Alderspring Ranch Land Regeneration Results

BY GLENN ELZINGA

Little Hat Creek is a seven-mile long sinuous canyon bottom stream that drains snowmelt from the high Douglas-fir, aspen and lodgepole pine forests of the Salmon River Mountains. Pre-settlement conditions found it filled with aspen, birch and willow and punctuated by beaver swamps. The photo below shows how we found it upon acquiring the Pahsimeroi one of the first blatant signs of a desertifying landscape.

The bottom image in the left column is the same photopoint location as in the previous photograph. The T-post shown is in the same position. Regeneration of woodies here is clearly apparent (they were hard to walk through at the next permanent photopoint, and impossible to photograph). Graminoids are converting back to native species here, even in floodplain areas. Soil substrate underfoot is moist, and sponge-like. Several sage grouse were spotted roosting and picking currants just downstream (I spotted 23 that day, a record for me in sage grouse observation in that area). Beavers have recolonized upstream regenerating aspen stands. Our grazing in these areas was very simple: we halted all grazing through riparian habitat with complete livestock control via inherding. Cattle were grazed several times over the last five summers within 100 feet of this stream reach, but were carefully herded to keep them out of regenerating wetland areas. We’ll likely graze these areas again in the future, but not before vegetation expression has plateaued, and then off; native species such as Nebraska sedge and Baltic rush were only along creek margins, if at all. Many floodplain plant population dominated by non-native Kentucky bluegrass, if the floodplain wa low enough along creek margins to support the mesic grass. Near 150 years of continuous season-long low-density stock grazing c extirpation of most riparian soil holding species, and the beav maintained them. Severe exposed soil down-cuts, some exceeding feet typified much of Little Hat Canyon due to the loss of veget flash flood events over the years. Little Hat was in a severe dow trend. As was the case of many nearby low elevation brittle zone creeks, Little Hat was in danger of becoming ephemeral rather than pere

The picture above is our neighbor’s soil in October 2019 comprised of volcanic clay with rubble (it’s why it is white—the color of volcanic ash). The cover is a three-year-old alfalfa field monoculture initiated by moldboard plowing. The soil is clearly exposed. It is the exact soil series as photo on the left, just 100 feet away on the other side of our common fence. Their soil is dry and crumbly to the touch and has a frozen crust on top. There is little sign of root material or any life evident in the soil substrate. The soil received three inches

In the picture directly above is an Alderspring Ranch soil test dig taken five minutes later from the neighbor’s dig. It is the same soil type, but the cover is multispecies—around 30–50 species with orchardgrass, sainfoin, clover, dandelion and quackgrass occupying an aggregate of 35%. No soil is exposed. Soil is unfrozen, very wet and clumpy. There is living organic matter present—animals seen, and many roots. Our side used to be identical to the neighbor’s side just 15 years ago—an alfalfa monoculture with little soil structure and little water holding capability. An August soil organic matter test had this field testing 7.3%.