Key range management components

1. Protection and enhancement of soil and vegetation complex. 2. Maintaining or improving output of consumable range products, such as red meat, wildlife, water, wood, fiber, recreation, etc. – Range management deals with manipulating the grazing activities of large herbivores so both plant and animal production will be improved or maintained.

Four basic principles in range management

1. Proper stocking rate, excessive conflict. 2. Proper distribution of grazing animals. 3. Proper kinds of grazing animals. 4. Proper grazing system.

Ruminant

Have enlarged compartment (rumen) that permits microbial degradation of food before it passes to the stomach (abomasum)—cow, deer, sheep, goat, elk, moose.

Ungulate

A hoofed animal: includes ruminants but also horses, tapirs, elephants, rhinoceroses and swine.

Forage

All plant material on a given area potentially edible by livestock and wildlife.

Grasses

Plants that have hollow; jointed stems; fine narrow leaves; and fibrous roots.

Forbs

Nongrass-like plants that have tap root, broad leaves, and solid non-jointed stems.

Shrubs

Woody plants that have long, coarse roots; branch near ground level; and generally have broad leaves.

Trees

Woody plants that have a trunk that branches well above ground.

Basic range management concepts

1. Rangeland is a renewable resource. 2. Energy from the sun can be captured by green plants which can only be harvested by the grazing animal. 3. Grazing lands supply us with food and fiber at a very low additional energy cost. 4. The amount and kind of forage available is determined by the type of soil and the climatic conditions. A given set of soil and climatic conditions define a “range site” 5. Rangelands supply us with multiple products: food, fiber, fishing, hunting, sightseeing, minerals, timber, and water.

Importance of rangelands

Energy, water, food, climate change, endangered Species