An integrated approach to grazingland ecological assessments and management interpretations

Excerpt

In the United States, grazinglands have been separated into categories such as rangelands and pasturelands and have traditionally been assessed using different methods and indicators. The term grazingland refers to areas producing forage from native or introduced plants and harvested directly by animals without reference to land tenure or other land uses (Allen et al. 2011). The largest area of grazingland in the United States occurs west of the 100th meridian, in water-limited rangelands (Briske 2011). The eastern portion of the country, where water is not a limiting factor, contains substantial areas of improved pastures (Sanderson et al. 2012). Together, these grazinglands represent a substantial proportion, nearly 22% (Jin et al. 2013), of agricultural lands in the United States (figure 1) and contribute many ecosystem goods and services that help support human well-being (Nelson et al. 2012). When taking into account the dichotomy in grazingland terminology, it is important to note that for some parts of the United States, and many parts of the world, the difference between pasturelands and grazinglands is less clear and land considered a pasture to some might be considered an intensively managed rangeland to others. Here we follow the Allen et al. (2011) definitions for…