Range Vegetation

BIOL 425/427

What is “Rangeland”?

A) Uncultivated

B) Provides Forage forLarge Herbivores

Livestock Wildlife

Grazers

Browsers

Intermediate Feeders

Typical Rangelands

In Contrast: Pasturelands• Periodic Cultivation of Non-Native Forage

Species• Agricultural Inputs (Fertilizer, Irrigation)

Extent of Rangelands(Worldwide)

Potential Rangeland

WORLD 70%

AFRICA 69

CHINA 77

INDIA 33

EUROPE 53

NORTH AMERICA 66

SOUTH AMERICA 74

OCEANIA 66

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) data (2000)

Extent of Rangeland (North America)

Potential Rangeland

NORTH

AMERICA

66

CANADA 64

MEXICO 70

USA 61

FAO data (2000)

Rangeland in the West :(80% of Land Area)

http://www.rangelandswest.org/index.org

Rangeland Types

A) Grasslands

Rangeland Types

B) Shrublands

Rangeland TypesC) Woodlands

Rangeland TypesD) Forests

PLANTS!!!

Trees (Gymnosperms)

Trees (Angiosperms)

Small Trees and Shrubs

Small Trees and Shrubs

Vegetative Characteristics

Succulents

Forbs

Forbs

Flower Characteristics

Graminoids (Grasses, Rushes, Sedges)

Grass Characteristics

29

WARM-SEASON vs. COOL-SEASON PLANTS

FORAGE VALUE

POISONOUS PLANTS

INCREASERS VERSUS DECREASERS

“WEEDS”

RANGELAND LEGISLATION -------------------------------------------

HOMESTEAD ACT (1862)

TAYLOR GRAZING ACT (1934)

MULTIPLE USE ACT (1960)

ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT (1973)

Stock Raising Homestead Act (1916)

Transcontinental Railroad Act (1862)

MORRILL ACT (1862)Forest Reserves Act (1891)

National Environmental Policy Act (1970)

TO GRAZE OR NOT TO GRAZE?

Cost of ComplianceBy Trent Loos

What is the price of freedom? How many Americans have died to protect our rights? Yet we have an additional price to pay to protect our right, as a rancher, to convert natural resources into value-added products. For Kit Laney of New Mexico, part of the price was 25 days in jail without bail.

RANGE ECOLOGY

ABIOTIC FACTORS

BIOTIC FACTORS

PLANT SUCCESSIONON THE RANGE

Effect of Fire Suppression in Bear’s Ears(Southwestern Utah)Top: 1920sBottom: 1988

http://www.cpluhna.nau.edu/Tools/repeatphotog.htm

DESERTIFICATION

RANGE ASSESSMENT

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

Journal of Range Management

Holecheck, J.L. et al. 2004. Range Management: Principles and Practices.

http://rangelandswest.org/index.html

*Ivey, R.D. 2003. Flowering Plants of New Mexico

Allred, K.W. 2005. A Field Guide to the Grasses of New Mexico, 3rd edition

EL FIN(THE END)