Grassbanks: Bartering for Conservation

Introduction O ver the next 10 years, the Shoshone National Forest in Wyoming will implement fuel-reduction burns on approximately 10 cattle grazing allotments, temporarily displacing up to 13 ranchers from 1 to 3 years. As is the case for many other national forests, a significant obstacle facing federal land managers implementing restoration treatments is the lack of alternative forage for permittees who must remove their livestock from allotments for extended time periods while restoration work occurs. If these temporarily displaced families sold their ranches, which are often large intact tracts of land adjacent to the national forest, there would likely be an increased rate of subdivision contributing to the loss of open space, wildlife habitat, and degradation of forest ecosystem processes such as fire.1'2 To help support restoration activities on public land and minimize the threat of habitat fragmentation on private land, the Wyoming Chapter of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) has used an irrigated pasture of its Heart Mountain Ranch near Cody as a grassbank to provide forage for permittees whose grazing allotments are temporarily unavailable because of the restoration activities on the Shoshone National Forest. Grassbanking is a conservation tool that exchanges forage for conservation benefits. In the example of Heart Mountain Ranch, TNC trades forage for a suite of restoration activities. Fuel loads have been reduced (thus decreasing the potential for catastrophic fire), forage quality and quantity have been enhanced and increased for both cattle and wildlife, and the likelihood of habitat fragmentation has been temporarily reduced because ranches remain economically viable and intact. History of Grassbanking The term "grassbankTm" was coined and registered as a trademark by the Malpai Borderlands Group, a nonprofit or anization located in Arizona devoted to restoring and maintaining "the natural processes that create and protect a healthy, unfragmented landscape to support a diverse, flourishing community of human, plant, and animal life in our Borderlands Region." The Malpai Borderlands Group, working on the 321,000-acre Gray Ranch, which is located in New Mexico and owned by the Animas Foundation, has developed several conservation tools, with grassbanking among their most innovative. The term "grassbank" was used to describe the practice where a rancher in need of alternative forage because of drought, or the desire to conduct restoration activities that require temporary cessation of grazing, moved the displaced cattle to the Gray Ranch. In exchange for forage, the rancher placed a permanent conservation easement on their property, which generally restricted development and, therefore, subdivision. The easement is held by the Malpai Borderlands Group, and its value is equal to the forage value the rancher used on Gray Ranch. As a result of this exchange of forage for conservation easements, over 25,000 acres have been restricted from subdivision. Many people associate grassbanking with conservation easements, but the Malpai Borderlands Group has been the only grassbank that has traded forage for conservation easements. All other grassbanks have traded forage for other types of conservation benefits, such as prescribed fire, rest, or wildlife habitat improvements. While the term "grassbank" is relatively new, the practice of using a forage reserve, custom grazing, or other tools to incorporate rest rotation into a grazing management plan is