Consultants to and for Recreation and Agricultural Enterprises

Recreation Management

Not so long ago it was thought that outdoor recreation and the operations of a working ranch were not compatible simultaneous activities. However, as ranching, and the pressures affecting the land have changed, so too has this old misconception.

Today’s integrated ranch management not only provides for enjoyment of the wildlife, waterfowl, fisheries, and habitat resources by owners and guests, but in fact demands it. Creating and sustaining overall resource health through enhancement and protection results in higher population and variety of wildlife, waterfowl, and fisheries, and allows, if carefully integrated, increases in agricultural production, forage, livestock carrying capacity, and crop production.

As one example, Ruby Oxbow Ranch outside of Sheridan, Montana, managed by Ranches of the West from 1995 until 2004 when our clients sold the property, has simultaneously constructed six miles of infrastructure with six beautiful custom homes (completely hidden from one another and the valley), increased crop production (and associated pasture) from 2,400 tons to 4,900 tons, and livestock carrying capacity from 350 to 625 animal units year round, while at the same time successfully precipitating a 520% increase in elk population, 410% increase in mule deer population, 120% increase in whitetail population, and almost doubling of the population of brown trout throughout the river on the Ranch with attendant increases of average fish population unit biomass in such fisheries. And the Ranch affords, with strict recreation, harvest, and resource utilization rules, over 500 high quality rod days, over 120 rifle days (1 hunter, 1 rifle) and almost as many shotgun days (1 waterfowler, 1 day). That is over a thousand days of human recreation, coupled with exponential increases in wildlife and fisheries, and a doubling of agricultural operations!!

The key to good recreation management is people management. Assuming the owner’s goals are that of creating a fully integrated ranch with A+ habitat, A+ wildlife/fishery resources, and A+ ongoing working agricultural operations, a manager, if he has, properly planned the usage of the Ranch, can afford opportunities to hundreds of persons to enjoy such resources. Planning, implementation, creation and enforcement of rules governing resource utilization are of paramount importance. Rules which maintain absolute privacy for sportsmen, sanctuaries for wildlife, rest and rotation for fisheries, safety for all on the Ranch, strict adherence to single barbless hook, catch and release in the case of fisheries, and minimum antler point restrictions with targeted doe and/or cow harvest quotas, are but a few of the necessary ingredients of successful recreation operations on a fully integrated working ranch.

Resource Repair and Enhancement

All too often new ranch owners rush to complete a bevy of “improvements” on their newly acquired land, truly believing that they are bestowing upon it great and lavish gifts. Unfortunately, over enhancement and continued tampering with the natural ecological systems of a ranch property can have on the Ranch, the resources which one is hoping to enhance, and indeed the entire basin of which the Ranch is a part, affects as detrimental as those created by the opposite extreme (complete lack of caring about resource and over utilization by people, livestock, or otherwise). We have found, over many years and hundreds of resource related improvement projects on scores of ranches, that patience, careful planning, and orientation to gently assisting the land to replenish itself is preferable and creates far greater long term success then intense molding, shaping and “remodeling” of the earth. And, that approach is far less expensive, with equal or better results!

As a general rule of thumb we like to take the position that if there is a problem that has been created by man (over grazing, stream bank trampling, sedimentation, over utilization of upland range, poor use of upland water resource, lack of riparian or other sensitive ecosystem protection, etc.) then it is our duty to go in and gently assist the land in protecting or repairing itself. On the other hand, if what is happening with the land is natural, and not caused by human attention or lack thereof then we have found in most cases it is better to leave things be and let the land and its bundle of resources take their own natural course.

Generally speaking resource improvements can be lumped into four general categories. These include 1) water related improvements and enhancements, 2) upland range improvements, 3) production/irrigation improvements, and, 4) fencing improvements.

Actions on a Ranch which kill more than one bird with the stone are important to economical operations and improvements. For instance, the construction of a pond, if properly planned, should increase the aesthetic appeal of the land, provide additional watering sources for wildlife, provide watering sources for livestock, keep livestock away from sensitive riparian areas, control flood event erosion in narrow canyons, and reduce sedimentation that reaches major fisheries on the Ranch. Improvements of any type should be planned to blend with the land to look as natural as possible, and those final important landscaping, grading, seeding touches should never be ignored