We collaborated with hundreds of livestock grazing management experts to develop a set of evidence-based, adaptable principles tailored for successful management in the semiarid and arid rangelands of the western United States. (below is an excerpt from the publication)

This rapid user guide is for land managers and livestock producers in CA's intermountain rangelands. It focuses on outlining essential factors to consider when making decisions in the aftermath of wildfire.

The free guide can be downloaded from the UC A&NR catalog here.

The Balancing Act of Producing Food and other Ecosystem Services on Rangelands

Grazing lands occupy nearly half the Earth’s land area, provide livelihoods for millions, and mitigate climate change via massive stores of carbon. Maintaining and restoring soil health is essential to ensuring these benefits in our ever changing environment.

Thus, there is substantial global interest in managing livestock grazing to improve soil health. Grazing is promoted by some as a panacea for sequestering carbon and mitigating climate change. In other cases, grazing is depicted as an ultimate driver of soil degradation.

In the western U.S., millions of acres of perennial grasslands, shrublands, and forests are held in the public domain and managed by state and federal agencies for multiple land uses. Although riparian meadows account for a small percentage of this landscape, their ecological and conservation values are substantial. These ecosystems provide a suite of benefits—including clean water, flood attenuation, nutrient sequestration, wildlife habitat, and livestock grazing.

California’s annual rangelands include open grasslands and woodlands dominated by an understory of herbaceous annual plants in the state’s valleys and low elevation mountains and foothills. These largely privately owned lands span 10 million acres and produce nearly 70% of the state’s livestock forage base. Therefore, annual rangelands provide a critical economic foundation for California’s rangeland livestock production1—annual gross value of cattle and sheep production exceeds $3 billion.

Grazinglands support the livelihoods of millions of people around the world. These working landscapes include livestock-grazed rangelands and pasturelands and occupy an estimated one-quarter to two-fifths of the world’s land surface—making them the largest and most biologically and physically diverse land resources in the world.

Requesting growers and ag industry members to contribute to the national conversation on herbicide-resistant weeds As part of a national effort on developing research and regulatory priorities related to the challenging problems of herbicide-resistant weeds, the Weed Science Society of America is sponsoring a series of half-day regional workshops to discuss the issues, potential solutions, and technical and economic barriers related to resistant weeds.