Private ranchlands and public land grazing in the southern Rocky Mountains

Abstract

In the western United States, Euro-American settlement was concentrated on the most fertile, best-watered, and most desirable sites, while the unsettled mountains and deserts remained in the public domain. As a result, the public and private halves of the western landscape are not interchangeable for conservation purposes. Federal statutes require ranchers grazing livestock on federal lands to own sufficient private ranchland, known as “base ranch” or “commensurate” land, to sustain their livestock for part of each year. If access to forage on public lands is curtailed, the economic viability of these ranching operations may be compromised, leading to an intensification of ranch operations on the private lands or conversion to exurban development. Either of these outcomes could have important consequences for conservation at a regional scale.

Citation

Talbert, Colin B.; Knight, Richard L.; Mitchell, John E. 2007. Private ranchlands and public land grazing in the southern Rocky Mountains. Rangelands. 29(3): 5-8.