Rivers & Ranches Stewardship Project

The Rivers and Ranches Stewardship Project works to sustain watershed health and agricultural enterprises while preserving open space in the Lahontan region.

Project Overview
The Rivers and Ranches Stewardship Project is a water quality improvement project that monitors water bodies potentially affected by grazing operations on private lands in the Lahontan Region and aids landowners in implementing management practices to reduce the discharge of pollutants from grazing operations into surface waters. The watersheds included in the project area are the Walker River, Carson River, Susan River, and the Owens River. Sites on public lands on the eastern Sierra in the Lahontan Region will also be monitored for bacteriological water pollution.

The Rivers and Ranches Stewardship Project is conducted through a partnership between the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board (LWB), the University of  California Davis (UC), and the Sierra Business Council (SBC).

Objectives
The main goal of the project is to assist grazing operators with implementing best management practices that result in a reduction in bacteriological water pollution. Another goal is to educate grade school children about bacteriological water pollution. Finally, public lands that are grazed in the Eastern Sierra will be monitored for levels of bacteriological water pollution.

Process

• The activities associated with the project are:
• Identify the sources of bacteriological water pollution through microbial source tracking and monitoring of enteric pathogens and bacterial indicators for a cross-section of watersheds in the Lahontan Region.
• Collaborating with landowners to assess their land, and provide financial and technical assistance towards implementing sustainable grazing management practices.
• Implement grazing management practices to reduce the discharge of pollutants from grazing operations into surface waters in the Lahontan Region.
• Monitor to assess the effectiveness of the grazing management practices using bacterial indicators.
• Conduct education and outreach events for K-12 students in coordination with Future Farmers of America.

To learn more about this project, please contact Project Manager Kris Kuyper at kkuyper@sbcouncil.org or (530) 582-4800 ext. 23.