In the Upper Colorado River Basin, Paul Bruchez comes from a long line of cattle ranchers whose roots in the area stretch back more than a century. He understands the challenges of growing crops in a climate that is becoming warmer and less forgiving. But recently, he noticed something new: the small tributary streams that supplied water to his neighbors were starting to go dry – and while some crops were struggling as a result, others continued to grow.
“It was a combination of seeing that water supplies were changing, and that some plants seemed to be handling it better than others,” says Hannah Holm, American Rivers’ Associate Director for Policy in the Southwest Region.
The need to grow crops that use less water has been a topic of discussion for farmers and ranchers throughout the Basin for decades. But with the help of a range of partners including American Rivers, The Nature Conservancy and Trout Unlimited, Bruchez started a project to find crops that could withstand changing conditions, support local ranchers and improve the health of the soil – now, and far into the future.
The initiative is called the Intermountain West Alternative Forages Research Project. Rancher-led, the project brings together American Rivers, The Nature Conservancy, Trout Unlimited, and scientific partners to determine whether different varieties of crops could allow growers in the region to produce healthy yields with less water. It would represent a shift from previous experiments that paid farmers not to irrigate their fields for a season in order to conserve water.
“The compensation [strategy] is inherently temporary and we need solutions that are more durable,” says Aaron Derwingson, Water Projects Director for The Nature Conservancy’s Colorado River Program. “We heard a lot of interest from producers – could there be something that might have less water savings on an annual basis, but over a longer time period, would be similar? ”
The focus of the project is on forage plants; primarily hay used for grazing. Most of the agriculture fed by the Colorado River already involves growing hay for cattle. By focusing on more resilient versions of existing crops, the initiative’s partners hope to lower the barriers to entry – making it easier for farmers and ranchers in the Basin to be a part of the project.
“It’s less of a stretch to have a rancher grow a different kind of hay than to grow some specialty grain crop,” says Holm. “We know there’s a market for hay, and that factor of resilience – of being able to bounce back after a period of water stress – is an important attribute.”
“These alternative forage crops are one promising avenue ... we’re still learning how they fit into hay operations and what benefits they can provide.
Right now, the initiative is still heavily research-based, exploring the effects and performance of new hay varieties, specifically Kernza, sainfoin and silflower, in different areas and different elevations across the Basin. That has meant bringing in an agronomist to help ag producers plant new crops, monitor them and collect data on what the plants are producing under different conditions. Meanwhile, partners are investing in the science required to gather the clearest possible results.
“These alternative forage crops are one promising avenue, we think, but we have a lot to learn about them,” says Holm. “We’re still learning how they fit into hay operations and what benefits they can provide. We have a hypothesis that they’re more drought resilient, but we don’t really know yet how much more drought resilient.”
The work is not always easy and plenty of challenges still exist. Experimenting in agriculture involves long time horizons. Sudden obstacles can set things back significantly. At one of the initiative’s test sites in Steamboat Springs, for example, irrigation issues caused delays – and then a swarm of grasshoppers devoured the crops.
“Your timing window is tight,” says Derwingson. “You get one chance each year to get something right. It’s not like other industries where you can reconvene and try again in two months.”
That’s the challenge for real-world agriculture research – and it’s why long-term investments in projects like this one are critical.
“We have a desire to get quick answers to these issues, and you just can’t,” says Holm. “You can put together your nice neat little plan, but in the real world there are intervening factors that you couldn’t predict. Things take time to grow. If there’s an issue in the first year, you have to wait another year. So it requires some patience and persistence to get real results.”
That patience and persistence is critical – not only for the success of the project, but for any effort to improve farming and ranching practices.
“It’s important to develop a really good understanding of the context that you’re trying to work with, and in agriculture, water availability is a big part of that,” says Holm. “That means recognizing how plants and soil behave in different conditions, and finding ways to work with the conditions that nature provides to you, rather than constantly fighting against them.”
For Holm and Derwingson, that’s the essence of a nature-based solution: using the power of nature to heal nature, and restore systems that lead to healthy ecosystems. In the Colorado River Basin, the Alternative Forages Research Project is hoping to deliver that kind of opportunity – for nature and communities alike.
