The Switzer Ranch

Nebraska Sandhills conservation profiles
The Switzer Ranch
The Switzer Ranch is a 12,000-acre diversified
cattle ranch near the Calamus Reservoir in Loup
County that has been in the family since 1904.
Today four generations live on the land that, along
with two neighboring ranches, is designated an
Important Bird Area (IBA) by the Audubon Society the first private site identified as an IBA in Nebraska.
Sarah Sortum, daughter
of Bruce and Sue Ann
Switzer, grew up on
the ranch, along with
her brother Adam. After
school and jobs “away”,
she and her husband returned to join the family
business and raise their
kids on the family’s land.
According to Sarah, conservation isn’t something
new to her generation.
prescribed grazing, invasive cedar control, prairie
grouse monitoring, and outreach and education
to promote conservation and biodiversity in the
Sandhills. When the family started “tweaking”
things, they ultimately focused on management
practices specific to two priority species: the
greater prairie-chicken and the blowout penstemon.
“We hope that through
these focal species we can
do a lot of good in a broader
sense,” said Sarah.
In the last century, the
prairie-chicken almost went
extinct due to hunting pressure and habitat loss. Today,
each Spring, people from
around the globe travel to
the Switzer Ranch to see the
Sarah Sortum oversees the recovery of the endan- charismatic mating rituals
gered blowout penstemmon on her family’s ranch of the prairie-chicken and
“Our family has always
its close relative the sharptaken care of the land. It’s not like we were starttailed grouse.
ing in a bad spot. But we started to realize that we
should and could tweak a few things and do things The Switzer have noticed that activities to enbetter,” said Sarah.
hance prairie-chicken habitat also positively
affected other grassland birds, including the
The Switzer Ranch participates in a handful of
prairie-chicken’s close relative, the sharp-tailed
conservation programs, utilizing particular mangrouse, as well as the long-billed curlew and the
agement practices, including prescribed burns,
lark bunting to name a few.
“The great thing about it is you can go out and see
that resource and then the next day you can go out
and see it again,” said Sarah.
Several years ago they started the annual Nebraska
Prairie Chicken Festival, and since then the Switzers have solidified their reputation as a premium location for birding and tourism in the Great
Plains. The family’s conservation ethic combined
with a willingness to diversify, to introduce nature-based tourism to their family’s activities, has
made it possible for every member of the family to
support themselves on the ranch.
Sandhills Task Force, Nebraska Game & Parks,
the Nature Conservancy, and the World Wildlife
Fund’s Northern Great Plains Program.
Sarah and the Gracie Creek Landowners Association just recently wrapped up a four year project
with the Nebraska Environmental Trust that helped
to cost-share specific practices to improve ecological processes designed to conserve and protect native species and habitat, specifically prairie-chicken and blowout penstemon.
“For our birders, we help them realize that they’re
part of our strategy. They’re enabling us to stay
here and manage for grassland birds. It’s a win-win
deal right there,” said Sarah.
Prescribed grazing, specifically deferred rotation
grazing systems, and prescribed burns were key
to increasing food and cover available to wildlife
in the area. They worked to improve overall plant
structural diversity, variability in grass height and
density across the landscape, as well as to intersperse various habitat types.
For the federally-endangered blowout penstemon,
the ranch teamed up with the University of Nebraska to plant young seedlings in their pastures.
The Switzers and volunteers then monitor and
keep track of the warm season perennial plants,
providing information to researchers and enthusiasts.
“The birds need different grass habitat at different
times in their life cycle. We need to provide all different niches, and we try to move those around,”
said Sarah. “So, grazing is a great tool for us. We
can utilize it and manage it to strengthen areas or
heal areas or mow an area down. Grazing is something we can do every year.”
The Switzers and their neighbors, the Morgans,
make up the Gracie Creek Landowners Association, a voluntary collaborative landowner initiative
committed to supporting eastern Nebraska Sandhills ranchers, while simultaneously protecting and
conserving the unique ecology and wildlife found
there. In 2013, the group was recognized with a
regional environmental stewardship award from
the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.
The Switzers use grazing to manage for the blowout penstemon as well, using yearlings in certain
areas to open up sands habitat - the necessary
environment for the endangered plant to grow.
The Switzers, as an individual ranch and as a
larger association, have partnered with numerous
entities to achieve their conservation goals. They
work extensively with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resource Conservation
Service (NRCS),
Audubon Nebraska, the
More
landowner
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resources a
cfra.org
In addition to implementation, the project with the
Nebraska Environmental Trust covered the cost of
monitoring that helped landowners identify trends,
as well as outreach and public education through
ranch tours, public presentations, printed materials
and outreach.
“On the ground it’s been awesome,” said Sarah.
“It’s not like you go out and see a big change, but
you go out and see it look more like how it should,
which gives you a lot of satisfaction.”