Brumley Ridge Allotment, Manti-La Sal National Forest, Utah (2001) -- Photo Essay by Mike Hudak

Brumley Ridge Allotment
Manti-La Sal National Forest, UT

September 2001

Photo essay by Mike Hudak, author of
Western Turf Wars: The Politics of Public Lands Ranching

Ranging in elevation from 6,000 feet to 10,600 feet above sea level and encompassing 16,180 acres, the Brumley Ridge Allotment includes a variety of landscapes, vegetation and wildlife. Each year from June 16th to October 20th the allotment is also home to 395 head of cattle whose grazing over many years has degraded the flora upon which native wildlife depend.

My observations here began with my visit on September 14, 2001, when local resident William Love guided me through the allotment.

Gold Basin, Brumley Ridge Allotment, Manti-La Sal National Forest, Utah. Photo by Mike Hudak.

We begin at the lower elevations of the allotment in the region of Gold Basin, an area that has been intensely grazed by cattle for many decades. A 1994 Forest Service range study summary stated that 51% of this region was bare soil. Bill Love estimated the forage utilization here at 80%. What grass remains is only about 1" high.

Bare soil, such as this, stems primarily from intensive cattle grazing which weakens the grass’s ability to stabilize the soil against erosive forces. Photo at UTM coordinates 0650958/4259272.

Sheet erosion at Gold Basin, Brumley Ridge Allotment, Manti-La Sal National Forest, Utah. Photo by Mike Hudak.

Intense cattle grazing here has led to sheet erosion. The 1994 range study mentioned above set a goal for Gold Basin of having no more than 30% bare soil. Apparently little improvement has occurred under Forest Service management during the intervening seven years. Photo at UTM coordinates 0650958/4259272.

Gold Basin cattle exclosure, Brumley Ridge Allotment, Manti-La Sal National Forest, Utah. Photo by Mike Hudak.

Cattle exclosure cages like this one in Gold Basin provide a benchmark of three to four years of natural vegetative growth for comparison with the surrounding grazed conditions. Notable differences between conditions inside and outside are apparent: inside there is virtually no bare soil, and the grass is roughly 6" high. Photo at UTM coordinates 0650958/4259272.

Trespass cattle at Oowah Lake, Manti-La Sal National Forest, Utah. Photo by Mike Hudak.

On our way to Boren Mesa we hiked along Oowah Lake (actually a reservoir), which is off limits to cattle because of a nearby campground. When these trespass bovines saw us coming they ran back through the broken fence from which they had come. Cattle, though, are allowed access to the creek that flows from the lake. Although used primarily for irrigation, that water also supplies residences in the valley.

Boren Mesa gully, Brumley Ridge Allotment, Manti-La Sal National Forest, Utah. Photo by Mike Hudak.

Decades of cattle grazing have left so little vegetation to hold the soil that this deep gully has formed on a slope of Boren Mesa.

Rocky Mountain iris at Boren Mesa, Brumley Ridge Allotment, Manti-La Sal National Forest. Photo by Mike Hudak.

This view from Boren Mesa shows yet another consequence of long-term, intensive cattle grazing: proliferation of a plant that cattle find unpalatable and thus avoid. Here the plant is the golden colored Rocky Mountain iris (Iris missouriensis) stretching to the distant forest. Because iris reproduces from rootstock as well as from seed, the plant can withstand heavy trampling and can spread rapidly when competitive vegetation (such as that preferred by cattle) is weakened. Sadly, for native wildlife, the iris is well adapted to soils capable of supporting plant species of much greater nutritive value.

Rocky Mountain iris and cattle exclosure on Boren Mesa, Brumley Ridge Allotment, Manti-La Sal National Forest, Utah. Photo by Mike Hudak.

Rocky Mountain iris carpets Boren Mesa. Note the Forest Service’s cattle exclosure cage of the sort we saw in Gold Basin. This cage has been overturned, though, probably by a hungry bovine seeking additional grass.

Kentucky bluegrass on Boren Mesa, Brumley Ridge Allotment, Manti-La Sal National Forest, Utah. Photo by Mike Hudak.

Regions of Boren Mesa that have not yet been invaded by the iris continue to be ravaged by cattle. Yet even the little grass cover that remains is not native: it’s primarily Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis) which was brought from Eurasia. Native western grasses, not adapted to frequent and close grazing, have been severely depleted by cattle. Consequently, more grazing tolerant species such as the bluegrass have proliferated to the detriment of native wildlife. Where there were once several grass species there is now primarily one that produces less forage than the natives.

Boren Mesa cattle exclosure, Brumley Ridge Allotment, Manti-La Sal National Forest, Utah. Photo by Mike Hudak.

This intact cattle exclosure cage on Boren Mesa indicates how much forage there’d be here for native wildlife such as deer and elk were it not for the cattle.


Left photo shows a high elevation region of the allotment near Burro Pass that had not yet been grazed by cattle in 2001. Compare it with the photo on the right of Gold Basin. Yes, the lower elevation Gold Basin, warmer and drier, doesn’t support grasses that grow quite so high as those at Burro Pass, but without the cattle there definitely wouldn’t be so much bare ground.

Burro Pass, Manti-La Sal National Forest, Utah. Photo by Mike Hudak.

The Burro Pass region of the allotment has been closed to grazing since the mid-1980s due to the presence of tall larkspur (wild delphinium) which can kill cattle if consumed in large quantities. For the most part, though, the area is covered by forbs and lush native grasses.


Close views of the ground cover at Burro Pass. On the left, an overview showing the native bunchgrass Thurber fescue (Festuca thurberi). On the right, forbs between the bunchgrasses. Native wildlife use these plants in different ways. Elk primarily eat grass, while the lower growing forbs help fatten deer for winter.

Cow portrait, Brumley Ridge Allotment, Manti-La Sal National Forest, Utah. Photo by Mike Hudak.

Without the cattle the region would have taller grass, less bare ground, less erosion and less invasive low quality vegetation. Overall it would be a much better environment for the native wildlife.

Epilogue

On July 19, 1999, the permitees applied for, and were subsequently granted, the permit to graze cattle on the Brumley Ridge Allotment. In 2002 the Forest Service discovered that the very next day after applying for the permit the permittees quit claimed to a relative the base property they had claimed on their permit application. Subsequently, the Forest Service revoked the permittees’ permit upon concluding that it had been “secured by willfully and fraudulently misrepresenting base property ownership.” In mediation between the permittees and the Forest Service, agreement was reached to restore the permittees’ grazing permit with a 46% reduction in the number of cattle on the allotment subject to the permittees obtaining a base property of at least five acres.