Rancho Potrero Prescribed Grazing Project

Description

The Conejo Open Space Conservation Agency (“COSCA” or the “Agency”) is soliciting proposals from qualified contractors to design and implement a managed grazing program on an approximately 50-acre section of Agency-managed open space in Thousand Oaks, Ventura County, California. The purpose of the program is to use prescribed livestock grazing as a restoration tool: first to remove accumulated annual-grass thatch, and then, over the successive season(s), to suppress non-native annual grasses and shift the competitive balance in favor of native perennial bunchgrasses. This is a habitat-restoration grazing project, not a forage or vegetation-management-for-hire arrangement. The Agency seeks a contractor whose grazing operation is oriented toward ecological outcomes and who can demonstrate direct experience applying managed grazing for conservation or habitat-restoration purposes. The successful proposer will be expected to bring both livestock-management expertise and an understanding of California grassland ecology to the project.The Agency is relying on the proposer to recommend the specific grazing prescription; including animal type, stocking rate, timing, intensity, confinement method, and adaptive-management approach that will most reliably achieve those outcomes on this site. Desired outcomes are listed in the Scope of Work.