Lentic wetlands often provide water and forage for livestock and wildlife as well as various ecosystem services. Successful rangeland management maintains or restores riparian function and plants capable of stabilizing soil, especially in the vegetated zone closest to open water. The greenline is where stabilizing vegetation most influences erosion, landform, and water quality. The whole width of the riparian buffer traps sediment and nutrients and thus maintains water depth and quality. Effective grazing management balances grazing with opportunities for plant growth and/or regrowth by adjusting grazing timing, duration, intensity, and/or variation of timing, duration and intensity. Often, lentic riparian areas occur as small places of green and water and they attract cattle that use it for central place foraging. In many settings, reducing stocking rate without other strategies to fix riparian over-use would severely limit production from the pasture. Grazing managers can emphasize either limiting utilization to decrease stress or accept stress and provide for recovery. This choice greatly effects management actions, use criteria, and methods for short-term monitoring. To meet objectives and encourage riparian recovery, managers use many grazing strategies that allow rather than impede riparian recovery. Adaptive management adjusts actions using short-term monitoring that is focused on chosen strategies. Long-term monitoring focused on objectives helps adjust management as needed for priority areas needing functions, and then desired resource values. Once riparian areas are properly functioning, managers have greater flexibility for adjusting management for continued success.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.