Invasive Species and Pest Management

Invasive species and pest management focus on preventative measures to reduce reliance on pesticides while minimizing negative impacts of pests and invasive species on environmental and economic resources. The guiding principle for these management strategies is to create conditions that are optimal for forage and livestock production and less favorable for invasive species and pest development.

Common pests pose a persistent threat to the cost-effective production of forage and livestock, often affecting food safety and biodiversity.

According to the US Department of Agriculture, pest management is defined as the practice of “utilizing environmentally sensitive prevention, avoidance, monitoring and suppression strategies to manage weeds, insects, diseases, animals and other organisms (including invasive and non-invasive species) that directly or indirectly cause damage or annoyance” to the healthy functioning of ecosystems and their related operations.

A Land Manager’s Guide to Grassland Birds of Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan Watershed Authority

The Saskatchewan Watershed Authority created this guide to “provide ranchers with basic information on the identification, habitat and biology of grassland birds…[and] how pasture management influences grassland birds and their habitat.”
Alexander Ranch Sun City, Kansas

Ted Alexander

The Alexander Ranch of Sun City, Kansas has been selected as one of the regional recipients of the 2007 Environmental Stewardship Award Program [by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association].
Bill Barby Ranch

Clark County, Kansas

The B bar B ranch is located in southwest Kansas within the Great Plains of North America. The property is primarily a working cattle operation with small-scale, premium deer hunting. The region also exhibits abundant northern bobwhite quail and other grassland birds.
Biodiversity Conservation Guide for Farmers and Ranchers in Alberta

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Alberta

This guide, published by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, describes six basic principles of biodiversity conservation, listing supporting management strategies for each principle.
Burnette Ranch

Comanche County, Kansas

Burnette Ranch is located within the Southwestern Tablelands in the Cimarron Breaks ecoregion of the Great Plains. This ranch has benefited from grazing management, exhibiting excellent climax native grass species composition, a diverse forb community and an active lesser prairie-chicken lek.
Chinook Ranch Ltd.

Longview, Alberta

Located near Longview, Alberta, Chinook Ranch displays a long-term vision of sustainable ranching. During the growing season the cattle graze a maximum of two to five days in one area to prevent overgrazing, and the potential spread of invasive species into native habitats.
Della Ranches Box Country, Utah

Tanner Family

Della Ranches is located in Box Elder County in Utah. The ranch “runs about 1,000 cattle on 192,000 acres of private, state and federally owned lands.
Field Grove Ranch Buffalo, Wyoming

The Fieldgrove Family

Ryan and Teresa Fieldgrove’s ranch, located near Buffalo, is a cow/calf range operation consisting of over 10,000 acres of deeded and leased land. Ryan Fieldgrove’s family has ranched in the area for over 125 years with his children representing the fifth generation to be involved.
Gentry Ranch Partners LLC

Barber County, Kansas

Gentry Ranch Partners LLC is located in the heart of the Great Plains within southwest Kansas. The ranch manages Angus- and Hereford-based cow/calf pairs on an area with a diverse native plant community, abundant wildlife, springs, and caves. Practices carried out through this 1,426-hectare project included firebreak establishment and prescribed burns.
Guide to Native Grassland Management in Nebraska

The Nature Conservancy, Nebraska

The Guide to Native Grasslands Management in Nebraska was created to aid Great Plains land managers in their grassland management decisions.
JP Sons LLC

Russell County, Kansas

The goal of the project for JP Sons LLC was to improve the grassland ecosystem for livestock grazing and wildlife. It focused on 618 hectares of the ranch, located in the southern region of the Kansas Partners for Fish and Wildlife, North Central Prairies focus area.
Management of Canadian Prairie Rangeland

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Canada

This document was created by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada to provide information to range managers, ranchers, scientists and wildlife managers about management practices for Canadian natural grass rangelands.