NORTH DAKOTA OUTDOORS MAGAZINE

Rejuvenating Native Prairie

Ron Wilson

Morton County Wildlife Management Area has been around.

The 640-acre WMA was purchased in 1917, making it the second oldest WMA managed or owned by the North Dakota Game and Fish Department behind Wakopa WMA in the Turtle Mountains.

For the last decade or so, the Department and an area rancher have been employing the age-old approach (envision free-roaming bison back in the day) of using cattle to invigorate the WMA’s native prairie.

“Morton County WMA is pretty much all native prairie, except for about 50 acres in the southwest corner. Our goal is to have the cattle chew down the old grass and break up the duff layer. We try to get them in here early and moved through the different cells so the grass can recover,” said Levi Jacobson, Department wildlife resource management supervisor in Bismarck. “Getting the cows out here early is important so they target the cool season, invasive species such as smooth brome and Kentucky bluegrass. The cattle will get rotated through the cells according to the grazing plan. And then when we come back and do this again in two years, we’ll rotate the cows through the cells in opposite order. The grazing regiment helps to provide diversity on the landscape.”

Scott Ressler, the area rancher who runs cattle from the family’s operation at Morton County WMA, said the positive influence the cows have on the landscape doesn’t simply boil down to how and what the animals eat.

“That hoof action just rejuvenates the old, dead mats of grass,” he said. “The native range is a tough, tough critter but you have to be able to utilize it and graze it.”

Cows on the WMA

According to Ressler’s research, he said when the WMA’s gate opened nearly a decade ago to his family’s operation, it likely marked the first time cattle were released on the landscape for more than a century.

“When we first started, it really wasn’t the best type of grass … there was lots of thick, thick litter that had really integrated and just choked out the native ranges, and we’re slowly starting to bring it back into good shape,” said Ressler, environmental services director for the North Dakota Stockmen’s Association. “I remember as a kid that this was a popular area to come sit in the blinds and watch sharp-tailed grouse dance. And that was essentially eliminated because the birds just weren’t here anymore. And now they’re back dancing in those same areas. We’re also starting to see some Hungarian partridge.”

The cows, and the rotational grazing system being used, have made a noticeable difference on this WMA located 11 miles south of Mandan. The return of sharp-tailed grouse is proof of that.

“Without the cattle, I think our diversity would be lost, and Scott can vouch for that,” Jacobson said. “The grass, the diversity has come a long way in just the 10 years that we’ve been doing this.”

There was a time when hunters didn’t embrace the idea of running cattle on land where they wanted to hunt because they thought the big, domestic critters did more harm than good. Yet, as Jacobson and Ressler pointed out, scientific research on the issue has proven otherwise.

“We proved that theory isn’t true anymore. Ducks Unlimited, Pheasants Forever, Game and Fish, all these wildlife groups have changed the mindset that integrating livestock from the beef cattle industry has been a great thing,” Ressler said. “I think once hunters and the other people who use the area saw the work that was done out here in rejuvenating this native range has been nothing but positive because the wildlife has come back.”

From left, Stran Ressler, Scott Ressler and Levi Jacobson talk about the benefits of cattle on the landscape to wildlife and hunters at Morton County Wildlife Management Area.

Jacobson added that the grasses growing on native prairie need some sort of management. If not, those cool season invasive species would take over and reduce the land’s diversity and the amount of habitat preferred by wildlife.

“We try to manage most of our native prairie with cattle because, historically, that’s how native prairie evolved,” Jacobson said. “On some WMAs that consist of tame grasses, the upfront costs of water and fence development make it not worthwhile to graze cattle. There we can use other management practices or do a complete renovation to maintain diversity. But with native prairies, our options for management are limited. So, cattle and prescribed fire are our best tools.”

Ressler said they rotate the cattle from one fenced paddock to the next about every 20 days. While the paddocks differ in size, most are about 70 to 80 acres.

“We developed a grazing system with the Game and Fish where we rotate and set up these portable fences,” he said. “There are eight different paddocks out here and we do half one year and then move to the other half the next year. We work it with the water tank, so the cows know where they’re going so it’s not big of a deal to come out and rotate them.”

Jacobson said Ressler texts him when the cattle have been rotated and he checks every week or two to make sure the operation is moving along as anticipated.

“We do ask a lot out of our grazing cooperators, so we keep the cost for grazing down ... it needs to be beneficial to them,” Jacobson said. “They are required to do fence maintenance, put up and move temporary fence and move the cows when we want them to. It’s not exactly easy for them, but it’s beneficial for both.”

Jacobson said the main purpose of the Department’s 200-plus owned or managed WMAs around the state is to provide places for people to hunt and Morton County WMA is no different. Which is why only portions of this section of public land are grazed from year to year to ensure that there is ample hunting cover come fall.

“On a professional level as an employee of the North Dakota Stockmen’s Association, we’ve seen the openness from the Department’s wildlife management people across the state who understand that livestock and wildlife have a place,” Ressler said. “And I think the hunting public has figured it out as well.”

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