Conservation is Seen Everywhere Here
Post by Clemson Montana Summer Program student Elyse Wiederhorn
We have absorbed so much information in the past few days that piecing it together is the only way to attempt to describe our experiences. Driving from the airport I realized that Montana was everything I imagined. The roaring fields and snow covered mountains hooked me instantly. This is certainly the most diverse terrain I’ve seen in my entire life and I am so thankful that the world still has these magnificent landscapes. Most places in today's world have been developed; the grass that was once there turned to concrete and the trees cut down and replaced by skyscrapers. Montana is one of the last frontiers which makes it so special, for instance places like the Battle of the Little Big Horn are still the same after 142 years due to the concept of conservation. Conservation is seen everywhere in the state and will most likely be practiced long after we are all gone.
Conservation is a major theme throughout Montana, it ranges from the landscape to people’s actions. The first place we visited was the Midland Bull Testing Facility where Steve McDonnell discussed with us the reasons for bull testing: to identify the most promising bulls from the ones that needed to be culled. McDonnell described the advanced technology utilized by the farm to measure how much feed each individual cow consumed and in turn the ADG (average daily gain) of that cow. The feed buckets have scales installed and tag identifiers so that the farm could record when each cow ate out of the bucket and how much that cow ingested. This operation is called a Grow Safe System. The reason for this process is to weed out the bulls that ate the least amount of feed and gained the most weight. This way the ranchers could save money and conserve their resources by having to feed cows less food to achieve the same results. This surprised me because I had no clue that ranchers utilized this modern technology and had a whole company dedicated with gathering information about bulls genetics. Ranchers value these bulls so much that at the April auction the highest auctioned bull went for $50,000. It was impressive that ranchers think so far into the future: by choosing a bull that has a high ADG and a low feed requirement the ranchers will save money in the long run.
Similarly at Montana State University the researchers used Grow Safe Systems to discover how winter supplements affected cows behavior and anatomy due to the high salt concentration. Winter supplements were chosen so that the ranchers could save money during the winter time by allowing them to graze in the fields with supplements instead of supplying them with high priced hay. Tim DelCurto’s son in law, Sam was the first to perform these studies using winter supplements and found which supplements the cows preferred by the distance the cows traveled from the feed. If the cows traveled far away from the supplement in search of grass they inferred that the cattle did not favor that supplement. It was detrimental to the ranch land when the cows loved the supplements because they would graze only near that food source and not venture far away. This caused the pasture to be run down and useless. The wanted to find a middle ground between the cows consumption of supplement and movement in the pasture. Sam’s study also observed that the supplements caused the cows salt intake to skyrocket. Due to the high salt concentration, several researchers coordinated studies to discover how these supplements affected cows behavior, biological systems, ADG, and water intake. All of these scientists worked to uncover how salt affects cows in order to help the effort of conservation. Like all people ranchers want to save money and by figuring out how these supplements affect cattle it can severely impact ranchers profits and help conserve their resources as a whole.
Conservation of the landscape is just as popular as the conservation of currency, a prime example is Yellowstone National Park. As we drove into the park my expectations were exceeded when I witnessed the rolling hills packed with Bison, Elk, and Pronghorn that eventually led to mountain tops. It is one of the few places untouched by man and to me that is extraordinary: To know that some grounds are identical since when Native Americans roamed this place. Yellowstone consists of 3,500 square miles of flawless landscape home to hundreds of species of wildlife. The reason behind Yellowstone National Park is to attempt to conserve the wild west and all of its original wildlife. The 60,000,000 bison that use to run through the plains were reduced to a mere 500 after the settlers harvested them for their skins and tongues. This park is trying to preserve the little amount of untouched wild we have left and to prevent any tragic extinctions. I believe that is so necessary to conserve nature because it is can so easily disappear if not properly cared for and respected as seen when the settlers singlehandedly almost wiped out the American Bison.
Sometimes it not as simple as reserving land for a national park and letting nature take its course, sometimes to conserve land it must be managed. When Matt Walter and John Pfister visited us at the Clemson Prairie Ecology Lab house they discussed with us the importance of regulating land to avoid catastrophes. They explained that when wildfires start they become stronger and larger because of the close knit number of trees in a forest. John Pfister said that he gave a meeting about the importance of reducing the concentration of trees in a forest so the fire would be weakened and be able to be distinguished. However some landowners refused to believe him and forbid cutting down any trees claiming that they couldn’t live without their forests. When a fire arose and swallowed up their entire forests the landowners ate their words. I found this fascinating and frustrating. It was so unfortunate that people only believed Pfister when it was too late. Hopefully it was a lesson well learned and they can be better prepared for the future.
The Battle of the Little Bighorn was a perfect representation of the fight between conservation and development. The Native Americans fought to maintain the plains as they have been for thousands of years and the settlers fought to transform the terrain into acres and acres of farmland. When we visited the battlefield it was extremely touching that it had been preserved for more than a century. As the ranger, Steve Adelson, told the story of the epic war he was able to reveal where each part of the battle took place from start to finish. By viewing the Battle of the Little Bighorn it instilled the importance of conservation of the landscape and historical events so that we might as a species learn from mistakes and therefore have a brighter future ahead of us. The sacred place also taught me that just because people can remodel an area into a money machine doesn’t mean that they should.
Over the course of these five days my encounters ingrained in my mind that conservation is vital for the present and future whether it is relating to the landscape or the ranchers resources. In this short amount of time I have developed a higher sense of appreciation for the Great Plains and frankly all natural regions. In addition, I have developed a greater respect for the people who work here everyday to become more conservative of their limited resources and help preserve this magnificent historical terrain. My experiences so far have ignited my passion to learn as much as I can from the land and people who live with it.
We have absorbed so much information in the past few days that piecing it together is the only way to attempt to describe our experiences. Driving from the airport I realized that Montana was everything I imagined. The roaring fields and snow covered mountains hooked me instantly. This is certainly the most diverse terrain I’ve seen in my entire life and I am so thankful that the world still has these magnificent landscapes. Most places in today's world have been developed; the grass that was once there turned to concrete and the trees cut down and replaced by skyscrapers. Montana is one of the last frontiers which makes it so special, for instance places like the Battle of the Little Big Horn are still the same after 142 years due to the concept of conservation. Conservation is seen everywhere in the state and will most likely be practiced long after we are all gone.Conservation is a major theme throughout Montana, it ranges from the landscape to people’s actions. The first place we visited was the Midland Bull Testing Facility where Steve McDonnell discussed with us the reasons for bull testing: to identify the most promising bulls from the ones that needed to be culled. McDonnell described the advanced technology utilized by the farm to measure how much feed each individual cow consumed and in turn the ADG (average daily gain) of that cow. The feed buckets have scales installed and tag identifiers so that the farm could record when each cow ate out of the bucket and how much that cow ingested. This operation is called a Grow Safe System. The reason for this process is to weed out the bulls that ate the least amount of feed and gained the most weight. This way the ranchers could save money and conserve their resources by having to feed cows less food to achieve the same results. This surprised me because I had no clue that ranchers utilized this modern technology and had a whole company dedicated with gathering information about bulls genetics. Ranchers value these bulls so much that at the April auction the highest auctioned bull went for $50,000. It was impressive that ranchers think so far into the future: by choosing a bull that has a high ADG and a low feed requirement the ranchers will save money in the long run.
Conservation of the landscape is just as popular as the conservation of currency, a prime example is Yellowstone National Park. As we drove into the park my expectations were exceeded when I witnessed the rolling hills packed with Bison, Elk, and Pronghorn that eventually led to mountain tops. It is one of the few places untouched by man and to me that is extraordinary: To know that some grounds are identical since when Native Americans roamed this place. Yellowstone consists of 3,500 square miles of flawless landscape home to hundreds of species of wildlife. The reason behind Yellowstone National Park is to attempt to conserve the wild west and all of its original wildlife. The 60,000,000 bison that use to run through the plains were reduced to a mere 500 after the settlers harvested them for their skins and tongues. This park is trying to preserve the little amount of untouched wild we have left and to prevent any tragic extinctions. I believe that is so necessary to conserve nature because it is can so easily disappear if not properly cared for and respected as seen when the settlers singlehandedly almost wiped out the American Bison.
Sometimes it not as simple as reserving land for a national park and letting nature take its course, sometimes to conserve land it must be managed. When Matt Walter and John Pfister visited us at the Clemson Prairie Ecology Lab house they discussed with us the importance of regulating land to avoid catastrophes. They explained that when wildfires start they become stronger and larger because of the close knit number of trees in a forest. John Pfister said that he gave a meeting about the importance of reducing the concentration of trees in a forest so the fire would be weakened and be able to be distinguished. However some landowners refused to believe him and forbid cutting down any trees claiming that they couldn’t live without their forests. When a fire arose and swallowed up their entire forests the landowners ate their words. I found this fascinating and frustrating. It was so unfortunate that people only believed Pfister when it was too late. Hopefully it was a lesson well learned and they can be better prepared for the future.
The Battle of the Little Bighorn was a perfect representation of the fight between conservation and development. The Native Americans fought to maintain the plains as they have been for thousands of years and the settlers fought to transform the terrain into acres and acres of farmland. When we visited the battlefield it was extremely touching that it had been preserved for more than a century. As the ranger, Steve Adelson, told the story of the epic war he was able to reveal where each part of the battle took place from start to finish. By viewing the Battle of the Little Bighorn it instilled the importance of conservation of the landscape and historical events so that we might as a species learn from mistakes and therefore have a brighter future ahead of us. The sacred place also taught me that just because people can remodel an area into a money machine doesn’t mean that they should.
Over the course of these five days my encounters ingrained in my mind that conservation is vital for the present and future whether it is relating to the landscape or the ranchers resources. In this short amount of time I have developed a higher sense of appreciation for the Great Plains and frankly all natural regions. In addition, I have developed a greater respect for the people who work here everyday to become more conservative of their limited resources and help preserve this magnificent historical terrain. My experiences so far have ignited my passion to learn as much as I can from the land and people who live with it.
