Conserving the Landscape

Conserving the Landscape. Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park. To a Texas rancher like Lyndon Johnson, conservation meant getting the most from the soil, water, and grass. The landscape before you reflects some of President Johnson’s conservation efforts. These upper fields are terraced to control erosion and contoured to channel water into tanks (ponds). The grasses used here were, and are, genetically improved, tailored especially to this climate to provide maximum nutrition. , , With diligent watering, fertilizing, and cattle rotation, these fields yielded three cuttings of grass each year. Of LBJ’s nine ranches (most of them larger than the LBJ Ranch), only on this one did he practice intensive conservation. The other ranches were “unimproved” and yielded only one crop of grass each year. Their appearance bore little resemblance to the neat landscape you see here. , , (Annual Cycle Photo Captions) , Annual Cycle , , February - March: Soil samples taken to determine deficiencies. , April - May: First application of fertilizer, based on soil analysis. , About June 1: Hay is cut for the first time. The grass is fertilized again and irrigated if necessary with water drawn from the Pedernales River. , About July 1: Hay is cut for the second time. Grass is again fertilized and irrigated as needed. , August - November: Cattle rotate into the field to graze down grasses before the first freeze. , December - January: Fields are dormant. , , (Bottom Photo Caption) , Of the three crops of grass, ranch hands usually cut one for hay. When the other crops were ready, the hands would rotate cattle through the fields to graze the fields down, a process that usually took 150 head of cattle about a week.