“Strategic Grazing”? “Vernal Pools”? You read it first in the Medford Mail Tribune and if you missed it there, here it is again:
The managers of 132 acres of wetlands habitat set aside to help a threatened shrimp that can perch on the end of your pinkie say they're showing that the creature can flourish in the same habitat as cattle.
They call it "strategic grazing," using cattle grazing in the wet season to keep the vegetation favorable for the wetlands and taking the cattle off during the dry season to protect the species that have adapted to those living conditions by going dormant.
A conservation easement completed in March by the Southern Oregon Land Conservancy with landowner Wildland of Rocklin, Calif., ensures protection of the water quality and wildlife habitat at the site near Eagle Point.
The conservancy is the permanent steward of the property, which features vernal pools in the grasslands known as the Agate Desert. The pools dry out in late spring.
Jackson County has Oregon's only vernal pools. They support a plant and animal governed by the Endangered Species Act: the large-flowered woolly meadowfoam, which is listed as endangered, and the fairy shrimp, listed as threatened. There are only 23 % of the County’s vernal pools are.
- KBOO