Simulation of the Impact of Rangeland Management Strategies
On Soil Health, Environmental Footprint, Economic Impact, and Human-Edible Nutrient Conversion from Grasslands in the Central and Northern Great Plains of the United States
Rangelands provide many ecosystem services such as food production, income for rural families and communities, recreation, wildlife habitat, soil carbon sequestration, plant and animal biodiversity, and water filtration.
It is often assumed that grazing negatively impacts the natural ecosystem and that the removal of grazing would result in more pristine rangelands. Management-intensive grazing practices allow forages to store reserves during times of abundant precipitation, increase water-holding capacity, provide wildlife habitat at critical times of rearing young, and create a shifting mosaic with both old- and new-growth vegetation all the while maintaining animal productivity and income for ranchers. An analysis of the interaction between rangeland management practices and the ecosystem is needed.
By Merri E. Day, Minfeng Tang, Phillip A. Lancaster, Deann Presley, Dustin L. Pendell, Walter H. Fick, Luca Doro, Adam Ahlers, and Andrew Ricketts
Keywords: APEX; cattle; economic; ecosystem; grazing; greenhouse gas; IFSM; IMPLAN; soil carbon; sustainability