   Beyond the Backyard: Learn About Ranching - August 19, 1998 Jeff Schalau, County Director, Agent, Agriculture & Natural Resources Arizona Cooperative Extension, Yavapai County This time of year you may be relaxing on the back porch enjoying the fruits of your gardening labors. Your vegetable garden is producing, the grass is green, the flowers are blooming and you may even be pondering some fall garden ideas. Well, since things in the garden are probably under control, let=s take a broader view of where we live. Most of the Verde Valley is within the boundaries of Yavapai County and is defined by several distinct features. The Mogollon Rim borders the Verde Valley to the north and east and is largely in Coconino County. This 2,000 foot high escarpment was formed largely through erosional processes and to a smaller extent by some minor faulting (deep fractures in the bedrock that permit movement). The Mogollon Rim also separates two major geographic regions of Arizona: the Colorado Plateau and the Central Highlands. The west side of the Verde Valley is bounded by a range called the Black Hills. Mingus Mountain is the highest point in the range and is approximately 7,500 feet. The Verde River actually begins its perennial flow just north of Chino Valley but the basin itself drains from a much larger watershed area. Camp Verde lies at 3,100 feet and defines the south end of the Verde Valley. These large differences in elevation and exposure create a wide array of climates and vegetation within the valley. On the valley floor, riparian forests of cottonwood, sycamore and willow are found near the river and desert grasslands while desert scrub dominate the nearby uplands. As elevation increases, the vegetation transitions from chaparral to pinyon-juniper woodlands to mixed hardwoods to Ponderosa pine. You can even find some pockets of Douglas-fir on Mingus Mountain and on top of the rim. The native vegetation types nearest your garden can tell you something about the growing conditions within your garden. Dense stands of mesquite are found on the river terraces with decent soil. Desert scrub is found on rocky sites. Desert grassland sites are intermediate. Pinyon-juniper sites are rocky and typically cooler. If you have Ponderosa pine, then you are on an even cooler site with a shorter growing season. We can see large expanses of this open space in and all around the Verde Valley. Who owns it? What is done with it? More important, what will happen to it in the future? Land ownership throughout Arizona (and the west) is divided between private individuals, federal government, state government, and Indian reservations. For example, Yavapai County land ownership is 26% privately owned, 38% Forest Service (Federal) administered, 9% Bureau of Land Management (Federal) administered, 27% State Lands, and 0.5% Indian reservation. Most of the Federal and State Lands are leased by cattle ranchers. Ranching is one way to produce commodities (food and consumer goods) on lands not suitable for farming. The typical ranch in Yavapai County may have a relatively small portion of deeded (private) land that houses the ranch headquarters and a relatively large portion of leased Federal and/or State land to provide pasture for livestock. For example, the V Bar V Ranch covers 77,000 acres of which 44 acres are deeded property. This ranch is owned by the University of Arizona and is an Experiment Station managed by the College of Agriculture. Grazing rights are leased from the Forest Service. Like many ranches in this area, the V Bar V is in a long, narrow parcel that has winter pastures at the lower elevations near Camp Verde, late summer pastures on top of the rim, and transitional areas for spring and fall grazing. The ranch is divided into 57 pastures to allow better control of animal impacts by cattle. Elk, on the other hand, go anywhere they please and also cause some ecological impact. If you don't already know, this is a serious point of contention between ranchers, environmental groups and Arizona Game and Fish. The ranching industry also plays a key role in our local economies. In 1996, Yavapai County generated more than $26,000,000 in cash receipts from livestock. This trickles down to businesses and services throughout our communities. Today, the ranching industry is also at the center of many complicated environmental arguments. At the forefront of the environmental issues are Threatened and Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act. These issues are compounded by a weak beef market, the elk dilemma and growing urban development pressures. Most of us value the open spaces around us. This will likely remain as open space if ranching remains a viable industry. If ranching is no longer viable, deeded land can be sold to developers and our valued open space is changed forever. More frequently we are seeing groups like the Nature Conservancy working with ranchers to help preserve our valued open space. Most ranchers are truly stewards of the land and care deeply about the environment. It's their livelihood. To learn more about ranching, attend the V Bar V Ranch Tour on August 29. Space is limited, so register as soon as possible by calling the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension office in Cottonwood at 646-9113. If you're not quite ready to buy a cattle ranch but still have gardening questions, call the Master Gardener line in the Cottonwood office at 646-9113 or E-mail us at mgardener@kachina.net and be sure to include your address and phone number. |