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About Illinois Valley news. (Cave City, Oregon) 1937-current | View Entire Issue (May 31, 2006)
Page 14 Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, May 31, 2006 Zumwalt Prairie due major studies THE CHATEAU at Ore- gon Caves National Monument, 22 miles east of Cave Junction, is open for the season. The historic lodge offers a restaurant for dinners, plus a coffee shop and continental breakfast. The concessionaire is Oregon Caves Outfitters under Illinois Valley Community Development Organization. Phone 592- 3400 for information. Oregon State University (OSU) researchers will spend four years investigat- ing the effect of cattle on soils, plants, invertebrates and ground-nesting birds in the Zumwalt Prairie, one of the largest and last native prairies in the Pacific North- west. Funded by a $450,000 USDA National Research Initiative grant, the OSU researchers will test different cattle stocking rates across about 1,600 acres of land in The Nature Conservancy's Zumwalt Prairie Preserve. The roughly 220- square-mile Zumwalt Prairie is in the northeast corner of Oregon between the Wal- lowa Mountains and Hell’s Canyon. Its acreage is noted for a rich array of plants including several species of native bunchgrass, as well as Spalding’s catchfly, a threatened wildflower. The area is home to one of the highest concentrations of nesting prairie hawks in North America, as well as Columbian sharp-tailed grouse, elk, mule deer, Snake River steelhead and red band trout. Using four fenced blocks, each divided into four 100-acre pastures, re- searchers will analyze high, medium, low and zero stocking rates. They will look at how cattle affect the availability of resources for other organisms, how habi- tat for wildlife communities change as stocking rates change and the effect graz- ing has on vulnerability of ground-nesting birds in the area. Researchers also will evaluate at which stocking rates the cattle are most suc- cessful. Due to population de- clines, the grassland birds that live among the Zum- walt’s native bunch grass -- the primary forage for cattle in the area -- are of national conservation concern. These birds include horned larks, western meadowlarks and savannah sparrows. “We may see a positive or neutral response in the ecosystem at low and moderate stocking rates,” said Patricia Kennedy, an ecologist and avian specialist at OSU’s Eastern Oregon Agricultural Re- search Center in Union. “At very low stocking rates, and in areas where there are no cattle, high grass densities may actually be prohibitive for feeding and nesting of native bird populations.” On the other hand, Ken- nedy added, high stocking rates may result in a lack of food resources and vegetation that is too open to provide adequate nest con- cealment for the birds. Collaborating with Ken- neday are Tim DelCurto, superintendent of the Union research center and a specialist in range beef cat- tle nutrition and manage- ment; Sandy DeBano, an entomologist in the College of Agricultural Sciences; and Rob Taylor, an ecolo- gist with The Nature Con- servancy. They plan to take a deeper look into the ques- tion of grazing. “This grant takes a food web approach,” DeBano said. “For example, we want to know how various intensities of livestock graz- ing affect local invertebrate populations and how any changes in invertebrate abundance may, in turn, af- fect the birds that eat them.” “Looking at what hap- pens to one link in the web without examining what’s happening to the connecting links doesn’t get you very far,” DeBano added. “We’re trying to look at the larger picture.” “The question is whether grazing can co-exist in an area like the Zumwalt,” said DelCurto. “Probably the biggest issue around grazing concerns sustainability, and that’s really more of a question of management. “Can we ensure that we can manage grazing in such a way that there will be an equal or greater amount of forage from year-to-year? “Well,” he said, “I ex- pect we will see that grazing to a certain degree stimu- lates good forage rates, and the animal response will be best at the stocking rates that are also best for the system. We can have our cake and eat it too.” For generations, area ranchers have grazed their cattle on the prairie, rotating them to different sites in the winter when low tempera- tures and snow make the prairie uninhabitable for the livestock. Debates about grazing on the prairie and elsewhere have continued for years, said the researchers. “In the course of this project we hope to really understand the effects of varied stocking rates on the ecosystem, and to help provide some scientific in- put for the debate,” said Kennedy. “Premium” Describes Our Benefi ts, Not Our Costs Why pay more for your Medicare Advantage Plan when you can get great benefi ts from a local company—Mid Rogue CHP. For a choice of primary care physicians and a low monthly premium, CareSource has all the benefi ts you’re looking for. It pays to fi nd out about the CareSource Medicare Advantage Plan from Mid Rogue CHP. 00 $49. Junction Inn, 406 S. 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