Photos from the WDFW Pintler CreekPilot Grazing Project Area April 9 and 10, 2007 Site Visit.Photos by Katie Fite-WWP The Pintler Pilot Grazing Project is located in the Asotin watershed, identified as a steelhead habitat restoration area by state and federal agencies. Taxpayers have spent well over 2 million dollars in "habitat restoration projects" here. Just downstream from a feedlot operation of sorts located in the floodplain is a blown out section of the watershed where federal taxpayers have recently provided funds for expensive stream channel reconfiguration. Now, more funds are being spent on writing Pilot Project Plans (like the fantasy-based Pintler Pilot Project Plan), "monitoring," and other grazing activities to support a private cattle operation being conducted on WDFW lands in this beleaguered watershed. As the photos show, the WDFW-Cattlemen's MOU Grazing Pilot Plan is already de-stabilizing watersheds, promoting weed expansion, polluting waters, and harming both fish and wildlife habitats, as well as interfering with human recreational uses. The photos below depict what is supposed to be an exemplary Pilot Grazing Project, demonstrating proper grazing. It was spawned by a 2005 Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Cattlemen‚s Association. Some information on the MOU can be found at the Cattlemen's Website, where photos of Governor Chris Gregoire and the Attorney General are shown with Cattlemen at the MOU signing that inaugurated the Pilot Projects and other large-scale moves by livestock interests to impose cattle grazing on ungrazed shrubsteppe and canyon grasslands habitats in Washington state. At an April 6-7, 2007 WDFW Commission meeting in Ellensburg, the WDFW Commission received and solicited assurances about the supposed benefits of cattle grazing to fish and wildlife, including the Pilot Projects like Pintler, and other politically ramrodded grazing targeting other Wildlife Areas like Whiskey Dick and LT Murray/Wenas WDFW lands. The Commission also changed the WAC (state code) to allow the Director of the Department to issue "temporary" permits for up to a year, and then to renew the permits for several subsequent years. The Director/WDFW also has the option to NOT charge for grazing use of WDFW lands, and instead "negotiate" with lessees and allow grazing to occur without a fee being charged. The Pilot Projects and other new grazing schemes are supposed to be showcase efforts demonstrating how grazing can be „done right‰ on WDFW lands. They aim to make the state Habitat Areas into "Working Landscapes." This term is apparently derived from a failed policy that former Bush BLM Director Kathleen Clarke sought to impose on federal public lands, under a program Clarke called "Sustaining Working Landscapes." The BLM program became known as "Swill," and was abandoned after public ridicule. According to testimony and comments at the Commission meeting, the Pilot Project's cattlemen lessees (like the lessee at Pintler) were hand-picked by the Cattlemen for their grazing expertise and the ability to "do it right." In the WDFW Pintler Grazing Plan, the watershed is theoretically divided into separate Use Areas for alternating cattle use. Artificial unfenced Use Areas are divorced from topographical constraints and the ecological reality of grazing cattle in the arid West. The West side of Pintler Creek is to be grazed, and then Kelly Creek. Of course, it is impossible to keep cattle on one side or the other of the Creek here, or confined to a particular area. Under the Plan, cattle are to be in the Pintler watershed until May 31, 2007. Thus, riparian impacts, sidehill trampling and soil churning, transport of weed seeds and disturbance by cattle to aquatic habitats, nesting birds and other wildlife are all planned to continue for another 6 or more weeks. The Photos. Photos 4935, 4937, 5247; WDFW Wildlife Area sign used as cattle loafing area on plateau between Pintler and George Creek on Meyer Ridge road south of Asotin, Washington. Photos 4868-4901; Pintler Creek WDFW lands. Upstream from Ayers Gulch in northern (downstream) portion of the Pilot Project. Cattle in photos are on the East side of Pintler Creek. Under the Grazing Plan, cattle are somehow magically NOT supposed to access Pintler Creek, no matter which Use Area they are grazed in! The Plan states that: "The entire length of Pintler Creek within the Wildlife Area is used for spawning and year-round rearing by ESA listed steelhead. Inability of the permittee to keep livestock out of this area will result in early termination of the grazing period". Unfortunately, cattle are loafing on benches near the stream, and on banks along the stream, even in cool weather conditions. Under the Plan, it seems clear that the cattle must be removed --- as the lessee has shown an inability to control the cattle use already, less than 2 weeks into the Project in cool weather. With warmer weather, impacts will increase. Abundant Scotch thistle, several species of exotic mustards including blue mustard, and other weeds are also found on the stream benches where cattle are loafing. Poison hemlock is found in many areas as well. Gray dried vegetation in photos, such as shown below the bunchgrass in Photo 4866 (and that surrounds the walker in Photo 4945), is yellow star thistle. Cattle in the Pintler watershed are now trailing back and forth through star thistle patches, transporting seeds to new areas, and churning soils on steep canyon slopes - thus creating ideal sites for new establishment of star thistle patches and other weeds. Photos 4945, 4947; Cattle trailing soil disturbance, including through star thistle patches. Watershed slopes below WDFW Meyers Ridge sign. Photos 4961-5046; Accessing Pintler Creek from Meyers Ridge WDFW sign site. Steep terrain, extensive soil disturbance and soil churning by cattle is particularly severe in mesic sidehill shrub pockets, and small springs and seeps. Cattle (as shown in calf photos) freely move to, and loaf near the stream. Because of steep terrain, once cattle are in the bottom, they trail up and down the riparian corridor and old floodplain benches. Stream has very significantly downcut and the former floodplain area has been greatly altered. The very long road to "recovery" of this riparian system had only just begun in many areas. Cattle trails cut back and forth across Pintler Creek and tributaries, at times following old roadways. Photos 5028 and 5034 depict calf loafing and standing in water in manure-strewn riparian zone. Photos 5093-5110; Cattle trailing down sideslopes and loafing in riparian and old floodplain areas on East side of Pintler Creek - vicinity of Kelly Creek confluence with Pintler Creek. Despite Plans on paper, cattle have free run of the watershed. Waters contain large amounts of sediment coating rocks and the streambed. When stream bed is disturbed, sediment clouds (as in cow hoof print in Photo 5110) are readily visible. |
| Photos 5123-5216; Highly
degraded "blown-out" section of Pintler Creek that has suffered large-scale
erosion and loss of riparian floodplain habitats. Cut banks from the old
floodplain are seen in photos. There is extremely limited „recovery‰ of
riparian vegetation. Cattle are loafing near stream. Cattle traverse up
and down old stream terrace banks ˆ dislodging soils that subsequently
erode into the stream‚s steelhead and bull trout habitats with rainfall events.
Cattle trampling retards the very slow process of partial recovery from the
degradation that has resulted from past cattle grazing, dryland wheat farming
and other impacts in the watershed. Photos 5238-5240; Cattle feeding tub with mineral supplement located by star thistle patch. Cattle trailing back and forth to tub traverse star thistle patch, spreading weeds. This is an example of Weed Worst Management Practices ˆ the exact opposite of any "rangeland" Best Management Practices for weed-vulnerable landscapes. Cattle grazed on the WDFW land weed-infestation areas are likely to be trailed or moved onto National Forest or other WDFW lands as part of a larger grazing operation, including through native plant communities, and habitats for Spalding's catchfly, a Threatened plant. Of great concern is imposing cattle use on areas of native plant communities that currently have few weed problems. Cattle trampling disturbance across the grazed Pintler watershed is creating ideal conditions for weed expansion. Herbicide use, including in floodplain areas, appears to already be widespread in portions of the watershed as dried drooping weeds from last year were observed in the Ayers Gulch and lower Pintler stream areas, and weed spraying was observed in a floodplain restoration areas below Meyer Ridge Road. Herbicides may infiltrate surface and ground waters, with adverse effects on aquatic biota and human health. Photo 5255; Cattle grazing weakens and may kill long-lived native bunchgrasses like bluebunch wheatgrass. Bluebunch wheatgrass is very vulnerable to livestock use during the active and critical spring growing season of April and May when it is putting root reserves into new green leaf growth and seed production. Microbiotic crusts (mosses, algae, lichens) are found on soil surfaces in interspaces between bunchgrasses and forbs in native canyon grasslands and shrubsteppe. These protective living soil plant coverings perform many vital functions - including stabilizing soil surfaces, and preventing weed establishment. Cattle trampling pulverizes microbiotic crusts, leading to wind and water erosion, weed invasions and unstable watershed conditions. Cattle grazed in spring seek green plant growth, not dried out residual growth - as falsely claimed by WDFW "range" managers. Photos 5150-5457; Southern (upstream) portion of Pintler Pilot Project. Photos 5270 to 5291 illustrate livestock use of dry tributary draw areas. By removing protective grass cover, degrading protective microbiotic crusts, and compacting soils, cattle accelerate rainfall runoff from watersheds, elevating erosive flow impacts to downstream habitats. Rainfall does not soak into the soil, but runs off instead. This typically results in reduced perennial stream flows, and increased water pollution with sediment and manure. Photo 5291 and others show soil churning from livestock trailing. Photos 5304-5308 show extreme degradation of sidehill spring. Cattle have churned the entire length of the springbrook into a mire of mud and manure. Cattle drinking from this site consume their own manure and feces in water. Spring is located in upper portion of a draw. With rainfall events, mud and manure will run downslope into the stream below. Severe trampling, soil compaction and degradation of spring areas also may cause reduction in perennial flows, and over time kill surface water flows all together. Photos 5314-5329 show cattle trailing to, and loafing by, stream and benches near the stream. Photos 5338-5404 depict cattle trampling, trailing and grazing impacts near the stream, including trampled and broken willows and other riparian vegetation, trampled and manured streambanks and waters, and other impacts. Photos 5447 and 5457 show the same spring, with more cattle disturbed from wallowing in the mire, during our climb out of the canyon. Photo 5518; An overview of the expensive stream channel habitat restoration (creating artificial meanders) and shrub planting efforts in the blown out section of the watershed near the George Creek-Pintler creek confluence. If the stream system here were healthy, the ribbon of water (as glistens in Photo 5521) should be cloaked with riparian trees and shrubs. We may also be Posting Photos of a failed tree planting effort along Lick Creek (an Asotin Creek tributary) on WDFW lands where cattle apparently were pastured on WDFW lands in winter 2006-2007. These photos show protective plastic tree guards, dead trees and cattle manure. |
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