Don’t knock watching the grass grow as a pastime around Bruce Berg.

The native prairie grasses on his 6,000-acre Rocosa Ridge Ranch near Meridian in Bosque County have to have attentive care, so he likes to watch them thrive.

It takes a lot of work, advice and careful land management to nurture naturally occurring grasses after more than a century of overgrazing and a lack of fire.

Bruce Berg stands by a lake on his 6,000-acre Rocosa Ridge Ranch near Meridian in Bosque County.
Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald

Fire is one of nature’s tricks for keeping prairie from turning to woodland, he said.

“There’s an art to it,” said Berg about what it takes to grow Blue Stem, Switch, Indian and Side Oaks Grama grasses on his spread.

They are native grasses that were present before settlement and provide habitat and forage for native Texas animals as well as nutritious feed for his cattle.

Along with the grasses come other native plants pushed out by previous mismanagement — Prairie Acacia, Maximilian Sunflowers and Illinois Bundleflower.

Berg’s ranch was recognized in May in the Lone Star Land Steward Award Program run by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

One winner is chosen for each of the state’s nine ecological regions. Recipients are acknowledged for their efforts to incorporate wildlife habitat into their operations and for sound land management.

Blackland Prairie region

Rocosa Ridge represented the Blackland Prairie region, which encompasses McLennan County.

Nominations come from a variety of sources, including the public and agriculture specialists.

Jeff Goodwin, rangeland management specialist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service, nominated Rocosa Ridge after he saw the strong land management practices Berg has been using.

Berg said he is grateful to win the award, but noted it was the result of help from the different people and agencies which advised him.

Those included the Texas AgriLife Extension Service and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service.

Berg added seven small lakes and ponds, and cross-fenced his land so he could rotate pastures. He would let one area of grass grow while his 250 head of cattle grazed on the other areas.

He also used controlled burns to mimic the way nature once kept prairie from becoming forest.

In an area of the ranch with cedar trees, he cleared young trees but kept the older ones. The older ones were left because of a plan to assist the Golden Cheeked Warbler, an endangered bird species.

The ranch is part of a program to mitigate habitat loss caused by military activities at Fort Hood by supplying other habitat areas nearby.

Periodic, planned burning of the land is making a big difference at Rocosa Ridge, Berg said.

The burning opens space that lets seeds germinate, helping the grass grow better, and allows other plants indigenous to the prairie, such as prairie acacia, to come in.

Bruce Berg stands in front of an 1895 Dutch barn he renovated four years ago on his ranch, which was recently cited by the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife for sound land management and preservation of natural habitats through a land stewardship awards program.
Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald

Normally, ranchers burn in late winter, he said.

“It’s amazing when the grass comes back in the spring,” he said. “Everything is black and dead. All of the grasses come in like you fertilized. You see things that weren’t there before.”

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Linda Campbell said much good comes from prescribed burning.

“Most of the ecosystems in Texas are dependent on periodic fire,” she said.

Settling of the land and keeping fire away has artificially changed the landscape, she said.

Fire makes the land more nutritious to plants by turning leaves into mineral-rich ash which washes into the soil, Campbell said.

Prescribed burns also cut the risk of dangerous wildfires by consuming built-up fuels.

Before settlement arrived, McLennan County land burned every three to five years, said Barron Rector, extension range specialist for the Texas AgriLife Extension Service.

Sound practices

Campbell said about 6,000 landowners across the state are trying to use sound land stewardship practices, including prescribed burning.

Although many ranchers still don’t burn, natural resource and agricultural agencies are promoting the practice in an effort to widen its use.

Landowners must not try to burn their property before getting help from professionals such as the Texas AgriLife Extension Service or the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service, Campbell said.

It’s a technical, carefully planned process that must follow regulations and procedures.

The cost for conducting such a fire can run $8-$10 an acre, but that’s a bargain compared to mechanically removing brush and trees at a cost of $75-$100 an acre, Goodwin said.

bteeter@wacotrib.com

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