Utah Open Lands and 3 Springs Land and Livestock are partnering together to use regenerative grazing on the Hi Ute Ranch as a conservation tool. The end goal is to boost soil revitalization, naturalized grass recovery, fire mitigation and wildlife habitat improvements.
Regenerative grazing refers to an agricultural practice that improves soil and ecosystem health by closely monitoring and managing livestock grazing patterns rather than allowing livestock to roam freely, as is common with traditional grazing management.
“If you think back to the days bison roamed this range, they would have aerated the soil, grazed for approximately three days and moved on. Mimicking that behavior is what we hope to achieve,” explained McKinley Smoot, a 3 Springs Land and Livestock partner.
The two groups will document the process to measure its success and to ensure the land remains healthy and in line with the protections outlined in the Hi Ute Ranch conservation easement. They plan to heavily monitor the project, and field teams have already collected several soil samples, which they will check every six months to analyze carbon levels, moisture content and soil composition.
The teams will additionally use photo points, wildlife cameras and vegetative transects, or cross sections of vegetation cover, to evaluate the ecosystem’s health and the success of the regenerative practices.
Invasive species management is another key factor of the project.
“By using cattle and a little molasses, we can significantly reduce — and possibly even eliminate — the need for herbicides,” said Utah Open Lands Protection Manager Maryssa Fenwick.
One of the field teams pulled an estimated 700 pounds of myrtle spurge from the property, filling more than 15 contractor bags and clearing clusters that had overtaken hillsides and threatened native vegetation, according to a Utah Open Lands press release.
“The hope is that the cattle will churn the remaining roots into submission,” the release explained.
The Hi Ute Ranch is a property of open pastures along the Interstate 80 corridor. The land is protected by a conservation easement that is a collaboration between Utah Open Lands, the landowning family and the County Courthouse. It was one of the first projects funded by the Snyderville Basin Special Recreation Open Space bond.