During the week of Monday, April 7, a three-day Grazing and Vegetation Monitoring Training for USDA National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) Conservationists was held at Sierra Foothill REC (SFREC). Cooperative Extension Specialist Emeritus and UC Davis Professor of Plant Sciences, Mel George, conducted the training along with two other statewide and regional NRCS specialists. The training reviewed the principles of grazing management, calculation of carrying capacity and methods to measure production and estimate carrying capacity in the field and basic vegetation monitoring techniques, including the measurement of ground and canopy cover, plant density and frequency and vegetation structure.
Because it combines a research facility and a working cattle ranch on 5,000 acres of foothill rangeland, SFREC provides an ideal venue for this kind of training.
