Water is our most vital natural resource


Silver Spring Ranch has incredible water, both in its quantity and its quality. We have water feeding into our ranch, into our aquifer, and gently springing up dozens of spring head locations. In this aquatic landscape, we have diverse wildlife living near and in this water. We also use the water to feed and nurture our crops and our prized cattle that share the landscape with the wildlife that call our ranch home.

 

Our ranch is critical to the water cycle.



We’ve seen it for generations; mono-culture farming, overwatering of crops, industrial fertilizers and nutrients, plowing disruption of the soil that dramatically change our landscape resources. The consequences from these practices on our water and land is powerful. We recognize the need to change and have begun to adapt our practices and our land and water use to meet this issue head on.

Once we recognized the impact traditional farming was having on the water and the role our ranch has on the local and downstream ecosystems, we made a huge change. We are adapting everyday based on our data and our understanding.

We hired ECOSYSTEM SCIENCES to help us manage water flow, use and document the evolution of our newly adopted farming practices. We collect critical data to inform our management and realize the positive changes in our water resources.

 

A glimpse into our ecosystem.


Record Flows in 2017.

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Spring 2017 was an incredible time for us at Silver Spring Ranch. We were able to fill our historic gravel pit for an aquifer refill, and observed record spring flows.

Responsible Use.

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Measurements from 2016
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Looking south-east towards Silver Creek.