Chuck and Luanne Finley raise cattle on their ranch in the Colville Reservation of northeastern Washington state. During that time, they have worked on ways to keep the streams running through the property clean.

Their cattle graze summer pasture allotments on the reservation.

“We used to have about 150 cows. We’ve downsized to 80 head, but we still lease a large range unit from the Bureau of Indian Affairs,” Luanne said. “We’ve done several projects on our range and our own place, and plan to maintain just 80 head in the future, because we are not young anymore.”

Over the past few years they’ve done several projects with the help of the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Tribes to improve water quality and protect riparian areas.

The most recent project was to fence out cattle and protect the overflow from a pond that runs down a draw.

“We did this one in the fall of 2021 and it only took about a month to install the fence, which also removed part of that pasture,” she said.

“The NRCS funded that; they have funded all of our projects,” Luanne said.

This spring they finished a fence on their range — a stream exclusion.

The total fence was about 7 miles, she said. “Our Tribe helped with the first 5 miles, but we finished the last 2 miles this spring with help from NRCS.”

They’re also doing two off-site spring developments so cattle don’t have to go to the stream for water.

“They like to lounge in the riparian area when it’s hot,” she said.

The first project was on another little stream.

“All of these projects help reduce impact on the streambanks. There’s a lot of wildlife in our area and we don’t particularly like to have fences because of this,” she said.

They installed wildlife access in four places on both sides, so wildlife can get through the fence but the cattle can’t.

“The first project started with a little duck pond that went underground for a short distance as it drained out down the draw and went down to the neighbor’s place,” Luanne said. “We didn’t want that mucky drainage when the cattle were drinking and wading in the pond. We decided to clean that up and protect it.

“We only use that pasture in the fall, and that time of year there’s usually less water. It was important to us to make sure it was flowing, and clean, when we have cattle there,” she said.

She and Chuck try to manage and use the pastures at the best time.

This one is best used in the fall, she said. “In 2020 the pasture with the pond suffered wildfire and that was one of the reasons we decided to work on that pasture.”

It regenerated really well, she said. “The fire took out some brush, and we did some weed cleanup and planted grass in those areas and around the pond.”

It’s an ongoing process.

“If you have cattle, you need to protect your resources so you can continue to have them for the future,” Luanne said.