Rangeland wildlife

Abstract

Rangelands in the western United States provide habitat for >3,000 species of mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, and amphibians. They are also shared with most of the cattle produced in the 11 western states. Managing livestock and wildlife on public lands in the western United States is one of the most challenging issues for managers of rangelands and answers do not come easily. To complicate issues further, the influences of livestock on flora and fauna are intuitively considered to be detrimental, but these relationships are not well understood. In part, this text was developed to improve the understanding of wildlife on rangelands and their interaction with livestock. Readers will discover very rapidly that many of the answers to questions about the influence of livestock on wildlife will not be uncovered here: the controlled research simply has not been conducted. However, scientific organizations such as the Society for Range Management, The Wildlife Society, and The Society for Conservation Biology call for rangeland management that is governed by scientific inquiry and the application of those results to management problems. For example, The Wildlife Society (The Wildlife Society, Inc., 5410 Grosvenor Lane, Bethesda, MD 20814- 2197) recognizes the importance of western rangelands to wildlife. The Wildlife Society Position Statement on Livestock Grazing on Federal Rangelands in the Western United States states "that properly functioning rangeland ecosystems supporting a wide diversity of native plant species are critically important to sustaining wildlife diversity and productivity in the American west. Scientifically sound management plans and practices are key to restoring lands degraded by many years of livestock grazing that damaged soils, water, and plant diversity." The Wildlife Society supports the scientific management of rangelands as exemplified in the first of 17 specific tenants listed in the Position Statement: " .. .it shall be the policy of the Wildlife Society to support livestock grazing management on federal rangelands in the west that; (a) is based on scientific study and considers all rangeland resources, trends, and interactions as well as the broad spectrum of human values and needs; (b) provides for adaptive management and continued improvement of programs and practices as new knowledge and understanding of rangeland ecosystems become available; (c) includes provisions, support, and criteria for monitoring; and (d) involves effective coordination and cooperation among agencies and affected publics." The purpose of this book was to provide information about the major vertebrates on rangelands in the western United States and to provide some insight into their interactions with livestock. Not all vertebrates were considered. Collared peccaries were not addressed because of their limited distribution in the United States. Reptiles and amphibians should be addressed in this book but are not. Unfortunately, the author that agreed to prepare the chapter failed to do so.

Titles contained within Rangeland wildlife

• Elk

Citation

Krausman, Paul R. ed. 1996. Rangeland wildlife. Denver, CO: Society of Range Management. 440 p.