Ranchers and Agriculture Producers

Riparian Stewardship

Ranchers and agricultural producers are the most important conservationists of riparian areas. Riparian areas are the green buffers next to streams, lakes and wetlands where vegetation is influenced by high water levels. Although they make up only a small part of the land base they play an oversized role as high value ecosystems that stabilise streambanks, protect water quality by filtering nutrients and pollutants, and regulate water temperature. According to the Riparian Management Area Guidebook - Province of British Columbia, these are highly diverse ecosystems that provide critical habitat and travel corridors for wildlife, and support healthy aquatic habitat.

How to Identify a Riparian Area

From a grazing perspective, these areas provide year round forage and life-sustaining water to livestock and in drought years can determine the success of an operation. Streams, wetlands and lakes are where we can naturally and cost-effectively store water for a non-rainy day, and ensuring that riparian and upland areas are healthy and functional supports stable water resources by acting as sponges to absorb and slowly release water.

How to identify a riparian area:

Lots of water seasonally or regularly that is close to, or on the surface.
The vegetation that is present is associated with high water environments.
Soils have been modified by the abundance of water.

There are legal requirements to conserve riparian areas; however, healthy functioning riparian areas are an insurance policy for your business. While cows require a certain quantity of water, the quality of water can influence their performance. Water intake should be managed just as feed and other rations are. Cattle gain more weight when drinking from a convenient, clean water source, with up to 23% more in gains associated with drinking from a water trough than from a dugout. Cattle and other livestock are attracted to riparian areas for not just water, but forage, shade, and protection from wind and insects.

The simplest thing that you can do to protect streams and wetlands is to follow the basic principles of range management. This will also improve overall range health which will translate to improved animal production and economic return. The four principles of range management are:

Balance animal needs with available forage supply - Take some but leave lots.
Distribute livestock evenly - Choose tools from the next page to prevent livestock congregating in sensitive areas.
Avoid or minimize grazing the area during fragile or vulnerable periods - Be aware of seasonal conditions such as increased moisture which make banks more susceptible to pugging, hummocking, and sloughing.
Provide effective rest during the growing season - Allow plants to increase their root reserves before grazing occurs again.

Keep This In Your Back Pocket: Riparian Management

Alter the distribution or congregation of livestock using methods such as salting, riding, drift fencing or herding. The type of livestock can also make a difference. Yearlings tend to disperse themselves naturally more than cow/calf pairs.
Like water, livestock will choose the path of least resistance. Create an easy access point for water or provide an off-stream option and cows will prefer to use that, minimizing the disturbance in other areas.
Channel the third principle of range management and alter the timing of grazing in pastures with sensitive riparian areas or that are unable to support alternate methods. Grazing when the soft stream banks are drier is one option. If shrubs are being heavily utilised, avoid grazing in the fall when cattle prefer to browse once grasses have gone dormant, and shrubs are important sustenance for wildlife.
On the fence? Create riparian pastures by fencing the riparian area into a separate pasture, with separate management objectives and strategies. Or use exclusion fencing in extreme situations to completely rest an area.

Riparian Beneficial Management Practices

Beneficial Management Practices (BMPs) are management practices that reduce or eliminate environmental risks. Riparian Grazing Management BMPs are intended to protect water quality through exclusion, or properly managed timing, intensity, and duration of livestock grazing in riparian areas. Use the BMP strategies outlined below provide strategies to help implement the principles of range management:

Alternative Watering Systems

Establishment of off-site watering systems for livestock to minimize negative impacts on habitat for wildlife and species at risk.

Includes solar, gravity-fed, wind, grid or alternative power to support water pumps, waterlines, and troughs.

It is important to note that a water license may be necessary for some alternative watering systems. Please visit the Government of BC’s Water Licenses & Approvals website for more information.

Getting your Feet Wet with Monitoring

Signs of trouble in your riparian area include:

Bare ground and soil compaction from human and animal activity.
Invasive weeds outcompeting deep rooted native species. Weeds don’t have root systems that allow them to hold soil together as well as native plants, and weeds often lead to erosion.
Heavy animal and/or human activity can result in less vegetation cover and lead to eroded banks and unstable slopes.

Wanting to wade into monitoring? A preferred method of monitoring in the TNRD comes from the Riparian Management Field Workbook as part of the Environmental Farm Plan series on Beneficial Management Practices. Its purpose is to provide an assessment checklist and guidelines for managing activities around riparian areas. For more information visit Riparian Management - Field Workbook and Environmental Farm Plan.

Assessment Information

Riparian systems are resilient and can regrow quickly after grazing, but it is important to monitor them for any problems that could impact their function.

"If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it."
Peter Drucker

Assessments act as a ‘measuring stick’, providing structure to observations, and allowing us to evaluate the health and condition of riparian areas to see if practices are supporting healthy ecosystems.

Doing Your Own Assessment

There are multiple methods to assess riparian areas on your range or farm. If you are familiar with one, use that. The best assessment is one that you will do and understand.

Assessments should be done when plants are grown and can be easily identified (June-September). They should be done when conditions are normal, not during high flows or extreme drought conditions. If performing a follow up assessment try to do the assessments at the same time each year.

A preferred method of monitoring in the TNRD comes from the Riparian Management Field Workbook as part of the Environmental Farm Plan series on Beneficial Management Practices. Its purpose is to provide an assessment checklist and guidelines for managing farm activities around riparian areas.

Riparian Management - FIELD WORKBOOK

Picking a Site

Depending on your goals you can pick a site which is representative of your pasture OR pick a site that is showing a critical problem. Picking a representative site will help you track long term gradual changes of your management regime, where repeated assessments can indicate a trend (whether the site is improving, degrading or stable). Picking a critical site is best reserved for when you notice a problem and want to implement range improvements to restore the site.

Monitoring

How can a busy producer fit monitoring in when there are so many other life or death tasks involved with running a livestock operation? It’s easy to understand why monitoring seems to fall to the end of the to-do list; however, monitoring even in the simplest form can return value to an operation when it is doable and designed to collect useful information.

Reasons to monitor:

Early warning: Rangeland health deteriorates before livestock condition deteriorates. Changes in rangeland health occur gradually and human memory cannot detect changes until reminded by old data. Monitoring can tell us if we are heading in the wrong direction.
Goal setting: Will prove if you are truly meeting your management objectives and if new strategies are changing the trajectory of your range in the right direction.
Have data to back up your decisions: Having hard data around the results from your management practices can help you receive funding or encourage others to implement the same techniques.

There are lots of ways to monitor so it’s easy to get bogged down. Simple photo monitoring is doable for most and allows us to visually document changes in vegetation structure, providing an easily interpreted record when repeated over time.

There are lots of ways to monitor so it’s easy to get bogged down. Simple photo monitoring is doable for most and allows us to visually document changes in vegetation structure, providing an easily interpreted record when repeated over time. Click here for a guide to photo monitoring.

Looking for More Information?

Learn more at AgriService BC or contact your local Environmental Farm Plan Advisor, and visit Farmland-Riparian Interface Stewardship Program.