For more than half a century, the BLM has proudly worked with the many thousands of American ranchers who graze their livestock on 155 million acres of our nation’s public rangelands.
Spring is roundup and branding time for the new calves born each year at the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area (NCA). Located only an hour’s drive from the rapidly growing Tucson metropolitan area, Las Cienegas is a model area that provides for various public uses such as livestock and outdoor recreation, while maintaining and enhancing important conservation values. The NCA and adjoining partner lands support five of the rarest grassland and riparian vegetative communities in the American Southwest and provide habitat for several threatened and endangered species.
Livestock grazing is an important activity in the NCA, which historically was a large working ranch. Congress designated The NCA to conserve nationally important resources while allowing livestock grazing and recreation to continue in appropriate areas. An extensive ecological monitoring program is providing data on key ecological values that the BLM uses to work with the ranchers to adjust grazing, landscape restoration and other activities in order to optimize the land’s health. The Nature Conservancy and state of Arizona cooperate closely with the BLM on projects within the NCA and on adjoining reserves.
The area is an outstanding living laboratory for field trips. Middle school students at the Wild About Grasslands! Education program, for example, assist with annual mapping of perennial surface water on Cienega Creek. The NCA has a strong history of scientific research, resulting in several hundred scientific publications. More than forty research and monitoring projects are ongoing. With this adaptive management approach, the local community of scientists, managers, ranchers and other citizens can clearly see the connection between research and management decisions that benefit the grasslands, riparian areas, working landscapes and associated habitats at Las Cienegas NCA and beyond.
Photos and videos by Bob Wick, BLM.
Follow this link to learn more about BLM’s Rangeland Management.
