Rest Rotation Grazing System Benefits Land and Wildlife on Montana Ranch

Posted: 31-Aug-2004; Updated: 21-Jan-2009

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Rancher Kent Throntveit, right, worked with NRCS resource conservationist Tim Solberg, left, to improve grassland habitat on the Missouri coteau. The prairie pothole landscape, where wetlands nurture dense waterfowl populations, was shaped by thousands of years of glaciation. (Photo: Lori Valadez/USDA NRCS)

Heading north from Westby, Montana towards Kent Throntveit's ranch, you won't meet a lot of other cars, but you will drive through an area that supports high populations of many wildlife species. With a 2002 census estimate of just 3,798, Sheridan County sits at the lower end of the human population scale, but is at the upper end for its variety of wildlife populations, including white-tailed deer, waterfowl and upland game birds.

That, says Tim Solberg, resource conservationist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), makes Throntveit's 875-acre ranch perfect for a Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) project. The Farm Bill program gives cost-share assistance to landowners who voluntarily improve fish or wildlife habitat on their land.

Throntveit's property is part of the glaciated Missouri coteau, an area characterized by a dense mix of freshwater and alkali wetlands, ranging from temporary to semi-permanent in duration. The coteau is well known for its high waterfowl production where grassland/wetland complexes remain intact.

When Throntveit first bought the property, he tried to farm portions, but soon recognized that it wasn't the world's best farmland. "I thought if it was in grass, it would just be easier to manage," he says, an important consideration since his home and the bulk of his farming and ranching operation are near Crosby, North Dakota, 40 miles east of Westby.

Working with Solberg; Mike Rabenberg, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service wetland district manager; and Rick Northrup, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologist, Throntveit developed a rest rotation grazing system and improved wildlife habitat. His changes included:

• Incorporating 266 acres of old Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) land that had been seeded to tame grasses into his current grazing system;

• Improving his grazing strategies on both native rangeland and tame pastures by developing a rest rotation grazing system to avoid overgrazing;

• Maintaining the integrity of wetlands by offering cattle an alternative water source, which prevents them from concentrating in the shoreline springs that are piping plover (Charadrius melodus) brood-rearing habitat where nests could be trampled; and

• Enhancing the area's unique wildlife habitat through improvements to his grazing system.

"Developing a grazing system and keeping the CRP in grass made more sense economically and is the best use of this land," Throntveit says. "On marginal soils like I have, it's hard for the cropland to pay for itself with the input costs so high." With a grazing system, he notes, the costs are up front and the annual input costs are much lower than for cropland.

Piping plovers are found along the Atlantic Coast and in areas of the Great Plains, Canada, and Great Lakes. In Montana, Kent Throntveit's ranch is home to the state's densest concentration of the federally-threatened bird. For all populations, habitat destruction and nest trampling are major threats. (Photo: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service)

With the project's price tag of a little more than $40,000, cost was a huge consideration. "Without all of this help, it would have been impossible to take something like this on," Throntveit says. WHIP provided the project's primary funding, with 75% cost-share. Other financial support came from Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks; U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service; Ducks Unlimited; the North American Wetlands Conservation Council; and Throntveit himself.

According to Rabenberg, both birds and mammals find habitat on Throntveit's property. The most common game species in the area include grouse, partridge, waterfowl - ducks in particular - and white-tailed deer. The property also supports high populations of grassland songbirds, such as the Baird's sparrow (Ammodramus bairdii) and Sprague's pipit (Anthus spragueii).

Asked if a lot of hunters request permission to hunt on his land, Throntveit laughs and says he has more requests to see the federally-threatened piping plover.

"Eighty-five percent of all of the piping plovers nesting in Montana are right here in Sheridan County," Rabenberg says. "We've documented 10 pairs of piping plover on [Throntveit's] property. That's the highest density in the state." Piping plover like to nest on the bare, gravelly shores of naturally occurring alkali lakes, which are scattered throughout Sheridan County. The northeast corner of the county, where Throntveit's land is located, has the greatest concentration of alkali lakes in the state.

In addition to offering excellent piping plover habitat, Sheridan County is also one the state's best areas for breeding waterfowl. Rabenberg says that with 80 to 110 pairs of breeding ducks per square mile, the area provides Montana's highest density of breeding waterfowl. "Grasslands adjacent to wetlands are the key to wildlife habitat," he notes. "With a rest rotation grazing system, cows and prairie nesting habitat are very compatible."

Solberg agrees. "This system was designed to use tame pastures during the prime nesting season for waterfowl and other nesting species and allow the native rangeland to rest. Not only does this allow nesting areas to remain undisturbed, it also allows native grasses to increase and improves overall rangeland health."

- Lori Valadez
Montana State Public Information Specialist
Natural Resources Conservation Service

Editor's note: This article appeared in a different format on the NRCS web site.