the impacts of their management decisions on grazing lands. The processes are simple and easy to understand and quick to apply. Enrollment for the workshops runs through Sept. 15. The cost is $35 (per workshop) and includes lunch onsite. Each participant will leave the session with a field packet full of information and blank forms to get you started when you get home. 9/8/08 Date: 9/4/08
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