A MULTIFACETED OPERATION AND FACILITY

Pasture Management

We utilize several methods of pasture management at Buck Island Ranch. These include controlled burns, mowing, spraying, aerating, overseeding, chopping, minimal fertilizing, and pH additives.

The Ranch is on a three year rotation burn schedule. Each year we burn one third of the ranch, including wetlands, grazing plots, and ditches. Every burn is supervised by a Certified Prescribed Burn Manager and is permitted through the Florida Forest Service.

To combat invasive and non-native grasses, we mow and overseed some pastures to manage the spread of certain species. One particular invasive we are managing is Smutgrass (Sporobolus indicus).

Historically our ranch has been fertilized heavily until only recently. We now only fertilize specific research plots as needed.

Wildlife movements

Forty game cameras are installed across the Ranch for long-term tracking of wildlife and feral hogs. Scientific publications are available upon request. Scientists also track game species on the Ranch, including deer, alligators, and turkey to ensure sustainable harvest.

Water Management and Wetland Restoration

The ranch has a two-way water management system, now adapted to provide water retention services through the South Florida Water Management District's (SFWMD) Dispersed Water Management program. 78 water control structures are utilized to rehydrate wetlands and ditches. Benefits include but are not limited to habitat enhancement for numerous species, hydrologic wetland restoration, groundwater recharge which reduces stormwater discharge volumes to the regional system providing flood protection, improves the nutrient concentration of discharges while also retaining TP and TN loads, keeps lands on the tax rolls which benefits the local economy, and a multitude of other green space benefits such as carbon sequestration. Directly benefits Lake Okeechobee and the estuaries by helping reduce the large quantities and timing of stormwater which contain high levels of nutrients. Scientific publications documenting several of these co-benefits are available upon request. We also have a nutrient removal project that provides phosphorus removal in 189-acres of existing pastureland, consisting of a 5,000 GPM pump provided by SFWMD to direct off-ranch water into four (4) forage production cells. Three (3) step-down culvert-riser structures convey pumped inflows from cell to cell (west to east) and a fourth culvert-riser structure will be used as a control structure directing excess flows back to the primary system from the east cell. Water tolerant forage is grown and harvested for haylage from the project to remove nutrients from the project area and is used as winter cattle feed in other parts of the ranch. Forage nutrient requirements are met using off-ranch pumped inflows, rainfall and nutrients contained in the soil profile.

Reserve Cattle Operations

The Reserve is a 3,648-acre restoration site lying next to Archbold Biological Station that utilizes cattle as a tool for its restoration efforts. The cattle on the Reserve are managed as part of the Buck Island Ranch cattle operations and used as a method of control for growth of grasses and other forages.

Cattle are used as a tool to help maintain the open space to the land at the Reserve. By grazing the pastures, there is less competition for native species to compete with during the early growth stages. In unison with rotational grazing, this grazing practice is used to slowly restore the Reserve to a more natural land type.

The herd at the Reserve is focused on sustainability and ecology, whereas the herd at Buck Island Ranch is geared towards economics and full herd production. What we've learned with the cattle at Buck Island Ranch is applied at the Reserve, and it has allowed us to better manage the cattle as an aid in restoration.