By Quenna Terry, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
B
ROOKS HODGES’ FIRST 3 YEARS AS GENERAL MANAGER of Pitchfork Land and Cattle Company in- cluded a wildfi re in 2011 that burned more
than half of the ranch’s grazing lands and some of the hottest, driest years on record. Forage and water resources for livestock were
depleted on the ranch in Dickens and King Coun- ties and Hodges took action. Some cattle were sold and other cattle were relocated until Mother Nature provided some relief with substantial rainfall events beginning in May 2014. The fl ush of new grass growth signaled that a recovery was underway and Hodges turned to USDA Natural Resources Conser- vation Service (NRCS) for assistance. “I knew that I had to gather a lot of informa-
tion to improve my management strategy,” says Hodges. “I’d heard of the support available through the NRCS. They have a lot of resources available — from experienced range conservationists to GPS and mapping technology.”
Planning Hodges and NRCS District Conservationist Mi-
chael Willson began planning for a full-scale re- source inventory. Stan Bradbury, NRCS rangeland management specialist for the High Plains Region, and Jeff Goodwin, NRCS state rangeland special- ist, assisted. “This opportunity provides a partnership with
the ranch where NRCS conducts inventories and evaluations of the resources and, in turn, uses the sites as valuable training locations for employees to increase their knowledge of grazing land resources,” Bradbury says. “Planning resource management options is an
Pitchfork Land and Cattle Company requested assistance from USDA-NRCS to conduct a full-scale resource inventory of the ranch in King and Dickens Counties.
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