Areas of Emphasis

Invasive species – Invasive plants, such as leafy spurge and spotted knapweed, infest millions of acres of land in 26 northern states, decrease livestock forage, deplete wildlife habitat, increase soil erosion, reduce biological diversity, and cost landowners and the general public millions of dollars each year. Controlled livestock grazing can be used as a landscape manipulation tool to enhance ecological systems and may provide the most economically and environmentally sound alternative to chemical control of the encroachment of noxious, non-native plants, and for vegetative control to provide fire breaks in the urban/rural interface, to reduce forage competition for timber production, to control crop insect pests, and to add value to crop residue.

Wildlife habitat – Public and private rangelands in the western United States provide important habitat for both wildlife and livestock. Relationships between wildlife and livestock, and between wildlife and livestock enterprises, can be competitive, complementary or neutral, depending upon site-specific conditions. Wildlife habitat, and hence wildlife, should benefit from the removal of leafy spurge and other noxious weeds by grazing by enhancing soil, water, nutrient, and sunlight availability for native grasses and promoting more balanced plant diversity. Management strategies that promote a positive relationship between wildlife and livestock industries will work to create a beneficial link between the two industries that can be used to resolve conflicts where livestock and wildlife cohabit.

Riparian habitat – Riparian areas make up only a small portion of the landscape, however they produce a disproportionate amount of forage on rangelands and often receive a disproportionate amount of use. The effects of grazing on vegetation, soils, and water quality are dictated by when and how long grazing occurs, how often it occurs, and how much vegetation is removed (i.e., timing, frequency, and severity) and the key to managing these variables is the ability to manipulate where animals graze and rest. Use of selective culling of individual cows that over-utilize riparian habitat, a strategy based upon the largely untested hypothesis that individual animals differ in their habitat use preferences, may diminish the impacts of grazing on riparian areas. Greater riparian habitat use by individual cows may, however, be explained by the alternative hypothesis that social competition may force subordinate individuals onto upland sites. Knowledge of social dynamics within a herd can be used to manage riparian habitat more effectively and reduce the effects of streambank trampling.

Return to regular view	Text-only	Updated: 03/12/2006