Grazing Cooperatives: Benefits and Opportunities for Bennett Valley

by Sarah Keiser

Together with the University of California Cooperative Extension, Sonoma County (UCCE), Wild Oat Hollow is providing education and research-based information to both private and public landowners and managers in Sonoma County to implement a robust countywide grazing program addressing decarbonization, carbon sequestration, water retention, and reduced wildfire risk as it relates to grazable lands.  The goal of the project is to assess the total grazable acreage in Sonoma County and work with landowners and managers to better manage these lands to achieve climate mitigation and conservation goals. 

Through grazing, community education and training, Sonoma County is embarking on a first of its kind program in partnership with UCCE powered by Wild Oat Hollow. This project creates climate-resilient communities and ecosystems, through effort that educates landowners and managers on vegetation management tool(s) to assist with fuels reduction and ecological enhancement on private and public lands, especially in the Wildlands Urban Interface (WUI). 

Bennett Valley has a unique opportunity, with our support, to pilot a valley wide vegetation management plan – including grazing cooperatives, contract grazing, and commercial grazing for commercial livestock producers. As your valley has experienced, fires don’t stop at property lines.  A swift and dangerous wildfire, fed by dry vegetation, can ravage a valley and its infrastructure very quickly.   With this piloted grazing cooperative, the residents of Bennett Valley will ‘share’ the livestock, with a collaborative mission on developing a healthy fire ecosystem that serves residents, graziers, wildlife and the environment.

Community Grazing Cooperatives are a method for rural residential neighborhoods to empower themselves in their own land stewardship. The grazing ruminants are shared by the community, managed by the grazier, moved from neighbor to neighbor to serve as community ambassadors, to manage everyone's fire fuel load. It is essential to our collective climate resilience that these grazing cooperatives populate our rural communities.  We provide sound infrastructure, technical assistance and a clearly defined model for sharing responsibilities between neighbors, graziers and livestock in an easily replicated manner.

“Across the state of California there is work to provide holistic and long term solutions for vegetation management. It is important to create fiscally sustainable and ecologically sound practices that can be used in urban and rural residential zones for healthy systems and resilient communities in our fire prone areas,” said Sarah Keiser, Wild Oat Hollow CEO. “The residents of Bennett Valley have the opportunity to create a long term, strategic view on land stewardship that increases carbon sequestration, reduces fire fuel load, engages residents and beautifies their landscapes in a fiscally sustainable manner.”

Prescribed grazing is an extremely effective tool for vegetation management for fire fuel load reduction and it increases SOM (soil organic matter) by transforming fire fuel loads into soil building manure, while improving the health of our wild spaces.

You do not need to have a fully fenced property to participate in a grazing cooperative: we can support finding fencing alternatives.  All you need to provide is water for the livestock that will work hard to reduce your fire fuel load and improve the aesthetics of your property. 

If you are interested in learning more about grazing cooperatives or how your land can be grazed through a shared, cooperative experience please take a moment to complete this grazing collaborative interest form.  This is a sustainable and efficient way to manage your shared vegetation management needs on an annual basis.  

Feel free to contact Sarah Keiser http://www.wildoathllow.com (https://www.wildoathollow.com/community-grazing-cooperatives ) or Dr. Stephanie Larson slarson@ucanr.edu with any questions.