Farm406

29 farm406 s a boy growing up on the family ranch in Ekalaka, Mont., Doug Bonsell was an avid reader of The Conservationist. He learned about the newest grazing practices, the importance of healthy soils, and many other topics of interest to an aspiring rancher. One month, the magazine had a story on habitat – what it was, why it was important, and how a landowner might restore or create habitat where none had been before. By the time he reached high school, Doug was making plans for developing habitat on the ranch. His first interest was birds, upland species such as sharp-tailed grouse and Hungarian partridge. Years later, when Doug and his wife, Ronda, purchased the family ranch, his visions of bird habitat became reality. Over many years the couple would plant more than 17,000 trees and shrubs. They planted buffaloberry, chokecherry, cotoneaster, juneberry, sumac, Russian almond, silverberry, currant, honeysuckle, and apricot. They left standing grain and planted cover crops. In number and diversity, the birds flourished. Around 2012, Doug's interest in habitat found a new focus. He was seeing articles about pollinators, the term applied to a wide range of insects and other animals that carry out one of the world's most important natural functions. As they visit flowering plants in search of nectar or pollen for food, these insects transfer grains of pollen from the anther to the stigma of a flower, fertilizing it, and enabling the plant to produce seeds. Bees, both wild and domesticated, are the most important pollinators of all, but moths, butterflies, wasps, flies, hummingbirds, even some ant and beetle species pollinate as well. Doug and Ronda visited their local USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) office in 2013 and were excited to learn they might be eligible for a program to cover a portion of the costs of planting a variety of wildflowers and other plants attractive to both wild pollinators and the small colony of honey bees they kept. The 2008 Farm Bill contained provisions to encourage pollinator conservation; the 2014 Farm Bill continued to support pollinators through the Environmental Quality Conservation Program (EQIP) Honey Bee Pollinator Special Initiative, which provides financial assistance to landowners interested in creating, enhancing and managing habitat for honey bees. For the Bonsells, NRCS conservationists drew up an agreement and provided guidelines for the new habitat. One of Doug's daughters helped NRCS design a site plan, a series of plots laid out along the entrance road to the ranch totaling four acres. The Bridger Plant Materials Center furnished the seed stock while the Bonsells prepared the ground. In the fall of 2017, NRCS furnished a seeder for the planting. Most of the plots contained a single variety of flower; others were planted with a mix of several species. As the plants get established and pollinators begin to appear, NRCS and the Bonsell family will monitor and document the species that visit and the types of flowers they seek out. For Doug, an innovator and steward, the project is another effort to benefit the natural world that has sustained his life as a rancher. "If you keep taking from the land, you're going to have nothing left. You've got to give back," he says. "The situation with pollinators is like so many others – if everybody does a little, that's a lot." Doug and Ronda Bonsell, Ranchers Ekalaka, MT. Photo: Eliza Wiley A Stephanie King, Resource Conservationist, Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) Bozeman, MT. Photo: Jesse Scott

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