Land Management and Animal Health
Post by Clemson Montana Summer Program student Jade Chapman
I’ve learned so much on this third week in Montana. I feel like the grazing management techniques I’ve learned out here will be useful for managing my own property and the animals I have on it. It was very enlightening learning how much more productive rotational grazing is, and how ecologically beneficial. I’ve learned so much from the ranchers, forest managers, and wildlife biologists that we’ve been speaking to. They’ve informed us on so many different topics relevant to Montana whether it be ecology, policy, management, or economics.
I also learned a lot from working with Terry Frost. We helped herd 50 heifers into chutes to be vaccinated and tattooed by a veterinarian named Sean. We learned a great deal about the vaccines he gives and why the tattoos are federally regulated. Only veterinarians can give the brucellosis vaccine because it’s on the federal disease list. The tattoos they give are proof that the cattle have been vaccinated. Brucellosis is a huge problem in the western United States because it causes abortions in cattle and is incurable. Ranches infected with brucellosis can incur huge losses because the infected cows must be quarantined and slaughtered, and any calves not aborted may be also slaughtered. Pastures that are known to have brucellosis must be quarantined until deemed safe. This explains why the government has taken drastic steps to prevent an outbreak.
Jeff Hermanns taught us a lot about the fire ecology of the region. I already knew a lot about fire ecology from my forest ecology class at Clemson, so I was very familiar with the terms and topic. In South Carolina, we’ve made a lot of progress educating the public and having regularly prescribed fires. The Governor even declared a prescribed fire month, which is very important in the wake of the Table Rock fires and the deaths in Gatlinburg. The fires in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia happened after well over 100 years of fire suppression, which is why some areas, especially Gatlinburg, suffered heavily. We are now making the public aware of the damage of wildfire and less cautious of prescribed fires. It is important to note that prescribed fire in the east is significantly less damaging and more ecologically beneficial. In the east it is much more humid and we get a higher amount of precipitation/rain, so it is easier to identify a set time to burn that won’t cause the fire to be out of control. In contrast, it’s incredibly dry in the west making it significantly harder to set a time to burn and not have it be out of control. Also, because most of the west hasn’t been burned and the soil is very dry, there is a thick duff layer of very flammable litter and duff. In the east fire will mainly burn the surface and maybe an inch down. In the west it won’t just burn the surface, it will burn 2 feet down killing the entire root system, microbial activity, and the seed bank leaving the area a barren wasteland unable to regenerate for decades. The problem in Montana is that there is no official prescribed fire management plan or fire management plan to prevent extreme wildfires that can burn not only the surface but also the soil and crowns of trees creating 100% mortality of biotic life. The state only has a fire suppression plan, which means even though they’ll be able to stop a fire more quickly, the damage done to the area the wildfire burned will still be catastrophic.
I think my second favorite part of this whole trip was learning about sage grouse and telemetry from Mark from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Telemetry is used to track animals all over the world. That’s what makes it such an important skill to learn. I feel that learning telemetry extensively in the future will aid me when applying to job opportunities.
I also learned a lot from working with Terry Frost. We helped herd 50 heifers into chutes to be vaccinated and tattooed by a veterinarian named Sean. We learned a great deal about the vaccines he gives and why the tattoos are federally regulated. Only veterinarians can give the brucellosis vaccine because it’s on the federal disease list. The tattoos they give are proof that the cattle have been vaccinated. Brucellosis is a huge problem in the western United States because it causes abortions in cattle and is incurable. Ranches infected with brucellosis can incur huge losses because the infected cows must be quarantined and slaughtered, and any calves not aborted may be also slaughtered. Pastures that are known to have brucellosis must be quarantined until deemed safe. This explains why the government has taken drastic steps to prevent an outbreak.
Jeff Hermanns taught us a lot about the fire ecology of the region. I already knew a lot about fire ecology from my forest ecology class at Clemson, so I was very familiar with the terms and topic. In South Carolina, we’ve made a lot of progress educating the public and having regularly prescribed fires. The Governor even declared a prescribed fire month, which is very important in the wake of the Table Rock fires and the deaths in Gatlinburg. The fires in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia happened after well over 100 years of fire suppression, which is why some areas, especially Gatlinburg, suffered heavily. We are now making the public aware of the damage of wildfire and less cautious of prescribed fires. It is important to note that prescribed fire in the east is significantly less damaging and more ecologically beneficial. In the east it is much more humid and we get a higher amount of precipitation/rain, so it is easier to identify a set time to burn that won’t cause the fire to be out of control. In contrast, it’s incredibly dry in the west making it significantly harder to set a time to burn and not have it be out of control. Also, because most of the west hasn’t been burned and the soil is very dry, there is a thick duff layer of very flammable litter and duff. In the east fire will mainly burn the surface and maybe an inch down. In the west it won’t just burn the surface, it will burn 2 feet down killing the entire root system, microbial activity, and the seed bank leaving the area a barren wasteland unable to regenerate for decades. The problem in Montana is that there is no official prescribed fire management plan or fire management plan to prevent extreme wildfires that can burn not only the surface but also the soil and crowns of trees creating 100% mortality of biotic life. The state only has a fire suppression plan, which means even though they’ll be able to stop a fire more quickly, the damage done to the area the wildfire burned will still be catastrophic.
I think my second favorite part of this whole trip was learning about sage grouse and telemetry from Mark from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Telemetry is used to track animals all over the world. That’s what makes it such an important skill to learn. I feel that learning telemetry extensively in the future will aid me when applying to job opportunities.
