Final Report, September 1998 Vegetative Cover Monitoring, Public Perception Survey, and Public Outreach Programs for Chino Winds Demonstration Project (Phases I and II): Use of BMPs on Arizona Rangelands to Minimize NPS Discharges from Grazing Activities

PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION

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The Chino Winds Natural Resource Conservation District formally applied for the Phase I Demonstration Project funded by Environmental Quality Section 319 (h) funds on March 27, 1990. By July 7, 1990, the U.S. Forest Service completed initial scoping and a feasibility report for preparation of a Yavapai Ranch Coordinated Resource Management Plan to include consideration of the demonstration project as a component of the resource plan. Nineteen alternatives were analyzed in the Environmental Assessment (EA), and on December 4, 1990 the Chino Valley District Ranger issued the Decision Notice and Finding of No Significant Impact for Alternative L. This alternative included vegetation treatments, structural improvements, validation of road and trail use and maintenance designations, dispersed recreational use, fire suppression activities, grazing treatments, and the demonstration project of grazing best management practices.

The Coordinated Resource Management Plan for the Yavapai Ranch was completed and agreed to by Fred Ruskin, General Partner, Yavapai Ranch, April 22, 1992, and by Gary Fullmer, Chino Valley District Ranger, April 23, 1992. Cooperating organizations that participated in the planning and signed the final plan included: Soil Conservation Service (now Natural Resource Conservation Service), Chino Winds NRCD, Arizona Cooperative Extension Service, Arizona State Land Department, and Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. The Arizona Game and Fish Department representative signed the plan as a reviewer. The coordinated resource management plant commits the ranch, the U. S. Forest Service and the cooperating organizations to work together to manage the entire area of the ranch as a whole, including both private and public lands, for common goals.

The Cienega Demonstration Cell implemented as a component of Phase I of the Chino Winds Demonstration Project is a 14-pasture grazing management unit located in the southeast portion of the Yavapai Ranch. The total area of the management unit is 14,229 acres. Pastures vary in size from 658 acres to 1,705 acres in size. The 11.5 miles of pipeline to 8 storage tanks and adjacent water troughs and 17.5 miles of electric fence were installed in the fall and winter of 1991 and spring of 1992 to establish the 14-pasture cell.

From the time the project began until it ended, 54 miles of fence, 30 miles of pipelines, 21 water storage tanks, 33 drinkers and one well capable of producing 20 gallons of water per minute were installed.

Time control grazing requires managers to plan, monitor progress continuously, control deviations as soon as possible, and replan whenever necessary. Even though this plan-monitor-control-replan sequence proceeds without gaps and covers emergency situations, the Yavapai ranch manager and Holistic Resource Management consultant have completed detailed evaluations twice a year. These evaluations have been in the spring for the growing season and fall for the dormant season. Evaluations contrast planned and actual grazing activities to determine and document relative degrees of management progress. The results of these evaluations have been discussed at periodic coordination meetings and spring and fall vegetation cover monitoring sessions.

Evaluations of projected forage in each pasture on the ranch have been conducted each spring and fall and ranch livestock numbers adjusted and stocking rates by pasture planned for the following season. These planned pasture stocking rates are modified as needed during the grazing periods in specific pastures and records maintained for actual periods and stocking rates as animal days/acre (ADA) in each pasture. These actual use records yielded the data for stocking rates shown in Figs. 3 and 4 and Appendix C. As a result of the ongoing planning process and adjustments, cattle stocking rates of the Demonstration Cell pastures were reduced for the 1994-95 grazing period compared to previous years, in part due to low precipitation in the summer of 1993. A major reduction of approximately 50% of the total livestock on the ranch was made in the fall of 1996, due to extremely dry conditions and lack of forage growth in the fall, winter, and summer of 1995-96 (Fig. 2).

Phase II expanded the Chino Winds Demonstration Project to include a larger portion of the ranch for which improved livestock control could be attained. Vegetation monitoring was expanded to monitoring in the fall as well as in the spring. The fall monitoring methods were designed to provide plant species frequency and plant community composition by percentage weight by species as well as cover data. Fall sampling was initiated on existing Demonstration Cell monitoring plots, commercial fuelwood sale area, and in Deep Well and Powerline pastures on the west side of the ranch.