Page 13 - Priorities #72

9 The grazing project aims to replicate natural systems. The tight clumping of the 800 sheep encourages the animals to graze pretty hard in the areas in which they are enclosed. They will eat the grass– and thistle– to within 2-4 inches of the soil. Meanwhile, the animals will be trampling the areas that they have eaten and leaving dung and urine behind. These simple activities create contact between vegetative litter and the soil surface. This promotes soil bacteria decomposition processes–to a far greater extent than had the grass grown and died, full-stature, as it would have done had the sheep not been here. As a result, the soils should retain more carbon and more water than if the area was ungrazed. This means they will stay greener longer into the summer, and we should see less thistle (Bull thistle, Italian thistle, and Yellow Star thistle). Additionally, this will improve pest-control opportunities for local predators (hawks, herons, owls).
10 We hope that the Priory Grazing Project demonstrates that some solutions can be integrated and interconnected. The project is principally organized to improve soil health and control invasive species. But wait, there’s more. Just as the grassland soils should retain more carbon and water, and stay greener longer, this should also provide some measure of fire-prevention. And to the extent that we can avoid mowing the grasses, we are reducing the impact of heavy machinery on the hillside. Additionally, the carbon that is trapped by the soils is carbon that is not released to the atmosphere as CO2. For this reason, ‘silvopasture’ (a selective, intensive grazing project like this, but on a global scale) is seen as one of the top 10 things humans can do to draw-down atmospheric CO2 levels for climate impact.
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SUSTAINABILITY