VIRTUAL FENCING PROJECTS
A Conservation Innovation Grant awarded through the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant
Eagle County ranchers are now using virtual fencing as a tool for adaptive grazing management to enhance rotational grazing & exclusion from sensitive areas such as burn scars and riparian zones.
Virtual fencing, or geofencing, for cattle ranchers is a relatively new and innovative technology. Using a wireless network of GPS communication data, geofencing allows producers to draw virtual boundary lines around livestock from a computer or smartphone to enhance grazing management strategies. It gives livestock producers tremendous flexibility in how they manage and control the movement of their herds across rangelands providing many ecological benefits.
The District’s goal of the project is to evaluate the effectiveness of virtual fencing technology to manage livestock herds in the challenging terrain present in the mountains of western Colorado.
Natural resource benefits of adaptive grazing management include:
- desired species composition, structure, and vigor of plant communities,
- quantity & quality of forage available for grazing,
- quantity, quality & connectivity of food and cover available for wildlife,
- riparian and/or watershed function,
- water holding capacity in our soils
- soil health of rangelands and reduced soil erosion.
FAPL Drought Resiliency Project
ECCD has received $994,437 to expand virtual fencing for cattle grazing on BLM lands in Colorado. Virtual fencing, which BLM has pioneered on public lands, is a powerful tool to improve rangeland health and drought resilience using rancher-led innovation and technology to set boundaries on grazing areas instead of physical fences, which are challenging to maintain.
By keeping livestock contained to specific areas, virtual fences provide real-time data on the location of cattle and support active, rotational grazing to help prevent soil erosion. Virtual fencing also supports range restoration activities that improve rangeland health and drought resilience outcomes. This technology supports the mixed use of public lands by keeping cattle away from recreational areas, sensitive archeological sites, and restoration projects.
In its first year, the project will:
- Expand range restoration activities on ground covered by virtual fencing, combined with monitoring of range health, to track anticipated improvements in water and soil quality.
- Introduce virtual fencing and rotational grazing to Bocco Mountain in Northwest Colorado, which has not been utilized by cattle in more than 30 years due to lack of fencing infrastructure.
- Provide staff and equipment to scale the project to include more ranchers and BLM grazing lessees.
Photography: Collaboration with Eagle Valley Wild
