An Overview Of Our Solution
Habitat Farm is a purebred sheep farm. It is a 25 year intentional biodiversity project aimed at being economically productive while keeping its environmental footprint small. It occupies 155 acres (67 ha) of mixed forest and rough pasture on marginally productive soil in the narrow part of a forested mountain valley along the Salmon river, a tributary of the great Fraser River system in British Columbia, Canada’s southern interior region. Adjoining Crown (public) land, it exists in harmony with well over 100 different species of birds, many varieties of fish, and over 34 types of mammals, including deer, moose, bear, coyote, cougar, bats, otters, shrews, voles, rabbits and more. It enjoys four distinct seasons with deep winter snowfalls and hot dry summers. It is rich in biodiversity. It is an unending project. http://www3.bc.sympatico.ca/Habitat_Farm/
Who is this solution impacting?
Community Type
Rural
Additional Information
- Population Impacted:
- Continent: North America
General Information
Organization type
individual
Ecosystem (select all that apply)
Forests
Freshwater
Oceans/Coasts
Population impacted
several hundred, at least
Challenge
Size of agricultural area
63 ha
Production quantity
100 ewes and lambs
People employed
self (with family)
Solution
Describe your solution
Our solution was to seek help and take advantage of opportunities.
Help, beginning in 1992, consisted of hiring a professional forester to conduct an assessment of our land in the context of our production goals. It followed, in 1993, by joining, then later leading a then fledgling community group interested in addressing local social and environmental issues in a watershed context.
An unexpected opportunity came in 1993 via a provincially funded Small Scale Forestry program wherein I was paid to thin and space my own forest areas. I used these trees to help establish a riparian buffer along my pastures.
As an early adopter, the riparian buffer was built as a model to exemplify its simultaneous fisheries and land protection values to other local landowners.
In 1998, I offered an old oxbow adjacent to the river on my land to the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans where, in 1999, they engineered some imprinting ponds for hatchery-reared salmon smolts in an effort to re-establish wild salmon populations in the Salmon river.
In 2011-2012, the opportunity arose for the farm to receive a professionally-developed Environmental Farm Plan and a Biodiversity Plan, both free, and both of which were aimed towards helping the farm achieving environmental objectives consistent with our land use goals, in consideration of its ecosystem.
Implementation
Describe your implementation
The Assessment of Timber and Management Options prepared by the forester in 1992 divided the land into four basic types:
-timbered areas with merchantable volumes
-immature areas useful for timber production and grazing
-timbered areas adjacent to creeks, and
-cleared areas used as fields and pastures
Keying on the first two types, he recommended thinning and spacing in order of a specific variety preference, some soil scarification and grass reseeding for natural tree regeneration and pasture, and limbing (lower branches), in order to improve eventual timber quality.
Limbing offered a second benefit by improving sight lines for the sheep and their accompanying guardian dogs while grazing in the forested areas. This reduced the flock’s vulnerability to predation and eliminated a need for more aggressive predator controls.
Thinned and spaced trees, particularly crooked cedar and pine were installed and anchored by contractors along about .5 km of riverbank as part of a riparian re-establishment project.
Part of the agreement with the imprinting ponds included my commitment to caring for the site, feeding the fish, and providing access to groups interested in learning about habitat restoration. It received schoolchildren and through the years provided a constant educational environment for my sons.
The site annually attracts fish-eating birds, moose, deer, bear, beaver, otter, turtles and frogs and is a nesting site for many melodious song birds.
The Environmental Farm Plan led to very practical stream crossing solutions, pasture improvement suggestions, and farm safety suggestions.
The Biodiversity plan identified the properties’ flora and fauna in detail, its ecological potential, and included details of the over 100 bird species and 32 mammalian species, which seasonally occupy the farm. These were based on personally accrued observations logged over time by a son who became a biologist.
External connections
Key to the development of our solutions were the following stakeholders and partners:
Dirk Perenboom, Registered Professional Forester…for his assessment and recommendations.
The Salmon River Watershed Roundtable… for developing and pressing for community volunteer engagement.
The Government of Canada Ministry of the Environment…for establishing the federal Green Plan and funding the growth of the Salmon River Watershed Roundtable.
The Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans… for guiding the construction of the riparian area, for building the imprinting ponds, and for encouraging the establishment of numbers of riparian projects through the years along the river.
The Fraser Basin Council...an environmentally-oriented link between local government, First Nations and other communities, for providing a venue for expanding and extending local community, provincial and federal government involvement in the social/environmental and economic needs of the greater Fraser Basin watershed community.
Results
What is the environmental or ecological challenge you are targeting with your solution?
From the outset, in 1992, the challenge was to reduce the severe streambank erosion annually occurring during freshet, to improve water quality. to develop a low-cost approach to making efficient use of the land, and to start recovery efforts to re-establish the farm’s timber values all within the context of living within the natural environment/ecological framework of the farm.
The farm had suffered an annual pasture loss of up to one ha. to streambank erosion. Resulting summer low-flows harmed fish reproduction. Pastures had been untended and overgrazed. Poor harvesting practices had impaired the natural recovery ability of its forested areas.
Describe the context in which you are operating
Habitat Farm is situated along the Salmon River, 3.5 km south of the lightly populated, unincorporated settlement of Falkand, British Columbia, Canada, in the Moist Warm Sub-Zone of the Interior Douglas Fir Biogeoclimatic Zone. The farm’s elevation ranges from 550M to 750M. The farm is one of many occupying the valley bottom where principally livestock and hay is grown on century-ago cleared land.
Many farmers continue to be employed in the logging industry to augment their farm incomes.
Falkland has one school, one gas station, one motel, 1 ½ restaurants, a pub and about 600 residents.
The forest comprises mostly Western Red Cedar, Douglas Fir, western larch, paper birch, cottonwood, and moist soil shrubs.
The soils types are primarily brunisols and luvisols with poorly formed horizons and thin organic layers.
The farm contains five springs, one of which, at 60 gpm, serves domestic, livestock and some watering needs. During summer this spring is partially diverted into a catch basin, the seep from which helps maintain a grass regime in the alluvial fan below. The remaining springs are uncontained.
Identified fauna include over 100 bird species, 32 species of mammals, including bear, cougar, coyote, deer, moose, beaver, otter, raccoon, rabbit, shrews and voles. The river is a spawning ground for salmon, trout, sucker and a variety of true minnows and sculpins, frogs, turtles and salamanders. It is a rich ecosystem.
How did you impact natural resource use and greenhouse gas emissions?
In threefold ways:
1. Through re-establishment of a riparian zone, complete with anchored cull trees and limbs. Replanting and the natural re-emergence of streamside trees and bushes and the use of exclusion fencing for a time has resulted in more stable water flows, reduced erosion and turbidity during freshets and has created a more stable habitat for spawning fish. This is evidenced by the greater occurrence of “beneficial” insects instream, greater numbers of fish and insect-eating birds showing up…bald eagles, kingfisher, dippers, and in winter, otter, mink and raccoon tracks streamside in the snow.
2. The creation of the imprinting ponds, which not only provided a rearing habitat for salmon smolts, but a favoured site for turtle, otter, crayfish, eagles, songbirds, frogs and beneficial insects at varying times of year. It has also provided a wonderful educational habitat for my sons and, during winter, an old fashioned skating rink.
3. Forest management has increased farm timber value, added to the available grazing regime, and provided habitat for the many resident and visiting mammal species, birds, native plants, frogs, snakes, and a wide and ever-changing variety of mushrooms and fungi.
Water
Cleaner, clearer stream flows and a better local understanding of the causes of the seasonal freshet and turbidity issues. Early thought was that forest overharvesting was exacerbating the rate of runoff, hence being the source of the turbidity problem. Close review determined the greater cause was farmers “mining” their land too close to streambanks, thus weakening streambank integrity and causing not just turbidity problems but unwanted seasonal land losses. It was a lesson to local landowners
Food Security/Nutrition
Forest management has increased the available grazing area for the farm flock, letting it continue a grazing practice of drawing only on naturally occurring grasses and shrubs. This has proven to be a healthy, productive, low cost and efficient way to grow the farm flock.
Economic/Sustainable Development
The approach we took, growing a purebred flock of a well-adapted hill breed of sheep taking a least cost approach has resulted in a production model we have successfully used to market breeding stock to like-minded producers. It has provided timber harvested for on-farm milling and farm-building, for heating and to sell to offset the cost of farm machinery. The land has proven to be very suitable for sheep production and able to be used in this way for many years to come.
Climate
Climate adaptation is this region entails finding ways to make more efficient use of water, adapt to seasonal flow fluctuations, and protecting water regimes. This is based on forecasts for longer, wetter winters and hotter, drier summers. On Habitat Farm, this means preventing overgrazing, keeping a shaded forest overstory, and protecting its water sources. We are achieving that. Ref. https://www.for.gov.bc.ca/ftp/dcs/external/!publish/FSP_Renewals%202016/FSP%20Supporting%20Information/TORegio
Sustainability
Habitat Farm has no debts. It is bought and paid for. It provides a modest return from lamb sales and the sale of woolen products manufactured on-farm from the annual wool clip plus wool bought and custom production for other wool producers. It relies on no grant funding. The forester’s assessment was personally bought. The riparian and fisheries work was part of a larger set of community projects. The farm donated land for the imprinting ponds.
Return on investment
The foresters report cost $450.00. Management tools, including chainsaws and tractor work were all already owned by the farm owners. I was told the oxbow engineering was worth around $50,000.00. Here, 25 years on I consider the costs and investments in both time and sweat equity well worth it. Annual farm returns are modest, around $15,000.00
Entrant Image
Entrant Banner Image
Replication and Scale
How could we successfully replicate this solution elsewhere?
It requires interest, commitment and enthusiasm on the part of the landowner, organizational support, and some government financial assistance, at least initially.
In fact, this solution is being replicated elsewhere. There are willing landowners. For livestock producers, minimally in British Columbia and Alberta, Canada, there are livestock organizations that have made responsible farm, streamside, and water management part of their mantra. The Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans continues to fund individual and community stream restoration projects, and there are funds made available by both the Canadian and Provincial governments for environmental farm planning, climate-action planning, agriculture area planning, and ecosystem protection projects.
I’m proud to have been an early adopter to this trend.