Public Land Grazing in California: Untapped Conservation Potential for Private Lands?

Sulak, Adriana; Huntsinger, Lynn

doi:10.2111/1551-501x(2007)29[9:plgicu]2.0.co;2

Cited by 20 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…The lack of successors is another challenge facing the aging population of agriculturalists (Gale 2003;Brunson and Huntsinger 2008). Additional perceived threats include, for example, increasing grazing fees, reductions in public grazing allotments, increasing public lands recreation, the presence of threatened and endangered species, and wilderness designations (Coppock and Birkenfeld 1999;Liffmann et al 2000;Rowe et al 2001;Gentner and Tanaka 2002;Sulak and Huntsinger 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating Conservation and Financial Objectives on Private Rangelands in Northern Colorado: Rancher and Practitioner Perceptions

Gutwein

Goldstein

2013

Rangeland Ecology & Management

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating Conservation and Financial Objectives on Private Rangelands in Northern Colorado: Rancher and Practitioner Perceptions

Gutwein

Goldstein

2013

Rangeland Ecology & Management

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“…Once removed, it may be that returning grazing to an ecosystem is impossible or prohibitive. Removing grazing from government lands may result in a permanent loss of valuable range and habitat, as ranches are sold and lands are developed as part of a westwide expansion of second homes and residential development (Sulak and Huntsinger 2007). Maintaining grazing on government lands without consideration of planning and protection for private lands may leave ranchers literally without a 'home'.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Birds, beasts and bovines: three cases of pastoralism and wildlife in the USA

Huntsinger

Sayre

Wulfhorst

2012

Pastoralism: Research, Policy and Practice

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Background: Pastoralism in the USA began coincidently with the initiation of profound ecological change resulting from colonization in the sixteenth century. Relationships between pastoralism and wildlife conservation in three different contexts of land tenure, environmental legacy, and geography are examined. Results: On the federal rangelands of the Intermountain West, based on limited scientific information, wildlife policy has been interpreted to require separation of native bighorn sheep from livestock to prevent disease transmission. Ignored are the possible long term and broad scale impacts of removing grazing on the ecosystem and the 'social disturbance' to local communities. In southwestern deserts, the implementation of wildlife policy exemplifies the contradictions between conservation of individuals versus populations, and fire suppression and grazing removal as 'inactions' requiring no review versus grazing and burning as 'actions' requiring regulation and control. In California's Mediterranean rangeland, wildlife policy under the Endangered Species Act is at once a regulatory burden and an opportunity for ranchers. The opportunities result from an evolving recognition that cessation of grazing can harm wildlife. Conclusions: In all three cases, the environment has changed and is changing due to ecosystem engineering that alters the resources available to wildlife and plant species. Grazing offers potential benefits as a management tool, and pastoralism a means of maintaining un-fragmented landscapes. Yet, absent adequate ecological information, the assumptions of innate conflict between livestock and wildlife, and that cessation of grazing is not an action, as well as the norms of a politically popular yet ecologically unsupportable discourse of restoration, fill in the gaps.

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“…Grazing lands are also owned and managed by a wide variety of private landlords, including individuals, private universities, land conservancies, partnerships, and corporations, notably precious metal mining, oil, or diversified holding companies. One rancher in the Sierra Nevada foothills used 10 to 15 different private and public leases to support his cattle through the year (Sulak and Huntsinger 2007). All of these ownerships may offer profitable leasing opportunities, and could present ranchers with the opportunity to diversify products, services, and management.…”

Section: Diversification Of Land Access and Tenure Arrangementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ideally, public and private components of a ranch are adjacent, or close enough to move livestock without the use of vehicles, but this is not always the case. In regions where competition for leases is stiff, often because of development pressure, ranchers piece together noncontiguous parcels to make their operations viable (Sulak and Huntsinger 2007). Crucial to diverse land tenure arrangements is a rancher's ability to move livestock within or between these parcels.…”

Section: Diversification Of Land Access and Tenure Arrangementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Rangelands in Diversified Farming Systems: Innovations, Obstacles, and Opportunities in the USA

Sayre¹,

Carlisle²,

Huntsinger³

et al. 2012

E&S

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Discussions of diversified farming systems (DFS) rarely mention rangelands: the grasslands, shrublands, and savannas that make up roughly one-third of Earth's ice-free terrestrial area, including some 312 million ha of the United States. Although ranching has been criticized by environmentalists for decades, it is probably the most ecologically sustainable segment of the U.S. meat industry, and it exemplifies many of the defining characteristics of DFS: it relies on the functional diversity of natural ecological processes of plant and animal (re)production at multiple scales, based on ecosystem services generated and regenerated on site rather than imported, often nonrenewable, inputs. Rangelands also provide other ecosystem services, including watershed, wildlife habitat, recreation, and tourism. Even where non-native or invasive plants have encroached on or replaced native species, rangelands retain unusually high levels of plant diversity compared with croplands or plantation forests. Innovations in management, marketing, incentives, and easement programs that augment ranch income, creative land tenure arrangements, and collaborations among ranchers all support diversification. Some obstacles include rapid landownership turnover, lack of accessible U.S. Department of Agriculture certified processing facilities, tenure uncertainty, fragmentation of rangelands, and low and variable income, especially relative to land costs. Taking advantage of rancher knowledge and stewardship, and aligning incentives with production of diverse goods and services, will support the sustainability of ranching and its associated public benefits. The creation of positive feedbacks between economic and ecological diversity should be the ultimate goal

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Public Land Grazing in California: Untapped Conservation Potential for Private Lands?

Cited by 20 publications

References 7 publications

Integrating Conservation and Financial Objectives on Private Rangelands in Northern Colorado: Rancher and Practitioner Perceptions

Integrating Conservation and Financial Objectives on Private Rangelands in Northern Colorado: Rancher and Practitioner Perceptions

Birds, beasts and bovines: three cases of pastoralism and wildlife in the USA

The Role of Rangelands in Diversified Farming Systems: Innovations, Obstacles, and Opportunities in the USA

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