One Colorado ranch is proving that healthy, productive cattle can also mean a healthy habitat for wildlife.
Since 1910, the LeValleys have been ranchers and caretakers of their local plot of land in Hotchkiss, Colorado. Through changing regulations, weather conditions and economies, one thing has remained true: Their regard for the land that sustains both their community and local wildlife.
“For generations, ranchers have served as stewards of the land,” Robbie LeValley told the House Natural Resources Committee in 2016. “Land and habitat thrive because of the knowledge and resources that we put into our land and grazing management decisions.”
Looking out for the grouse
On any given morning, you can find the LeValley family going through the motions on their ranch in Colorado’s North Fork valley—checking in on their cattle, monitoring water levels, and preparing for daily fieldwork.
But with every check, there’s another species on their mind, one that’s just as critical to their business and to the land: The Gunnison sage-grouse.
The private and federal land the LeValleys graze on happens to be an important habitat for a threatened species of sage grouse. As an “indicator species,” the Gunnison sage grouse not only deserves protection in its own right, but also reflects the health of its surrounding environment. Today, fewer than 5,000 of these birds remain.
Since 1995, the LeValleys have worked with the local Audubon Society, U.S. Fish and Wildlife and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to monitor and protect this threatened species. In fact, it was the BLM’s encouragement that convinced the LeValleys to implement virtual fencing to speed up grazing rotations and collect vital data.
“The BLM thought it might be a way to see if we could make the pasture moves even quicker on our BLM ground, as well as see if it will work in these Gunnison sage-grouse habitat areas,” said Robbie LeValley.
Putting Vence to work
The family’s implementation of Vence has been a gamechanger. Vence has reduced the amount of time it takes the family to roundup cattle and set up a new pasture—crucial for their rotational grazing plan. Their commitment to rotational grazing has reduced overgrazing, protecting the water supply in a drought-prone landscape and allowing the grasses to grow stronger, which provide both food and shelter for their feathery friends.
It also allows them to showcase the effect their efforts are having on the sage-grouse and the surrounding environment. Despite their stewardship, ranches like the LeValleys’ have been under fire from environmental groups. But they share a common interest in sustaining the local environment.
“We wouldn’t be in business if we didn’t care for the land,” Mark LeValley told Maggie Malson for Drovers. “If you manage the land right everything flourishes, and it is going to be here for the next generation.”
Vence has allowed the LeValleys to prove to environmentalists and advocacy groups that their rotational grazing plan allows the grouse and cattle to coexist peacefully—even benefitting from each other. Heatmapping allows them to show where cattle have been, and prove that far from endangering the local wildlife, consistent grazing can promote diversity and plant growth.
“With heatmapping, we’re able to show the BLM where the cows were, and show how we’ve moved them around the pastures,” says Robbie. “We want to highlight that the Gunnison sage-grouse and livestock grazing are about coexisting as they’ve been coexisting for generations. It has been a constant education effort.”
“You can show them the data and where we’ve been able to keep cows and make them stay in places where normally they wouldn’t want to,” added Ross LeValley.
Tech tells the story
The technology has made the LeValley story even stronger, solidifying them as a productive, responsible presence in their community. They’ve used it to save miles of hard fence, keep cattle off public areas, and showcase the positive effects grazing can have on the landscape.
“I think it’s the way of the future for grazing in the West,” said Ross LeValley.
By partnering with local wildlife organizations and embracing cutting-edge technology, the ranch has transformed its operations into a model of environmental stewardship—proving that cattle ranching and wildlife conservation can not only coexist, but thrive together.
