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Rotational grazing and appropriate pasture mixtures have created a beautiful green bounty that filters sediment and nutrients from nearby sensitive waterways. |
In Santa Cruz, San Benito, and South Santa Clara Counties, livestock have been identified as one of the non-point source contributors of nutrients, nitrates, pathogens and sediments to local area waterways. Since 2002, the Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County (RCD) and Ecology Action have been addressing water quality concerns related to area livestock facilities through a program called Livestock and Land. This program was recently awarded additional funding through the State Water Resources Control Board to continue its work through 2008.
The Livestock and Land program strives to teach Best Management Practices (BMPs) to area livestock owners by providing educational publications, workshops and hands-on trainings. The program also offers cost-share assistance for landowners wanting to implement resource conservation projects on their properties. Additional services, made available through the RCD partnership with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), include free on-site consultations and technical assistance. As of March 2007, the program had helped fund the implementation of Best Management Practices at 18 livestock facilities in Santa Cruz, San Benito and Santa Clara Counties. Additional projects will be funded and implemented in 2008. The program continues to expand and educate livestock owners.
Nutrients, pathogens and sediments from livestock facilities are pollutants of concern in the major watersheds of Santa Cruz, San Benito, and Santa Clara Counties. This pollution critically impacts our drinking water, recreation areas, fisheries health and flora and fauna habitat. Santa Cruz County has widely varied topography. Most of the rural properties zoned for livestock in the county are on sloped to steep terrain, making them vulnerable to increased erosion and drainage problems. Livestock housed in confined pastures can contribute to a decline in vegetative cover that in turn leads to increased sediment runoff to nearby creeks and streams. Manure contaminates can also be transported to waterways via stormwater runoff. Better management of manure and drainage on properties that house livestock can lessen these pollutants.
Since its inception in 2002, the Livestock and Land program has dramatically increased outreach to livestock owners and education on resource conservation at livestock facilities. Workshops geared toward teaching landowners practical ways to reduce non-point source pollutants by implementing BMPs on their properties were offered in all three counties. Topics included erosion control, mud control, pasture and paddock management, plus methods for dealing with manure such as composting and storage. Attendance in the three counties topped 400 at eleven workshops. We also completed hands-on trainings in Santa Cruz County, Santa Clara and San Benito Counties.
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| Rich Casale of the NRCS answers questions at a workshop. | |
Since 2002, a total of eighteen properties have received cost-share assistance for implementing BMPs. Projects included manure and compost bin construction, adding gutters and downspouts to stalls, building a sediment settling basin, adding or improving drainage and erosion controls, and exclusionary fencing for enhanced pasture management.
In 2006, over thirty people attended a daylong tour of four Santa Cruz County Demonstration Sites. Attendees included property owners, contractors and erosion control specialists, various agencies, realtors and more.
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| French Drain Workshop students constructing a dissipater at the drain outlet for one of the livestock Demonstration Sites. | |
The program completed a Manure Market Study Survey to determine from what services local livestock owners might benefit. The results spawned the creation of an online Organic Materials Exchange which debuted in November 2006 and currently has numerous listings for manure, compost, and other organic materials. In addition, the program is working closely with local government to examine manure hauling options for landowners.
Finally, the Peer Leader Program, built on a neighbors helping neighbors philosophy, was designed to provide a simple and informal link between landowners and local agencies that provide educational tools and funding assistance. Peer Leaders completed a total of ten community outreach projects that resulted in thirty-three new referrals to the RCD for assistance.
While this program did not require water quality monitoring, some general calculations were made on the total amount of manure that was now being properly managed. There were nine manure bunkers constructed as part of the demonstration site projects. This equates to a total of approximately 1,363,275 lbs/year of livestock manure that is now being managed so as to reduce impacts on water quality. Manure bunkers are just one of fifteen different BMPs implemented with funding through the Livestock and Land program that have contributed to reductions in water pollutants from livestock facilities.
A follow-up survey of summer 2005 Livestock and Land workshop attendees highlighted the effects of education and outreach. Over a quarter of the attendees surveyed had voluntarily implemented at least one Best Management Practice that they learned at the workshops and eighteen of them took advantage of the free on-site consultation offered by the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) . The types of projects include starting a compost pile, adding gutters and downspouts to stalls, improving manure management, planting pastures and new erosion and drainage controls.
The Program was recently awarded new funding through 2008. Staffing in the Santa Cruz County RCD offices continues along with the addition of a staff person dedicated to expanding the program in San Benito and South Santa Clara Counties. The Resource Conservation District of Monterey County will also offer the program. Measures are being taken to expand the program throughout the state. If you would like to see the Livestock and Land program offered through your local RCD, please contact Angie Stuart at 831.464.2950 ext. 22 for more information.
The Livestock and Land Program relies on a diverse partnership with livestock associations, landowners, agencies, non-profits, local governments and private consultants. They all are integral parts of being able to implement cost-share demonstration site projects, provide education and outreach, and offer free site visits. The primary funding agency is the State Water Resources Control Board. Project partners include the Natural Resources Conservation Service, University of California Cooperative Extension, San Benito County Resource Conservation District, Loma Prieta Resource Conservation District, Soquel Creek Water District, Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency, San Benito County Water District, San Lorenzo Water District, Santa Clara Valley Water District, the Valley Women’s Club, the Santa Cruz County Horsemen’s Association and professionals from local government, private industry, and non-profits organizations who provide technical guidance as part of our Technical Advisory Committee and Strategic Advisory Committee.
Public and private landowners are eligible for technical assistance in the form of free site visits. We also offer free publications at our local partnership office library in Capitola. Copies can be made at no charge. The ‘Horse Keeping: A Guide to Land Management for Clean Water’ and other publications are available in the publications section of our web site.
The Livestock and Land Program offers informational workshops and technical trainings covering various livestock facility best management practices (BMPs) and also offers tours of demonstration site facilities.
For more information on upcoming workshops and trainings or to schedule a demonstration site tour, please visit www.livestockandland.org.
Cost-share funding is available for landowners interested in implementing Best Management Practices (BMPs) on livestock properties.
To learn more or to complete an application, visit www.livestockandland.org.
The Livestock & Land Program has implemented projects at eighteen properties in Santa Cruz, San Benito and Santa Clara Counties.
To see pictures and descriptions of projects, please visit www.livestockandland.org.
For more information on current
programming information please visit
www.livestockandland.org
