Nebraskaland

March 2020 • Nebraskaland 25 we lose any, they probably won't come back. Cattle grazing is our primary tool for managing habitat structure (see page 27 sidebar), as well as our primary source of income from the prairie. We try to provide areas of both tall and short vegetation each year, as well as "weedy" recovery patches, since those sites recovering from intensive grazing are where we see the highest concentrations of wildlife, pollinators and other insects. In any particular part of the prairie, the habitat structure changes from year to year. Those changing conditions help prevent predators or pathogens from building up and help to foster a diverse plant community. Our grazing management improved a few years ago after working with Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service private lands biologists. They provided cost-share funds to help us install two solar-powered livestock watering facilities and tweak the layout of our fences. The new water sources allowed us to exclude cattle from the pond, which led to a tremendous increase in the number of wetland plants and wildlife species in and around it. Instead of a shallow muddy pond that was always threatening to dry up and leave our cattle without water, we now have a lush and beautiful wetland, and we see more ducks and other wildlife than ever before. Changing to no-till farming on the crop fields adjacent to the prairie has also been significant; we see much less soil erosion from water running off those fields, and gullies forming in the loess soil have begun to heal. Years ago, we got rid of the trees Dad had planted for his "habitat" project, but we still spend hours each year cutting little cedars out of the prairie. In addition to eastern redcedar, other tree species are constantly trying to invade our prairie as well, with honey locust leading that charge. Those deciduous trees take extra work because we have to paint the stumps with herbicide to keep them from re-sprouting after we cut them. Apart from trees, we have other several invaders that keep us busy. We regularly spot spray reed canarygrass plants along the wetland edge to keep them from taking over, and keep a sharp eye out for narrowleaf cattails and other invasive aquatic plants so we can stop them before they become established. Brome, bluegrass and sweet clover are so entrenched in the prairie that we just use grazing management to keep them from becoming oppressive enough to stifle overall plant diversity. Like most other pastures in the state, ours has a few musk thistles to chop each year, though usually only a few dozen or so. We've had to carefully train our kids and lessees to chop only the musk thistles, leaving behind the native wavy-leaf, Flodman's and tall thistles. Those native thistles are among the best providers of pollinator habitat and wildlife food (seeds) in our prairie, and it's rare to see a thistle flower without seeing bees, butterflies, or other insects feeding on it. We're also appreciative of many other plants others might call weeds, including ragweed, gumweed, snow- on-the-mountain and hoary vervain. All of them respond strongly to grazing pressure, flourishing in the aftermath of a season of intensive grazing, but fade quickly in subsequent years, as that part of the prairie is rested and recovers. When abundant, those tall The cattle were very interested in this snapping turtle that was trying to make its way to the pond. Upland sandpipers seem to appreciate the grazing management of the prairie.

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