Maps and Area Information
Area Description------------ www.aztourist.com
Nutrioso Temperatures and Graphs this is a 600k file and may take a while to load
Area Pictures (Gerald Earl's Photography Site)
Ranch Description
I am the full-time owner-operator of the E C Bar Ranch, located about 15 miles south of Eagar/Springerville on Hwy 180 in the White Mountains of East Central Arizona. The ranch was originally homesteaded in 1882 by the Lund family. It lies in the center of the Nutrioso Valley on the upper end of the Nutrioso Watershed, part of the Little Colorado River Watershed. I own 380 acres of pasture land with 1 ¼ miles of Nutrioso Creek (a perennial stream) running through the middle and two earth irrigation ditches, one on each side of the Creek. The riparian corridor was fenced in 1998 to limit livestock grazing to dormant winter months, restore the wetland habitat, and raise the water table to increase off-channel forage production. Besides helping improve the economics of livestock production, restoration of the riparian zone has led the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency Region 9 (ADEQ-EPA) to begin a re-evaluation process in November, 1999, that could lead to de-listing of a 22 miles section of Nutrioso Creek which was listed as a 303-D impaired water source in 1993. Another benefit has been an Aquatic Species Composition Study performed in October 1999 by the Arizona Game & Fish Department (AGFD) that could help meet criteria necessary to de-list the Little Colorado River Spinedace as a "threatened" species under the Endangered Species Act. The proposed Project to permanently eradicate Rabbitbrush is compatible with the riparian zone restoration and an improved irrigation system. The dense population of Rabbitbrush on my property, estimated at over 1 million plants, consume vast quantities of sub-soil moisture which could be used by productive grasses and crops. Earth irrigation ditches totaling over 20,000 ft. will be replaced with pipe connected to water control structures designed to leave more water in the Creek, screen aquatic life out of the irrigation system, and save an estimated 200 million gallons of water per year lost due to evaporation and seepage in the earth ditches. Improvements in the riparian corridor and irrigation system need to be matched by permanent eradication of the unproductive and counter-productive Rabbitbrush plants. In 1997, the Natural Resource and Conservation Service (NRCS), Springerville, prepared a Conservation Plan for my ranch which recommended a number of conservation practices designed to restore the riparian zone, improve grazing management of livestock, increase irrigation efficiencies, and help me remain in the ranching business as grazing on public lands were curtailed by the USFS for environmental reasons. My objective has been to implement conservation practices, including Rabbitbrush eradication, designed to increase livestock production from 50 animals on the ranch year round to about 150 animals. My ranching methods would also change from raising an annual crop of calves from mother cows as part of a permanent herd to an annual purchase of a cow-calf pair with all cows and calves being sold within 12-18 months. The new ranching methods place much more emphasis on forage production since no effort is required to breed cows and raise new-born calves.