SERCD hosts 10th Annual Winter Workshop

A three-day workshop on grazing will be hosted by the Saratoga-Encampment-Rawlins Conservation District (SERCD) and the Medicine Bow Conservation District next week.

This will be the 10th Annual Winter Workshop hosted by the conservation districts for the benefit of local ranchers, according to SERCD Supervisory Resource Specialist Joe Parsons. Along with the conservation districts there will be panels with members of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Bureau of Land Management, Natural Resource Conservation Service and the United States Forest Service. The keynote speaker for the program, entitled “Wildlands Grazing Practicum,” will be Dr. Patrick E. Reece of Prairie and Montane Enterprises, a private consulting group focused on the ecology and management of rangeland ecosystems.

The workshop will be a mixture of lectures and panel discussions. Topics to be covered include natural plant and animal communities, carrying capacity of various types of rangeland, seasonal livestock patterns, grass growth, identification of resilient grazing lands, soil health, drought management and livestock management. Specific panel discussions will be held on opportunities for collaborative benefits between ranchers and government agencies and ranching options that benefit livestock and wildlife. Informal “hobnobbing” and question and answer sessions will cap each of the three days.

Parsons said the benefit to ranchers is intended to be a vision of how to improve the bottom line of an operation through sustainable use of grazing areas including uplands and mountain meadows typical of the Platte and Medicine Bow valleys. Parsons noted that there is a delayed cost associated with overgrazing and mismanagement of wildland pastures.

Parson also said the workshop will discuss grazing practices and land management from the “30,000 foot level” down to specifics. Parsons said he is encouraged by the variety of ranchers and agency representatives that are already committed to the workshop. He said the panels and informal discussions should allow a greater dialogue between public lands managers and ranchers who leases those lands.

A variety of door prizes will be given away during the workshop and lunches will be provided to participants.

The RSVP deadline for the workshop was Jan. 5, but Parsons said they will take late reservations and even accommodate people who show up at the door of the event.

The Wildlands Grazing Practicum will be held at the Platte Valley Community Center in Saratoga from Jan. 12-14. To make reservations or get more information call Parsons at 307-326-8156 or Joan McGraw at 307-379-2221.