Comparisons of stocking rates across sites can be facilitated by calculating grazing pressure. We used peak standing crop and stocking rates from six studies in the North American Great Plains (Cheyenne, Wyoming; Cottonwood, South Dakota; Hays, Kansas; Nunn, Colorado; Streeter, North Dakota; and Woodward, Oklahoma) to calculate a grazing pressure index and develop relationships for harvest effi...

As animal grazing has intensified within Kentucky and the surrounding region problematic weeds such as tall ironweed, spiny amaranth, horsenettle, buttercup, common cocklebur, and thistles have been increasing. These weeds become prominent in pastures because they have spines, thorns, or are unpalatable to animals. Animals selectively graze and avoid these weedy plants and with intensive grazin...

Recent scholars have found that collective action can be harnessed to sustainably manage common property, contrary to longstanding hypotheses that without effective external regulation community members will exploit communal resources. Researchers have also found that social capital, in addition to biophysical conditions and community attributes, is an important element of successful collective...

Management practices can disturb ecological communities in grazing lands, which represent one-quarter of land surface. But three knowledge gaps exist regarding disturbances: disturbances potentially interact but are most often studied singly; experiments with multiple ecosystems as treatment units are rare; and relatively new metrics of phylogenetic community structure have not been widely appl...

In a previous article, Beschta et al. (Environ Manag 51(2):474-491, 2013) argue that grazing by large ungulates (both native and domestic) should be eliminated or greatly reduced on western public lands to reduce potential climate change impacts. The authors did not present a balanced synthesis of the scientific literature, and their publication is more of an opinion article. Their conclusions ...

In the western United States, livestock grazing often co-exists with recreation, cultural resource management and biodiversity protection on federal and state protected rangelands as well as on many local government open space areas. While the value of livestock grazing for managing rangeland vegetation to reduce fire fuel loads and improve wildlife habitat is increasingly recognized by resourc...