It was 48º and mostly clear when we got
up this morning. I made coffees and
Marty made a light breakfast before we drove out to the Colvin Ranch for a
Field Day on Rotational Grazing & Grazing Land for Habitat Conservation in
South Puget Sound, sponsored by the Washington State University. Registration began at 8:30, and we were there
a bit early, so helped set up for the event beginning at Nine. We also said good morning to his herd of
hogs.
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| Hogs are just so cute . . . Don't think of them as breakfast . . . |
For
over 150 years the Colvin family has been grazing cattle on the 550 acres near
Tenino that make up Colvin Ranch. Fred's
great grandfather, Ignatius Colvin, homesteaded the land after traveling here
from Boone, Missouri on the Oregon Trail.
Fred and Katherine Colvin are the 5th generation of ranchers on the
land. Fred opened the day, welcoming us
and giving a brief overview of his operation.
 |
| The lighting in the room was better than these photos might suggest . . . |
Stephen
Bramwell from WSU Extension, was the organizer, and introduced the remainder of
the Field Day team. We were treated to
talks on several aspects of how using the grazing system can enhance the ranch
environment for native species, as well as providing an avenue for sustainable
production for the rancher.
Sarah
Hamman from the Center for Natural Lands Management opened the talks, telling
us about the South Puget Sound prairie ecology and native plant communities.
Setting up
rotational grazing schedules for managing forage and native prairie wildflowers
needs to take into consideration the needs of the livestock producer, as well
as the health of the grasses and forbs.
The project needs to be a win-win scenario for both the livestock
manager and the habitat manager, or the system won’t be successful.
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| Marty took us out into the sunshine for some hands-on plant ecology |
Wrapping
up the talks, Cheryl Schultz and Sam Bussan from the WSU Conservation Biology Lab talked to us about the life histories and population dynamics of
butterflies of the prairie, and how land managers and property owners can
contribute to the conservation of the several species.
With
the talks over, we were glad to be able to go out onto the ranch and into the
sunshine, as it was pretty cool and breezy where we watched the power point
talks. Some of the participants were
amazed to find a Pocket Gopher burrow in the gravel driveway of the farmyard.
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| Pocket Gopher habitat |
The
subspecies of Mazama pocket gophers in the Puget Sound were listed as
“Threatened” under the Endangered Species Act in 2012, mostly due to habitat
modifications.
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| Obviously, the species doesn't need "high-quality" habitats |
Fred’s ranch maintains
good quality habitat for these animals.
He notes that his family has been grazing cattle on these same prairies
for over 150 years, and seems to be getting along with the pocket gopher just
fine. He notes, “We believe that pocket
gophers, and cattle grazing are compatible, in fact, in all the years our
family has been here, we can honestly say that we have never once seen a pocket
gopher kill one of our cows.”
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| This is the habitat that the biologists would prefer to see the gophers using . . . |
Fred’s
550 acres has a lot of high-quality “Mima Mound” prairie, with an amazing array
of the native grasses and flowers.
 |
| Looking east |
 |
| Looking back west toward the ranch buildings |
The
prairie walk allowed us to see the fields of spring wildflowers. There was quite an array of species in bloom.
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| Blue Camas - Camassia quamash |
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| Apparently, not all blue camas is blue - this is a white "sport" |
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| Broadleaf Shooting Stars - Dodecatheon hendersonii |
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| Western Buttercup - Ranunculus occidentalis var. occidentalis |
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| Spring Gold - Lomatium utriculatum |
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| Puget Balsamroot - Balsamorhiza deltoidea |
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| Yellow Prairie Violet - Viola sempervirens |
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| Early Blue Violet - Viola adunca |
Colvin
Ranch eBird Checklists are Here and Here
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