Range Day: The CSC Rangeland Management program and C.F. Coffee Gallery team up to sponsor the 4th annual Upper Niobrara-White Natural Resource District (UNWRD) Range Day

CSC range students and members of the community gathered in the Student Center Ballroom, Monday, for the 4th annual Range Day conference. Range Day consists of speakers from both Chadron State and surrounding states, and opportunities for students to present topics related to rangeland management. Free lunch was served for those attending.

Nevin Price, resources coordinator with the Upper Niobrara White Resources District, said Range Day is an important day for the range students and community. For students, the resources can be invaluable as they are exposed to knowledge they wouldn’t normally get day-to-day.

“It gives the students presenters that they cannot see in a classroom,” Price said.

Price also emphasized the importance of the C.F. Coffee Gallery’s support for the range program and Range Day. Range Day was started four years ago, and Price said the high attendance will help continue the annual conference. According to Price, community members and students both benefit by receiving better knowledge for better rangeland management.

The presentations ranged from grassland management and range health to rotational grazing and beaver analogue benefits, offering a variety of topics for Range Day.

The day began at 8:30 a.m. with complimentary coffee and donuts provided by P.R.I.D.E. At 9 a.m. Tim Buskirk, a CSC alumnus and USDA Forest Service district ranger, presented on recovery efforts during the 2012 Pine Ridge forest fires and surrounding areas. Ranch manager Jon Griggs of Elko, Nevada, followed Buskirk’s presenation with a talk on riparian management. According to the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), riparian areas are lands that “occur along watercourses and water bodies”, such as flood plains and stream banks.

At 10:30 a.m. presenations stopped for a 15-minute break. Following the break, Kristin Dickerson, CSC alumnus, Sidney NRCS district conservationalist and 2018’s CSC Rangeland Management Alumni Achievement Award recipient spoke on range health and described ways for land owners to improve range health.  At 11:30 a.m. Aaron Berger delivered “It Costs How Much?”, a presenation that explained the unit cost of production.

Lunch was served at 12:15 p.m. and CSC Rangeland Management Alumni Achivement Award was presented to Julie Wheeler. Wheeler is the rangeland management supervisor Bear Lodge and Northern Hills District in the Black Hills National Forest.

Following the lunch, Don Day Jr., a meteorologist of Cheyenne, Wyoming, presented weather predictions for spring 2019 to better prepare the ag community for what’s to come. Day Jr. compared weather patterns from last year to present and showed the audience what this spring’s weather forecast may look like if predictions are accurate.

At 1:45 p.m.,  a second 15-minute break was held. Shanon Sims, a ranch manager from McFadden, Wyoming, presented his rotational grazing plan.

Two CSC rangeland students wrapped up the conference with presentations. The first presenter, Vanessa Yeoman, junior of Hot Springs, South Dakota, discussed her recent field research on preventing the spread of invasive smooth brome through grazing. Though the foreign grass is used for cattle grazing, the species has begun to take over native grasses in this region.

Yeoman explained that diverse plant communities play an important part in ecosystem reslience, which highlights the need for control of grasses like smooth brome.

“If we can come up with management strategies where we can reduce the encroachment of smooth brome and increase the diversity on these rangelands we can increase the stability of rangelands,” Yeoman said.

Marina McCreary, senior of Morrill, presented on beaver dam analogues, which are man-made beaver dams made similarly to naturally-occuring dams, and the positive impacts they have on riperian areas. McCreary explained that these dams are not only cost-effective, but are also beneficial for slower water movement, more water availability, and more wildlife diversity.

“They [beaver dam analogues] use all natural materials and results from beaver dam analogues are much the same or similar to what you’d experience with a natural beaver dam,” McCreary said.