3 research outputs found
Bison conservation ranching on Blue Valley Ranch
Get PDFPresented at the 8th international congress for wildlife and livelihoods on private and communal lands: livestock, tourism, and spirit, that was held on September 7-12, 2014 in Estes Park, Colorado.Video presenter: Perry Handyside.For 20 years, Blue Valley Ranch has been practicing conservation ranching in the Rocky Mountains of north-central Colorado with a focus on wildlife and agricultural production. An integrated resource management approach to land stewardship guides its planning process, and an adaptive management philosophy helps to make management decisions based on science and monitoring feedback. The ranch's vision of conserving wildlife habitat, building ecosystem resiliency, and producing quality livestock and forage crops is exemplified in the inclusion of the American bison (Bison bison) in its operation. As a native grazer, bison are a natural choice for raising a healthy food product on native ranges while practicing good land stewardship. Though hunted to near extinction in the late 19th century, bison have made a comeback in recent decades, due in large part to conservation-minded ranchers and private landowners. A clear understanding of their behavior and grazing ecology takes advantage of the bison's evolutionary history with the grasslands and shrublands of the western United States, and makes them a perfect fit for private lands conservation interested in supporting agriculture and healthy ecosystems
Sharp-tailed grouse reintroduction projects on Blue Valley Ranch
No full textModerator: Terry Riley.Presented at the 8th international congress for wildlife and livelihoods on private and communal lands: livestock, tourism, and spirit, that was held on September 7-12, 2014 in Estes Park, Colorado.Video presenter: Josh Richert.The Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus columbianus; CSTG) is the rarest of six sub-species of grouse that are endemic to sagebrush, shrubsteppe and mountain shrub communities of western North America. It currently occupies less than 10% of its historic range, including 3 counties in northwestern Colorado, due to habitat loss, energy development, changes in land management and urban expansion. CSTG populations had been documented in the Lower Blue River Basin of Middle Park in North-Central Colorado as recently as the mid-1950s, so a cooperative effort between Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) and private landowner Blue Valley Ranch (BVR) sought to re-introduce the bird to this area. Trapping occurred from the Fall 2006 - Spring 2008 seasons in the Hayden and Craig areas of Northwestern Colorado. A total of 91 females and 58 males were released on Blue Valley Ranch from 2006 - 2008. Approximately 15 males and 27 females were deployed with VHF radio transmitters for monitoring. Habitat and nesting data were also collected for comparison with the trapping area. Since the release, two permanent leks have been established with high counts of 21 and 26 males in 2014, with two additional lek sites needing confirmation in 2015. The project has been successful in establishing a new population of CSTG on a private, 25,000 acre conservation ranch within their historical range, and CPW plans to augment the population with additional CSTG releases over the next 2-3 years in the Williams Fork Drainage, about 8 miles east of BVR
