Research and Publications
View article.
Determining the ecologic and economic importance of cheatgrass is a challenge to range research. This poorly understood species produces a large volume of herbage over extensive acreages and is undoubtedly the most important forage plant on southern Idaho ranges. Its probable effect upon grazing, watershed, wildlife, recreation, and timber production further adds to its importance. Many additional facts are needed before we can fully determine the importance and the desirability of this newcomer. If cheatgrass is found to be desirable a program for its proper management should be developed. Should it be found undesirable, methods of replacement must be found. The first and most important immediate problem now facing research is finding out how cheatgrass ranges might be managed to hold the soil in place and to maintain soil productivity.
View article.
In the more open Pinus ponderosa and Pseudotsuga menziesii forests, cheatgrass colonization may often occur in openings in the understory alone. Colonization in the more shady A. grandis and Thuja plicata forests is unlikely, however, unless the opening extends through both the understory and the overstory. As a result, cheatgrass is unlikely to increase in any of these forests unless the scale and incidence of disturbance increases substantially.
View review.
Proper grazing management appears urgent in preventing or delaying further encroachment of cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) into perennial vegetation on western grazing lands and subsequently gaining site dominance. In mixed stands with desirable perennials, livestock grazing might be directed to (1) reducing cheatgrass competition by concentrating grazing of cheatgrass during dough seed stage, providing perennials still have opportunity to complete their life cycles, or (2) basing grazing on the needs of perennials while mostly ignoring cheatgrass. When cheatgrass domination results in a closed community, alternatives appear limited to (1) managing as annual grassland, or (2) revegetation using intensive cultural practices. In conjunction with revegetation, livestock might conceivably be employed for “graze out” in site preparation and I or for selective plant control during germination and emergence of the seeded perennials. However, with these possible limited exceptions, grazing is concluded not to be an effective general tool for cheatgrass control.
View paper.
This paper provides a historical perspective of the influence of cheatgrass invasion on western rangelands (1930-1950). This was a period of awakening interest by range scientists. Range managers, the livestock industry, and scientists have always bad a love-bate relationship with cheatgrass. It provides the bulk of the forage on many ranges, yet it is the symbol of environmental degradation. Trying to cope with the endless ramifications of cheatgrass invasion, dominance, persistence, and potential community decline keep forcing scientists to critically evaluate the ecological principles upon which range management is based.
View chapter.
The range livestock industry has adapted to the presence of invasive annual grasses, especially where infestations are extensive. Light to moderate livestock grazing provides enough standing grass at the end of the grazing season to limit soil erosion and conserve soil moisture and nutrients. Elsewhere, however, where infestations of invasive annual grasses are less extensive or less advanced, opportunities exist for using targeted, or prescribed, livestock grazing to suppress annual grass plants. This chapter focuses on using prescribed livestock grazing to suppress invasive annual grasses on sites where these grasses are considered weedy invaders.
View paper.
Although this study helped pinpoint optimal defoliation parameters for cheatgrass control, it also called into question the potential for livestock grazing to be an effective seed-bed preparation technique in native plant reseeding projects in cheatgrass-dominated areas.
View article.
Cattle removed 80 to 90% of standing biomass in grazed plots in May of 2005 and 2006 when B. tectorum was in the boot (phenological) stage. Grazed and ungrazed plots were burned in October 2005 and 2006. The combined grazing–burning treatment was more effective than either treatment alone in reducing B. tectorum seed input and seed bank density, and in shifting species composition from a community dominated by B. tectorum to one composed of a suite of species, with B. tectorum as a component rather than a dominant. This study provides a meso-scale precursor for landscape-scale adaptive management using grazing and burning methodologies.
View paper.
Grazing exacerbates Bromus tectorum dominance in one of North America’s most endangered ecosystems by adversely impacting key mechanisms mediating resistance to invasion. If the goal is to conserve and restore resistance of these systems, managers should consider maintaining or restoring: (i) high bunchgrass cover and structure characterized by spatially dispersed bunchgrasses and small gaps between them; (ii) a diverse assemblage of bunchgrass species to maximize competitive interactions with B. tectorum in time and space; and (iii) biological soil crusts to limit B. tectorum establishment. Passive restoration by reducing cumulative cattle grazing may be one of the most effective means of achieving these three goals.
View article.
This article highlights the experiences and observations of the contributing contract graziers and agency land managers. The contract graziers share their personal knowledge of providing land services in a diverse array of situations, from small, rigorously managed parcels to watershed-scale projects. They expound on the immense planning, preparation, and oversight necessary to successfully conduct a vegetation management contract, as well as the challenges of surviving economically in the industry. Public land managers reveal the challenges of employing targeted grazing on public lands and provide insight on what must be done to make targeted grazing a widely accepted management practice.
View article.
Flying Mule Farm has provided targeted grazing services for small- to medium-sized (under 250 acres) projects in the Sierra foothills since 2008. We have also worked with several large targeted grazing contractors to manage large scale projects in the foothills and the Sacramento Valley. We have found that combining the scientific underpinnings of range science with the art of managing livestock, ecological processes, and human beings makes the business of targeted grazing uniquely challenging.