Project Overview
Environmental regulations, specifically nonpoint source (NPS) water quality regulations, represent a significant financial and legal risk to range- and pasture-based livestock operations in the Pacific Northwest. Measuring water quality is not difficult, but assigning causality is very difficult and standards are unclear. Strategies to achieve clean water require addressing the big picture perspective of watershed health in tandem with very specific practice adoption.
This project enabled participating landowners in Washington State to reduce their legal risk of violating water quality standards by training them how to maintain healthy riparian areas and counter specific on-farm risk factors. The project leaders cooperated with the National Riparian Service Team to conduct four 2-day workshops around the state combining classroom instruction and field exercises focused on increasing understanding of how grazing affects watershed function and riparian health. Participants were split into interdisciplinary teams in the field to analyze and recommend management actions for the case study site used for that workshop. This approach of real-world problem-solving combined with instruction on grazing and water quality principles from research proved effective in stimulating livestock producers, technical service providers, and regulators to think through the environmental pathways of pollutants and optimize the natural mechanisms that control them.
Number of Participants: 92
PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS
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EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS
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REPORTS & EVALUATIONS
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