Tag: silage fields

Tule Elk

Bull Tule Elk; Point Reyes National Seashore

This is a photo of a mature bull tule elk lying in a field of silage plants in January.

Bull Elk Lying in an Early-Growth Silage Field

Some ranchers who lease ranch lands from the National Park Service at Point Reyes National Seashore are allowed to grow non-native plants to feed to their cattle.  The plants are mowed when still green in late April and May.  Aside from the fact that this silage growing involves the annual introduction of non-native plants into the national seashore, some ground-nesting and near-ground nesting birds and their nestlings are chopped up during mowing.   Also, female deer give birth to and hide their fawns in silage fields.  The fawns are also chopped up during mowing.  Why the Park Service supports ranching on NPS-owned lands involving over 5,500 cows, let alone silage growing with its annual killing of wildlife, is beyond me.

Coyote

Coyote, Point Reyes National Seashore

A healthy-looking coyote moves through a ranch pasture.

Coyote, Point Reyes National Seashore

A coyote moves through a silage field on a dairy farm in Point Reyes National Seashore.

The Park Service allows silage growing on national park lands at Point Reyes.  Not only that, but the Park Service allows beef ranchers and dairy farmers to live on the park lands year round, with their cattle, at discounted rents.

Silage mowing is a bit like hay mowing, except while hay is mowed when dry in the summer, silage is mowed when green in the spring.  That’s when ground-nesting and near-ground nesting birds such as northern harriers, mallards, and various sparrow species are nesting in the silage fields.  Mowing kills the nestlings and some adults.  Ravens have learned to follow the mowers.  They get all the injured and dead birds and rodents they can eat.

Neither the Park Service nor the dairies/ranches seem to care about the carnage even though killing the birds would appear to violate the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.