Activity 2.3.1 Ranchers, Anglers, and Beavers

1.      Exploratory

PFC is an acronym that stands for proper functioning condition. This is a long-standing rapid assessment the BLM uses to evaluate overall conditions and impairment of streams and streamside vegetation. Land managers are increasingly resorting to two natural ways to rehabilitate damaged riparian regions and improve stream habitats: grazing management and beaver management. In recent decades, BLM land managers and ranchers who lease BLM lands for grazing in each watershed have changed their grazing techniques.

2. Diagnostic

BLM management aims to transition streams that have been degraded by stressors like droughts, wildfires, and previous grazing practices from a nonfunctional status to a normal functioning status, to ensure that they remain that way.

3. Cause and Effect

It turns out that beavers, particularly in the parched Great Basin, are a significant amplifier of the return of streamside plant life. By rewetting floodplains and storing water, their dams prevent water from flowing off downstream and provide year-round moisture for plants. The current study also highlights the significance of conservation-oriented grazing as a prerequisite for beaver colonization, despite the growing recognition of the value of beavers and even mimicked beaver activities as restoration tools.

4. Priority

The most important issue at hand is finding solutions on how streamside vegetation can be restored. Not only restoring but also finding prominent results to keep them restored. Many possible solutions are being studied and are demonstrating positive and constructive results.

5. Application

This applies to me in various ways. One is that as a human, it's crucial to be informed of such important environmental issues at hand. I know now how much streamside vegetation impacts and affects us. They are such a vital part of good quality water. BLM fulfills its resource management obligations, it lets ranchers keep their animals grazing and earn a living, and it lets stream systems flourish.

6. Critical

After reading and watching both the article and video, I have come to be more knowledgeable about streamside vegetation and its importance. For example, both recreational and economic advantages may be derived from healthy streamside zones, which can also preserve or enhance water quality. I would say both these resources changed my thinking a lot. In ways of now, I’m thinking about how I could possibly help or at least improve streamside vegetation health. Or what I can do to less harm its surrounding environment.

 

References:

Fesenmyer, K. (2016). Restoring streamside vegetation using grazing and beavers. Trout Unlimited. https://www.tu.org/magazine/science/restoring-streamside-vegetation-using-grazing-and-beavers/