By Shannon Lukens. Photos Courtesy Eric Wellman from Hayden High School.
Local high school students involved in FFA met in Hamilton this week to learn about identifying plants in the rangelands of Northwest Colorado.
About 75 students participated from FFA chapters at SoRoCo High School, Moffat County, Hayden, Meeker, Coal Ridge, and West Grand in Kremmling.
Eric Wellman and the Hayden FFA Chapter organized the event. Wellman says they want to engage the students with the outdoors.
“How can we be better stewards of the land. How can we utilize this not only for livestock, but also for recreation, wildlife management, all these pieces that are really important to what the future of Northwest Colorado is going to be as we work forward.”
Students evaluated the range conditions for grazing, livestock and wildlife. They identified different plants and whether they were palatable as well.
More information from Ben Berlinger, the NRCS Rangeland Management Specialist.
High School Students Compete in FFA Range Judging and Plant Identification
FFA students and their advisors from high schools across northwest Colorado arrived at the Community Building in Hamilton on September 17th. The purpose was to gain knowledge about the rangelands of northwest Colorado, increase understanding of the important values healthy rangelands provide to humans, compete in a rangeland plant identification exercise and participate in judging the soundness of the rangeland. This FFA District competition attracted 75 students representing six FFA Chapters including Moffat County, Hayden, SOROCO, West Grand, Coal Ridge and Meeker.
The FFA rangeland judging contest is divided into two parts. The plant identification involves the naming of rangeland plants common to western Colorado together with rating important plant characteristics such as life span, grazing response, and palatability for cattle. The second part of the contest takes place in the field and requires the students to judge the condition of an ecological site. Here the students must determine the plant composition of the site, the range condition compared to the reference plant community, the suggested stocking rate, and range trend. Finally, based on their evaluation of the existing plant community, each student must select the appropriate management practice (or suite of practices) that would be recommended to the rancher for improvement of the rangeland resource and livestock performance.
After lunch, Reece Melton, Soil Health Specialist with the Colorado Department of Agriculture engaged these agricultural students in a demonstration of how to characterize the “healthiness” of soil. Soil health is important to regenerate the capacity of our soils so that health food and fiber production can be sustained.
Thanks go to the Hayden FFA Chapter and Mr. Eric Wellman for hosting the event. The Wellman Family provided a delicious catered lunch for the students and adult staff. Also, thanks to the Colorado First Conservation District for providing financial assistance, and to the CO Section of the Society for Range Management for providing plaques to the high scoring individuals.
Provided by:
Ben Berlinger
NRCS Rangeland Management Specialist (ret.)
Photo credits: Eric Wellman, Ag Teacher, Hayden High School