FORAGE RESEARCH STUDY GROUP (FRSG)
MARCH 21-23
Are you interested in observing the impacts of both livestock and wildlife on our ranches? Come out and participate in our regular monitoring study!
The USFS, ASLD, Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD,) and Diablo Trust ranches are active participants in the Forage Research Study Group (FRSG). This is the longest consistent utilization monitoring program in Arizona and is performed trice annually. Monitoring plots built by the USFS in the 1940s have been systematically revisited during the past five years. Instrumentation includes rain gauges, utilization cages and mapping, photo plots, condition and trend transects, and a wildlife census.
We would like you to join us in the field! We will cover Flying M on March 21 and 22, and Bar T Bar on March 22 and 23 (we have to go through Bar T Bar to get to some of the Flying M cages, so it's easier to combine them). We'll meet at the AZGFD office on Lake Mary Road each morning at 07:00 to carpool. The days consist of locating and recording the status of each monitoring cage. We evaluate forage availability, vigor, and viability, as well as animal presence and precipitation. These are long days, but very interesting for all involved!
