Impacts of

Описание: Over-grazing of cattle can have significant and lasting impact to native grasslands in a variety of different ways, and this little plot in this temperate grassland ecosystem illustrates this brilliantly!

The grazing preferences of cattle on various plants differs greatly from the native grazing megafauna that evolved in these ecosystems (Bison east of the rockies, Elk on the west), as well as the frequency of grazing and their movement patterns (especially with the removal of large predators on these landscapes). The result is that more soil is upturned and the native grass populations that would normally been plentiful are weakened, allowing for takeover of plants like Big Sagebrush. This, combined with active fire suppression over the past century, has lead to many formerly grass-dominated ecosystems becoming sagelands, which don’t provide as much habitat for birds, reptiles, and other wildlife, as much grazing opportunities for all, and are increasingly prone to larger scale fires.

Contrasted with this small plot that hasn’t been grazed for 100 years, the difference is notable. Native grasses are still plentiful and thriving, with only sparse sagebrush presence.

Though cattle grazing methods have changed in recent years to allow more spacing between grazing periods, in many cases, the ecological damage has already been done (barring a big fire event to clear the sagebrush, which would also open opportunities for invasives to seed).

While there are still better ways to manage cattle on these landscapes, their place in a legacy of colonization is one that needs to be closely examine in a changing world. Through thinking differently than we have the past 100 years with the repopulation of native grazers and trophic webs, we can increase the biological diversity and resilience of these ecosystems for a more bountiful future for us all.

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Produced & Directed by Ross Reid

~ I'd like to acknowledge that this video was filmed on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples–Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm Nations. ~

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