In the far northeast corner of California, in Siskiyou and Modoc Counties, there was quite a mess to clean up. More than 150 years of intensive grazing on this drought-stricken part of the Modoc Nation Homelands left their new 2,300-acre property in disrepair. Homelands employees dedicated to its cleanup and restoration removed more than five tons of trash from a burn pit, including eight refrigerators and three air conditioners, filled in the hazardous hole, and recycled what they could.
Employees of Modoc Nation Homelands cleaned up a 2,300-acre property leased for cattle grazing.
Most problematic, however, were the miles and miles of derelict, fencing ─ much of it barbed wire ─ left in place long after its usefulness had ended. This sharp wire, long abandoned in the roads and scattered across the landscape, was a safety hazard to both public land users, such as off-roaders and firefighters, and to wildlife ─ particularly pronghorn and Interstate Mule Deer that migrate through that corridor. Not only could the spiked, discarded fencing injure the herds ─ or worse ─ but also, it impeded their movement to find food, shelter, and vital water sources.
“The derelict field fencing, especially, is an extreme hazard on the land and a threat to the survival of wildlife populations,” says Ken Sandusky (Choctaw), the resource and development director of the Modoc Nations Homelands program, whose mission is to reacquire and restore the tribe’s ancestral lands.
Sandusky, who grew up in Klamath Falls, recalls his first encounter with derelict fencing many years ago. “When I was a kid, I was riding my motorcycle, responsibly as always, and came across fencing in that same area that got wrapped up in my front wheel. When I came to work on Modoc Ranch, I realized that this problem has never really been taken care of since I was very young.”
With Sandusky’s help, the tribe procured a $50,000 First Nations’ Native Agriculture and Food Systems Investments (NAFSI) grant, supported by Waverly Street Foundation, to remove a projected 33,333 feet (about 26 miles) of derelict fencing on and around Modoc Nation ranches, which would also help clear the way for the safe passage of migratory deer, pronghorn, elk, and other wildlife.
Brian Herbert (left) and Ken Sandusky teamed up on derelict fencing cleanup to restore Modoc Nation lands.
Sandusky teamed up on this cleanup operation with Brian Herbert, homelands manager for the Modoc Nation who runs the day-to-day ranch operations. For Herbert, a member of the Klamath Tribes, cleaning up Modoc homelands is personal. He says he was drawn to this project because he is a direct descendant of people who inhabited the landscape they are working to restore, doing the work that should have been done long ago.
“We are walking in the steps of our ancestors, who stewarded these lands since time immemorial, honoring them and doing what’s right by them,” says Herbert, emphasizing that he is deeply grateful to First Nations for financial assistance. “This grant to clean up derelict fencing has been a blessing. It means a lot to the Modoc Nation and to the lands that the Modoc people hold sacred.”
Operation Derelict Fencing Cleanup
What turned out to be a four-month-long, labor-intensive project started with the determination and goodwill of just two men: Sandusky and Herbert.
One day, as they were doing a routine inspection of the ranchlands, they came across derelict fencing blocking a Forest Service Road. Concerned that the hazardous lengths and piles of steel would prevent firefighters from responding to emergencies in that remote part of the state, they immediately got to work.
“It was just me and Brian rolling up more than five miles of barbed-wire fencing. But it kicked off everything because we realized that two middle-aged men couldn’t do it all themselves,” says Sandusky about why he turned to First Nations for help.
Pound It Fencing removed and recycled over 32 miles of obsolete barbed wire, like these rolls.
With First Nations funding, the tribe hired its preferred provider Pound It Fencing, a local contractor whose headquarters were conveniently close to Modoc Nation Ranch. The company was tasked with removing all fencing that was not serviceable and not needed, and fixing the damaged fencing that the tribe wanted to keep.
In the end, a total of 31,400 feet of fence cleanup and/or repair was completed. More than 32 miles of barbed wire fencing was removed and recycled. Three gates were replaced to better secure Modoc Nation properties and allow better access to habitat restoration projects. And electric fence components were also purchased to begin training the goat herd for regenerative grazing treatments, along with corral panels to more safely handle the regenerative grazing herd.
For all Homelands fencing efforts, including this one, the Modoc Nation constructs permeable, wildlife-friendly fences that feature a smooth bottom wire that is 18 inches off the ground to allow small deer and antelope to crawl underneath, rather than attempting the riskier move of jumping over barbed wire. For fencing taller than four feet, strategic crossings are created every 500 feet to allow bucks and elk with big horns to jump over.
Welded metal end braces driven into the ground with a hydronic pounder are a great improvement over the wood and “rock jack” braces this funding helped replace.
Water is a scarce resource on the ranchlands due to the “dewatering of lower Klamath Lake,” says Herbert, so several watering holes have also been strategically placed in and around the migratory corridor to sustain wildlife, including a network of water guzzlers provided by the California Deer Association. The Modoc Nation and its partners also created a permanent water source and station for Cal Deer volunteers to fill their transport tanks closer to their guzzlers in this remote area.
Strategically placed water sources help sustain wildlife on the drought-stricken Modoc homelands.
Sandusky, a former public affairs officer for the Modoc National Forest who worked on multiple range-management issues, says they are guided by the overarching direction to “float all boats” with the work they are doing to recover this sage-steppe ecosystem. “We are largely welcomed by federal and state agencies, and neighboring landowners because we are out there doing the hard work to benefit everybody. Everyone wishes they could do more to help, but most just don’t have the capacity to do so, and we understand that.”
The game cam reveals success!
The derelict fencing removal project has already made a real difference, as seen on the tribe’s game cam, a video recorder that captures wildlife activity within the migratory corridor. Taped recordings show bucks, antelope, and elk effortlessly using the wildlife-friendly fencing.
“We saw a bunch of young bull elk on Sheepy Ridge, which is a very rare sighting because there’s usually no elk up there. The fact that we got new elk on the property is a BIG deal,” Herbert says of this welcome new development. He adds that they are also seeing increasing numbers of pronghorn and mule deer passing through much more frequently.
In another unexpected, but happy outcome being attributed to safer, animal-friendly practices, the badgers are back ─ an animal that has great cultural significance to the tribe. According to the Modoc Homelands director, “Badgers are sacred, revered critters to many Indigenous people. They haven’t been welcome around here in a while and now they are everywhere!”
The game cam in the migratory corridor shows increasing crossings by pronghorn and mule deer.
Great progress, but so much more to do
The mission to clean up this first round of derelict fencing has been accomplished. But according to Sandusky, there are “limitless opportunities” to clean up “an immense amount” of loose barbed wire across Modoc Traditional Homelands and the homelands of neighboring tribes.
“This first effort has created the momentum needed to address this issue on a landscape scale in partnership with responsible land management agencies. The recently signed Master Stewardship Agreement between the Modoc Nation and Modoc National Forest will allow for this concept to be applied on a much larger scale,” he writes in the First Nations grant application.
All the ecosystems across Modoc territory are interconnected, Sandusky tells First Nations. “We cannot restore the Klamath Basin as a whole if we continue to sacrifice entire landscapes.” He refers to the decades-long battle to restore water and wetlands to the mostly dry Lower Klamath Lake, and the ongoing effort to reintroduce salmon in the Upper Klamath Lake and save two species of sucker fish from extinction. C’waam and koptu are rare fish that live nowhere else in the world and were once invaluable “first foods” for the Modoc people.
Brian Herbert (Klamath Tribes), homelands manager for the Modoc Nation, rolls up some derelict fencing.
Currently, the Modoc Homelands team is working on a regenerative grazing project, building a herd of goats and the capacity needed to help restore the rangelands with fire fuel reduction, decreased juniper encroachment, and other invasive plant management.
“We are starting small, one grant at a time, and letting the momentum carry us into bigger projects,” Sandusky says of their game plan to restore other areas of the Modoc Homelands. “We always say just put one foot in front of the other and walk the path laid out for us. Everything in our strategy is scalable and nested. So, no matter what we can accomplish from here on out, we’re already a success, thanks to grants like this.
Herbert, the Homelands manager, says he feels such a sense of purpose to be part of the team working to restore Modoc lands. “I am proud to represent the Modoc people in the Modoc Homeland. Healing this land is first and foremost to us. Once you start healing the land, other good things will start to fall in place.”
