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Ecosystem services provide potential new ag market"There's a tremendous potential for ecosystem services becoming a market," said Bob Budd, Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust executive director at a recent grazing conference. He envisions basic contracts like those in the Cropland Reserve Program that will pay landowners to manage grazing in a way that will help dwindling wildlife populations to rebound. Such a federal program would complement Nebraska's existing Wildlife Habitat Improvement program. A lot of ranchers currently combine some tourism business with their ranching operation, Budd said. That's another source of cash benefit from managing for wildlife. In addition to cash, ranchers benefit from native species and indicators. "If you have a full complement of native species and they're doing well, you can rest assured that your management will work for the long haul," Budd said. To manage grazing for wildlife as well as cattle, producers need to have goals they can describe, Budd said. "You can take a road map, but if you don't know what town you're going to, a road map won't help." Producers might manage for a particular type of vegetation or for specific animals, song sparrows, deer or grouse. He discouraged managing for only one thing. Monocultures don't work very well in wildlife or cattle production. Even grazing lands that are all warm season or all cool season grasses have their drawbacks. In a warm season system, spring grazing will be delayed and bleak. The converse is true in systems with only cool season grasses. A high diversity of plant types provides different responses to rainfall, to heat, to cool years and hot years. Since the different species respond to differing conditions in various ways, the system provides resiliency and strength from year to year. Rotational grazing allows producers to target their intended effects on the landscape. A small purebred herd can be separated and bred at a different time. Replacement heifers can be treated differently than the rest of the herd. A variety of pastures make room for some stockers as well as the cow-calf pairs. It provides the ability to manage time as well as timing. "If you have a species that likes heavy grazing, by using a rotation, you can achieve that in some places while you have light grazing in an adjacent pasture," Budd said. Moving cattle appropriately is especially important when managing rivers, streams and wetlands. "Generally, what I have found with managed grazing is that the costs go down," Budd said. "If you can control the cost side in agriculture, that's probably the most important thing you can do economically."
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