News Release
June 7, 2007

Range monitoring program June 20 in Lander

Ranchers, range managers and others are invited to participate in a range monitoring workshop Wednesday, June 20, in and around Lander.

Attendees will learn range monitoring techniques, learn how to identify grasses, forbs and sage, and tour federal lands south of Hudson that have undergone treatments to improve the range.

“Knowing how your range is doing, whether it’s improving or going downhill, is the first step in monitoring,” said the organizer of the workshop, Ron Cunningham, a University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension Service (UW CES) educator serving Fremont County and the Wind River Indian Reservation.

“The workshop will help participants learn how to move their range conditions in the direction they want,” Cunningham said.

Participants will tour an area south of Hudson known as Government Draw where the Bureau of Land Management mowed stands of old, decadent sagebrush several years ago.

“The area looks very promising as the treatments promoted new growth of grasses, forbs and sage,” said Cunningham, who added that the health of the declining sagebrush has also improved.

The work was intended to bolster habitat for sage grouse, according to the BLM. A side benefit is improved range for livestock and other wildlife.

Instructors are Mike Smith, a range management specialist with UW CES, and Eric Peterson, a UW CES rangeland resources educator serving Sublette, Teton and Lincoln counties.

Peterson and Smith, working in collaboration with others, have taught cooperative rangeland monitoring programs in Wyoming. They said ranchers have learned more about range resources and how to better care for the resources during the workshops. This has allowed some permit holders to keep their livestock on federal allotments longer because range conditions have improved.

Peterson also helped produce a bulletin and DVD to assist permittees and managers of public lands implement cooperative rangeland monitoring programs. The bulletin is available at www.uwyo.edu/CES/PUBS/B1169.pdf.

Copies of the bulletin and DVD can also be ordered free of charge from Peterson at (307) 367-4380 or eric@uwyo.edu.

Workshop participants should be at the Fremont County Courthouse in Lander by 10 a.m. June 20. They are asked to bring their own lunch and water, and they are encouraged to wear footwear and clothing appropriate for walks through rangelands. There is no fee.

For additional information, contact Cunningham at (307) 332-1044.

Sponsors are UW CES, Popo Agie and Lower Wind River conservation districts and Wyoming State Grazing Board.

Contact: Robert Waggener, Editor
Phone: (307) 766-3571
E-mail: robertw@uwyo.edu

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