This targeted grazing resource center is designed to keep land managers and operators informed of the latest research and tools. It provides information for project planning and assessment and provides opportunities to connect with others currently researching or utilizing targeted grazing.

The following nonnative annual grasses currently pose the greatest risk to the Great Basin ecosystem.

• cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum)
• field brome (B. arvensis)
• medusahead (Taeniatherum caput-medusae)
• ventenata (Ventenata dubia)

See the Invasive Annual Grasses webpage for descriptions of and details about the individual species.

Targeted grazing for fuel breaks is the focused use of livestock (timing and intensity) on defined areas to reduce the amount of vegetation or fuels to limit fire severity and slow fire spread rates.

Dormant-season grazing is grazing during that time period between plant senescence in late fall and green-up in early spring. There are several projects that show dormant-season grazing can reduce fuel loads and when burned, dormant-grazed sites burn less severely than ungrazed sites.

Projects -

• UNR/ARS Burns
• Boise BLM-Mountain Home
• University of Idaho

General Information/Background Materials
Society for Range Management’s Targeted Grazing website 
The art and science of targeted grazing – A producer’s perspective
Targeted grazing: Applying the research to the land
Presentations from the 2016 October 6 Targeted Grazing Workshop in Reno, NV

Grazing Systems
An evidence-based assessment of prescribed grazing practices
Strategic grazing management for complex creative systems
Implications of longer term rest from grazing in the sagebrush steppe
Perspectives on the concept of rangeland carrying capacity, and their exploration by means of Noy-Meir’s two-function model

Invasive Species
Prefire grazing by cattle increases postfire resistance to exotic annual grass (Bromus tectorum) invasion and dominance for decades
Conditions favoring cheatgrass dominance of endangered sagebrush steppe
Effects of targeted grazing and prescribed burning on community and seed dynamics of cheatgrass-dominated landscape
Control of medusahead (Taeniatherum caput-medusae) using timely sheep grazing
Defoliation effects on cheatgrass seed production: Implications for grazing
Cheatgrass and grazing rangelands
Bromus tectorum cover mapping and fire risk
Targeted livestock grazing to suppress invasive annual grasses
Cheatgrass and range science: 1930-1950
Use of livestock to control cheatgrass: A review
The population biology of cheatgrass: Effect of disturbance, grazing, and litter on seedling establishment and reproduction
Cheatgrass: A challenge to range research
Grazing invasive annual grasses: The green and brown guide
Fire, livestock grazing, topography, and precipitation affect occurrence and prevalence of cheatgrass in the central Great Basin
Interactions between grazing, fire, and invasive plants in sagebrush steppe: Bibliographic summaries of relevant literature
Alternative management paradigm for plant communities affected by invasive annual grass in the Intermountain West

Livestock Production
Grazing capacity, sheep gains: Cheatgrass, bunchgrass ranges in s ID
Cheatgrass range in southern Idaho: Seasonal cattle gains and grazing capacities
Nutritive value of cheatgrass and crested wheatgrass on spring ranges of Utah
Dormant-season grazing: Effect of supplementation strategies on heifer resource utilization and vegetation use

Fuels/Fire Behavior
Targeted livestock grazing to strategically reduce fine fuels – Progress Report May 2019
Fall and spring grazing influence fire ignitability and initial spread in shrub steppe communities
Winter grazing decreases the probability of fire-induced mortality of bunchgrasses and may reduce wildfire size: Response to Smith et al. 2016
Targeted grazing in southern Arizona: Using cattle to reduce fine fuel loads
Reducing cheatgrass fuel loads using fall cattle grazing: A case study
Livestock grazing effects on fuel loads for wildland fire in sagebrush
Grazing for fuels management and sage-grouse habitat maintenance and recovery
Targeted sheep grazing on herbage and saplings in wildfire prevention system in south-eastern Spain
Considerations for strategically reducing fuels and wildfires on public lands in the Great Basin with targeted grazing
Interactions among livestock grazing, vegetation type, and fire behavior in the Murphy wildland fire complex in ID and NV, July 2007
Cheatgrass cover mapping and fire risk
Effect of livestock grazing and fire history on fuel load in sagebrush
Grazing and fire management for native perennial grass restoration in CA grasslands
Combining active restoration and targeted grazing to establish native plants and reduce fuel loads in invaded ecosystems
Interactions among grazing, fire, and invasive plants in the sagebrush steppe in the sagebrush steppe ecosystem

Water
Prescription grazing to enhance rangeland watersheds

Community Health/Wildlife Habitat
Livestock grazing and sage-grouse habitat: Impact and opportunities
Explaining patterns of species dominance in shrub steppe of the Junggar Basin (China) and Great Basin (USA)
How heavy grazing and protection affect sagebrush-grass ranges
Resiliency of biological soil crusts and vascular plants varies among morphogroups with disturbance intensity

NEPA documents

• Soda EA
• Elko EA
• NV Programmatic EA
• Lakeview NEPA and planning docs

Implementation plans

Great Basin Restoration Initiative

Links to other sites.