By Jacqueline Covey for Civil Eats.
Broadcast version by Roz Brown for New Mexico News Connection reporting for the Solutions Journalism Network-Public News Service Collaboration
Tucked high in a mountain range in San Diego County, California, ranch managers Rob Paulin and Jeremey Walker rely on "spunky" cows to mitigate wildfire by grazing on the chaparral brush and shrubbery that traditional market cattle won't seek-let alone eat.
"Spunky," Paulin said with a smile as he surveyed his herd coming into a valley from mountain foraging. "That's one way to put it."
Originally from the Andalucía region of Spain, these Raramuri Criollo cattle are small and trim-weighing about 800 pounds each, compared to a 1,200-plus-pound Angus cattle. After being brought from Spain 500 years ago, they evolved in the mountains of Chihuahua, Mexico, where they learned to survive by searching for food in the far corners of the rough landscape. For centuries, the Tarahumara people have successfully bred Criollos with little husbandry, taking advantage of the cattle's ability to forage and thrive in arid climates to produce meat, milk, and more.
The cattle travel further and for longer periods than other breeds-even away from water-and will eat brushy shrubs when grasses run low due to drought. These unique grazing habits support native vegetation and reduce fire fuels at a time when California and the U.S. Southwest are facing a megadrought that could last another eight years. California is the driest it has been in 1,200 years, and this year wildfires have already burned more than 53,000 acres in the state.
Some Western ranchers are responding to the crisis, reducing wildfire risk, and conserving water by restoring native grass ecosystems and reducing overgrazing to avoid thinning herds.
Paulin has spent the last 10 years trying to improve the ecological footprint of the 4,500-acre Corte Madera Ranch by reducing biodiversity loss and ground compaction, which makes it difficult to retain water, without downsizing the ranch and jeopardizing his profitability. The profit margin from raising cattle is tight, so ranchers often trim costs by culling their herds during drought.
The Criollo's foraging patterns helped to manage fire-prone rangeland and restore native vegetation, while providing a cheaper alternative to conventional English beef cattle.
Since 2005, researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and New Mexico State University (NMSU) have studied the Raramuri Criollo's potential to produce more sustainably in the drought-prone Southwestern states. In 2015, Corte Madera Ranch became one of five ranches across the U.S. participating in the Sustainable Southwest Beef Coordinated Agricultural Project-adding Criollo heifers and a bull into its Angus herd.
The federally funded study compares the economic and environmental impacts of Angus-Hereford and Raramuri Criollo cattle in arid places. So far, researchers found that the Criollo are better suited to shrubby landscapes and have a lower footprint than Angus and other commercial cattle. At the Corte Madera Ranch last year, the drought forced its owners to reassess operations.
"Between all the Angus we had and the Criollos, there was just a little too much, and we were getting some overgrazing that we didn't like," Paulin said, who decided to sell the last remaining Angus. "We have nothing but Criollo mother cows now," he said.
Heritage Cattle on Arid Lands
With their Loki-style horns, the Raramuri Criollo are cousins to the Texas Longhorn, which grew larger as they evolved alongside commercial English Angus production.
It is believed that the Raramuri Criollo were on the "first shipment of domestic livestock destined to inhabit the New World"-somewhere in the West Indies-during Christopher Columbus' second voyage between 1493 and 1496. The cattle underwent a "semi-natural selection" over the course of nearly four centuries, according to NMSU scientists, as red meat consumption in the U.S. favored larger, faster-growing English breeds.
With little demand for Spanish cattle, the Criollo largely remained isolated in Mexico's Copper Canyon for centuries. They were forced to adapt into nimble-footed foragers with a willingness to venture away from water sources-the ideal characteristic for a desert rancher.
Raramuri Criollo "had to fend for themselves, and so they became resilient," Paulin said.
Regenerating Landscapes, Preventing Wildfire
On a June day, cooled by the fire-exacerbating Santa Ana winds, Paulin and Walker looked out to the site of a prescribed burn carried out by Cal Fire on Valentine's Day, part of an ongoing effort to reduce wildfire risk in the high desert of Southern California. It's hard to decipher between the treated and untreated acres-the fire-treated land is lush with growth-but after a second look, the vegetated area appears almost swept clean, even months after the burn.
"That's less of the ladder fuels to lead into the tree so the tree catches fire," Paulin said, referring to shrubs, low-lying tree branches, and other fuels that can spread fire burning to taller vegetation.
Once given some time to regenerate, Corte Madera's Criollo cattle will scour the Cal Fire-managed areas for new sprouts and rid the ranch of fire-fueling shrubs such as Mountain Mahogany. These fire management plans help landowners lower the likelihood of wildfires getting out of control. Fires that burn at very high temperatures for too long can sterilize soil and inhibit new grass and tree regrowth.
While English cattle tend to graze in a compact area in one pasture, the Criollo hunt for food across greater distances, which is less detrimental to the land. Improper grazing management alters fire patterns and the land's ability to regenerate naturally, according to NMSU researchers, but adopting new practices can help limit flammable brush and encourage deep-rooted native plant growth.
"Conventional grazing can be more devastating to the land than fire, because fire comes through and doesn't stay," explained Ann Adams, the education director for Holistic Management International, a global farm management agency. "[Fire] doesn't keep hammering the same grass over and over again the way that a stocked animal will."
Paulin has noticed that, unlike the commercial breeds, Criollo seek out patches of new grasses after pastures have been burned, but will not eat down to the soil. This grazing style helps keep fire fuels low as the cows replenish the land with manure.
"If [the land's] got that fuel load down and there's fresh grass growing, that can actually suppress the fire that comes in to the land," Adams said. "It's not just that the animal turns the carbon of the plant into fertilizer through its dung and urine . . . As it prunes, that is also bringing nutrients to the roots through the liquid carbon pathway."
Working in part with the scientists in New Mexico, Paulin found that the Raramuri Criollo's grazing helps reduce fire fuels without decimating native vegetation. In fact, he told Civil Eats he's begun to see native grasses that haven't flourished in a long time.
"Native grasses, when they're gone, it's really tough to bring them back," Paulin said. "We're starting to get places where needle grasses and deer grasses are growing back, where before we had two little patches of them."
Cost-Effective Alternative for Arid Ranches
Criollo are considered sports breeds, typically sold for rodeo events and not off to market.
Paulin and Walker still crossbreed Criollo with Angus bulls so that Corte Madera Ranch can sell it on the meat market as a beef animal-rather than as a recreational animal. NMSU found that quality cuts of Raramuri Criollo meat are comparable to the English breeds. Paulin noted that the leaner Criollo meat has more nutrients than Angus and is a match in taste.
A big obstacle to greater availability of Criollo meat in the market is that the few existing meat processing plants in the U.S. aren't suited for the small-framed animal-at least not yet, Walker explained. Some individuals privately slaughter and market Criollo cattle on their own.
"There are basically four main meatpackers in the United States," Walker said. "It's not that somebody couldn't make money, it just wouldn't be the same way as traditional meat right now, because [Criollos] aren't accepted in [these] facilities."
Although Corte Madera Ranch keeps its Angus bulls to attract better prices in the conventional market, NMSU purchases most of the cattle for its research pool, and the ranch auctions off any cattle not sold on the market.
Another perk of raising Criollo cattle is that their self-sufficient grazing makes them more cost-effective than English breeds. The Corte Madera Ranch has saved between $4,000 and $10,000 annually on supplemental feed and mineral bin costs.
"We only feed them when it snows," Walker said, "basically to keep them on the ranch."
The Corte Madera Ranch supplies its cattle with simple salt licks roughly the size of a cinder block to provide essential minerals.
"We've come to a point where it looks like we can maintain the herd through a drought without devastating the land, and the reason for that is because the Criollos will go so many places [to graze]," Paulin explained.
Diversifying from Angus, which comprises 90 percent of the beef market, is risky for ranchers trying to keep costs down and steady the flow of cows to the market. During dry years, California cattlemen must weigh the value of their herd with the bottom line and hope for a wetter season the following year to feed their land and cows.
While the Criollo cattle may not be the solution for all rangelands, they may relieve some pressure for those in the arid environments of the American Southwest. And the managers at Corte Madera Ranch say they are seeing better profit margins than before their Criollo integration.
"We're able to keep a third more mother cows on our land, because of the way the Criollo use our land," Walker said.
At the same time, the land is improving, rather than deteriorating, Paulin added. "That's the key."
Jacqueline Covey wrote this article for Civil Eats.
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By Katie Watkins for Houston Public Media.
Broadcast version by Roz Brown for Texas News Service reporting for the Solutions Journalism Network-Public News Service Collaboration
On a muggy Monday morning at Exploration Green in Clear Lake, walkers are on trails that meander along natural-looking ponds. Red-winged Blackbirds chirp in the distance and rabbits hide in the tall grasses and reeds.
It’s a public greenspace and nature preserve — it’s also a massive flood detention project.
"What you’ll see most of the time is just a square hole in the ground with a chain link fence around it, and it really doesn’t support much in the way of life," said David Sharp with the Exploration Green Conservancy. "You can see this is nothing like that."
Construction on the $43 million project’s fifth and final retention pond is set to wrap up next year. During storms, the five ponds will each be able to hold 100 million gallons of floodwater. Once they’re full, the water will slowly drain into the bayous.
"The whole design of the retention ponds is to slow down the flow of water so you don’t get that surge of water hitting the local bayous," said Sharp.
When it’s not raining, the site’s ponds contain water to support native plant and animal life. There are six miles of walking trails looping around them, thousands of native trees and 200 different native plant species.
The project is a collaboration between the conservancy and the Clear Lake City Water Authority. It first started in 2005, according to John Branch, the president of the water authority’s Board of Directors.
Branch said flooding was getting worse in Clear Lake, so they hired a consultant who recommended putting in detention ponds. There was an abandoned golf course that seemed like the perfect location, and they wanted to do something unique. So, they held a town hall.
Ideas started piling in: wetlands to help clean the water, hike and bike trails, a bird habitat island.
"We’ve got a lot of talent in the Clear Lake area — rocket scientists and people that are great at coming up with ideas," said Branch.
But not everyone was on board.
"People didn’t think it would work," he said. Some people wanted to develop the land. Others feared the water would turn it into a breeding ground for mosquitoes.
Harvey put the project to the test. When it hit in 2017, the first pond was nearly complete.
"I couldn’t wait for the street water to go down long enough so I could hop in my pickup [truck] and come over and see, is it really working?" Branch said.
And he wasn’t disappointed. The pond filled with stormwater, and based on insurance claims that had been filed during previous flood events, Branch said they estimated it saved 150 homes.
Beverly DeMoss lived in one of those homes. She said flooding from a storm in 2015 damaged her house when water seeped under the carpet.
"It was a major mess," she said.
But her house stayed dry during Harvey. Shortly after, DeMoss said she saw John Branch with the Clear Lake City Water Authority at church.
"I went up and hugged him and said ‘John, you saved my house,’" she said.
When all five phases of Exploration Green are complete next year it will be able to hold half a billion gallons of water during storms — enough to save about 2,000 homes from flooding.
Exploration Green is frequently cited as one of the best examples of green infrastructure — both locally and nationally. Unlike traditional gray infrastructure which uses concrete to quickly channel floodwaters into local water bodies, green infrastructure uses or mimics nature to slow down, absorb and filter rainwater where it falls.
Green projects aren’t always prioritized for funding, but that’s changing. Federal agencies like FEMA, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the EPA, all have guides on how to incorporate nature-based solutions. And around Houston, nature-based projects have been gaining traction as a way to tackle the region’s flooding issues, while also providing public greenspace.
"We’re seeing around the world, there’s more of an emphasis on these nature-based systems for flood mitigation," said Danielle Goshen with the National Wildlife Federation’s Texas Coast & Water program.
She said with nature-based solutions, the ecosystem is the infrastructure— whether that’s through preserving a big tract of land or recreating nature in an urban environment, like with Exploration Green.
"Nature has an amazing ability to be able to store, slow and soak water into the ground," she said.
Beyond flood mitigation, green infrastructure comes with a lot of co-benefits. It can also be a recreational space and a wildlife habitat. It can improve water and air quality, capture carbon, reduce urban heat, and minimize erosion.
"Unfortunately, through all the development that’s occurred, and the way that it’s occurred in the Houston area, we’ve massively disrupted nature’s ability to be able to provide those benefits," said Goshen.
The Natural Sponge
When settlers first arrived in Southeast Texas, native prairies and wetlands stretched for miles, their tall grasses in an array of colors billowing in the wind, grazed on by herds of buffalo. Nature’s original sponge.
Of the 6.5 million acres of prairies that once existed along the Texas Coast, less than 1 percent remain today, according to Houston Wilderness. From 1992-2010, as the population of Greater Houston skyrocketed, it lost at least 5.5% of its natural freshwater wetlands, according to another study by Texas A&M Agrilife. The researchers say that number is unsustainable.
"Some areas experienced loss at rates that are catastrophic," wrote the researchers. "For example, Harris County lost almost 30 percent of its freshwater wetlands, including most prominently the iconic prairie pothole-pimple mound complexes."
Groups like the Coastal Prairie Conservancy have worked to preserve the remaining prairies and restore additional land, according to Mary Anne Piacentini, president of the Coastal Prairie Conservancy.
"Our hope is that it’s wild enough that people understand this might have been what it was like in terms of historic prairie," she said, while standing on their restored Indiangrass preserve in Waller County. "But it’s hard to recreate nature, so it’s never going to be totally pristine."
Piacentini said their goal is to conserve 30,000 acres of the Katy Prairie. So far they’ve preserved about half that.
"The cost of the land has gone up exponentially," she said. "When we first started buying land, it was about $800 an acre. Now the land is anywhere from $10-$15,000 an acre."
Piacentini said they think preserving and restoring prairie should be a key part of the region’s flood mitigation strategy, particularly as development continues to expand westward.
"Our lands cannot eliminate flooding, but they can help reduce flooding," she said.
There are numerous reasons why the prairie landscape is so good at flood mitigation. The roots, the topography, the plants themselves all work together to help slow down and absorb water.
"People think of a prairie as flat, but the truth is, it’s not flat," Piacentini said. Prairies have micro depressions, known as potholes, and small mounds, known as pimple mounds. This uneven topography helps slow down floodwaters.
"As you can imagine, if you were trying to run water through this, it would be a lot harder here than it would be if we were putting water on a flat surface," Piacentini said.
Tall, native prairie grasses also have roots as long as 15 feet. And when those roots go down into the soil they create passageways for water to infiltrate. On top of that, the grasses themselves can also hold water.
"The first inch of rain
sometimes is actually on the plant above the ground," said Piacentini.
The prairie landscape also includes wetlands, which retain additional water. One acre of wetland habitat can store about 1-1.5 million gallons of water, according to the EPA.
Wetlands are also really good at improving water quality and filtering out pollutants.
"Wetlands are called nature’s kidneys for a reason," said Piacentini.
Improving water quality
This ability to improve water quality is particularly important in urban areas, and one of the key co-benefits of using green infrastructure for flood control. When it rains, pollutants like fertilizer, dog poop and other chemicals get into the waterways and can end up in Galveston Bay.
"What we look at is do these nature based solutions enhance water quality by treating bacteria?" said Roberto Vega, an environmental quality section leader with the Harris County Flood Control. "Does it remove that pollutant, from the waterway and when we discharge from our facility is that water coming out cleaner than it came in?"
That’s why Harris County Flood Control is piloting a project to build floating wetlands inside detention ponds. The current pilot is set up at a pond at the University of Houston Clear Lake Campus, where Flood Control has installed three floating structures that can support plant life.
The plants have completely overgrown the man made elements, giving them the appearance of naturally existing islands in the middle of the pond. Turtles, herons, and other wildlife have also taken over.
Vega said when it rains, the islands rise with the water instead of being inundated.
"So the root system, which actually can be 10, 12, 13 feet long, is rising with that, and it’s actually interacting with 13 feet of water column," he said. "So it’s having a better contact that’s treating the bacteria."
And because the structures are floating they can be moved around using canoes and strategically placed to treat water where it’s needed.
"If you only have wetlands at the water’s edge, you’re only getting treatment at that point," Vega said.
He said so far the results show the floating wetlands are highly effective at removing bacteria.
Next, Flood Control plans to test them at a larger detention basin where each floating island will be 3,000 square feet — roughly 10 times the size of the current pilot project.
Small scale solutions
Green solutions can also be scaled way down, and applied at individual sites to reduce street flooding or site-specific flooding issues.
"Rain gardens are probably one of the smallest and cheapest things that you can build to have an effect," said Robert Snoza with the Harris County Flood Control District.
Snoza is heading a pilot project to build five rain gardens on lots across the county that were bought out after the homes there repeatedly flooded. The rain gardens themselves will only take up about 10% of the lots and look like standard flower gardens.
"The area will be mulched and there will be intermittent plants," Snoza said, standing at the site of a future rain garden in Northwest Houston, in the Cypress Creek watershed.
The key is that the garden will be depressed to collect stormwater. The compact soil will also be replaced with looser soil to allow the roots to grow deeper.
"It will in certain smaller storm events just not be a burden on or not add anything to the storm sewer system that everybody else is using," Snoza said.
The topography of the rest of the site will help lead the water into the rain garden. Flood Control also plans to have signage to educate people on how to build a simple rain garden on their own property.
"One rain garden is not going to do much for anything but this right here," Snoza said. "But what if 25% of the people in Houston had a rain garden on their property? I think it would have a pretty big effect."
Ensuring equity
When it comes to green solutions, advocates say involving the community in the planning is key — that’s part of what made the Exploration Green project so successful. And what works for one community might not meet the needs of another.
In low-income communities, in particular, it’s important to talk about the many years of infrastructure disinvestment, according to Ayanna Jolivet Mccloud, the Executive Director of Bayou City Waterkeeper.
"You first have to acknowledge that there’s inequities around gray infrastructure, particularly around stormwater planning and flood infrastructure," Mccloud said. "If you come and try to solve the solution around green infrastructure without acknowledging inequities around gray infrastructure, then it’s not a holistic approach."
Mccloud said it’s important to have both gray and green solutions be a part of the conversation.
"So often it’s either we have to advocate for gray infrastructure, or we have to advocate for green infrastructure. But in a city like Houston, I believe that has to be both," she said.
Mccloud also said nature-based infrastructure doesn’t always have a positive connotation for all communities. She grew up in Houston and said in her neighborhood people associated open-ditch drainage with nature-based infrastructure.
"Unfortunately, usually that natural infrastructure is in predominantly Black and Brown communities, and it creates a lot of health issues in those communities," she said. "We have to rethink the framing so that it can be more inclusive, and then we can center more community voices."
Mccloud also said it’s critical to ensure green solutions don’t lead to green gentrification, which is what happens when green amenities raise property values and push out long-time residents.
But even with the challenges, she believes Houston’s diverse ecosystem offers the opportunity to be creative with green solutions.
"Because we are on the frontlines of climate change, we have to really think innovatively and work with nature in this way," she said.
Hurricane Harvey already showed just how powerful climate change is making storms. Some areas got 50 inches of rain, and studies show heavier rainfall is one of the hallmarks of climate change.
And with more and more water, many experts say we will need to create additional greenspace and move people out of harm’s way.
"I think we will learn to live with more water moving through the city. Eventually we’ll have to make more space. The rivers, the bayous and streams are just going to demand more area to convey more water," said Jim Blackburn, the co-director of Rice’s SSPEED Center, which studies flooding in the region. "As part of this making room for water, we just ought not to be living that close to the waterways."
Katie Watkins wrote this article for Houston Public Media.
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