COCHRANE, Alta. – Robinson Creek is less than a metre across, but the crooked little stream brings life to people, cattle and wildlife as it meanders through the Butters Ranch in the Alberta foothills.
Caring for that creek and its riparian zone has been a 13 year project for Erik Butters, his daughter, Erin, and her husband, Darcy Scott, who live and ranch northwest of Cochrane.
The work started in 1997 with the riparian organization Cows and Fish, which works with individuals and community groups to rebuild the green zones around life bearing waterways.
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The Butters started with an ecological health assessment and began fencing off parts of the creek to keep out cattle.
Grasslands, shrubs and trees were encouraged to regrow after years of degradation.
“It is a work in progress,” said Erik, who understands that patience is needed to restore the land to health.
Wintering cattle in creek bottoms was a common practice for decades and many operations are damaged because of it, said Michael Gerrand of Cows and Fish.
Cattle eat the grass, strip off the willow saplings and muddy up the water.
It does not take long for a variety of plants and trees to return once cattle are removed.
It was common to allow cattle into the creek for water and forage when Erik’s father bought the land in 1937 from the Hudson’s Bay Company.
Some of the area was also cultivated, partly because breaking up land for farming was part of early homestead agreements.
Erik said it was a mistake. The land should have never seen a plow.
It has taken two generations to see the value of grasslands for feeding cattle and protecting the watershed.
Erik has passed on that sensibility to his daughter and son-in-law, who hope to also pass it on to their two young children.
Erin told a tour group in mid-October about how she and her sister worked the land as children but that it was not until adulthood that she came to appreciate the value of sustainable rangeland and watersheds for future generations.
“Since I was born, that connection to the land that I didn’t understand is coming in sharper focus for me,” she said.
The family runs 230 cows on 1,000 acres of deeded land and nearby grazing leases on which 40 acres can sustain one cow.
That increases to a quarter section per cow on their forestry grazing permit.
“It takes a lot of ground to run a cow around here,” Erik said.
In his father’s day, the size of the cow herd was matched to the available forage and hay grown on the ranch.
These days, the family buys extra hay because even with well-managed rangeland, this high elevation ranch may receive two feet of hard-crusted snow in winter that cattle cannot dig through.
The Butters pass on their appreciation for sustainability to a small group of customers who want to buy beef direct from the rancher.
They have also hosted politicians and birdwatchers to show what they have achieved on the creek that drains into the Ghost and Bow rivers, which in turn deliver water to more than a million people.
“Management inputs are part of the cost of the food we eat,” said Lorne Fitch of Cows and Fish, which is also known as the Alberta Riparian Habitat Management Society.
The challenge is to figure out how to tell consumers what is being done and how it has value to them.
The society starts with education when it is invited to work with individuals and communities.
Participants are taught that riparian zones are the green areas along water courses and are necessary for a healthy, functioning landscape and watershed.
They make up two percent of Alberta’s land base but act like a filter and water storage to support life for people, fish and animals.
Wet soil-loving plants return and their roots hold the banks together like rebar in concrete once an area has been restored with a few simple practices such as fenced off creeks and rotational grazing.
Native plants such as sedge and rough fescue have deep roots that reach down more than a metre. They are preferred over shallow rooted grasses such as Kentucky bluegrass or brome grass.
These soft, tame grasses are a problem across the western rangelands. They were introduced by early settlers and will never go away. Grazing them before they go to seed gives native plants a chance to spread and provide later season forage.
Flood protection is another advantage when encouraging the growth of deep-rooted native plants.
Roots hold together when floods wash through creeks, slowing the force of the water and controlling soil erosion along the banks.
However, creek flooding is not necessarily bad because it brings in new sediment and plant nutrients.
Riparian benefits
•abundant forage and improved opportunities for long-term sustainable farms, ranches and communities;
•buffer and filter to improve and maintain water quality;
•sponge to hold water, improve forage production and provide a drinking supply;
•shelter and habitat for livestock and wildlife.
Source: Alberta Riparian Habitat Management Society
