Restorationists often hope and expect that wildlife will increase in abundance and diversity when “native” habitats are restored, but this assumption has not been well-investigated for most wildlife species, particularly in grasslands, and even more so in the Central Valley of California. From 2014 to 2015 I conducted a rather ambitious spatiotemporally replicated natural experiment investigating wildlife…
Category: Ranching
PhD conferred!
I have been excited to make a post saying that my degree was conferred, and as of 5/26/2016, I can! You can find the full dissertation here: Dissertation ABSTRACT Rangeland ecosystems, and grasslands in particular, are one of the most threatened ecosystems worldwide (Hamilton et al., 2002; Heady et al., 1992; Samson and Knopf, 1994). Grasslands are primarily…
Rancher-to-Rancher at Sierra Foothills Conservancy
I was lucky enough to spend last Saturday with the Rancher-to-Rancher program and my good friend and Cowboy Conservationist Kent Reeves at the stunningly beautiful Sierra Foothills Conservancy. Peter Donovan, founder of the Soil Carbon Coalition, wrote up a great summary of how livestock are being used as a beneficial tool to manage vegetation and soils…
Women in Ranching – Connecting, Inspiring, Doing
I was incredibly honored to receive an invitation to a small gathering of some of the most amazing women in ranching (and farming and related work) in the western U.S. at Paicines Ranch, owned by Sallie Calhoun. Sallie and a circle of holistic practitioners, including Kelly Mulville and Joe Morris, have been doing some amazing work…