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INTEGRATED LENTIC RIPARIAN GRAZING MANAGEMENT.
Author
Swanson, Sherman R.
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
2017
Body

Managing lentic riparian areas for functionality is a legal, policy, sustainability, wildlife & common sense requirement. Yet lentic riparian work has been neglected without an effective integrated riparian management process.��1- Assess lentic riparian areas for proper functioning condition (PFC). With areas in PFC, stabilizing plants capture sediment, dissipate or resist erosive energies, and accumulate organic matter to sustain the sponge for water and nutrients to nourish stabilizing plants.�2�- Identify resource values, or types of habitat.� Livestock production often depends on riparian vegetation to extend periods and amounts of nutritious green forage. Endangered, threatened, or sensitive species at springs depend on specific aquatic or riparian habitats.�3�- Prioritize riparian areas for management, restoration, or monitoring using steps 1 and 2.�4�- Identify issues, and establish goals, and objectives for key areas. Riparian vegetation usually drives recovery and objectives.� It slows runoff to trap sediment and expand zones of wetness, dissipates or resists erosive energies to stabilize soil, and re-builds the organic sponge for water that nourishes stabilizing, forage, and habitat plants.�5�- Design and implement management and restoration actions.� Many strategies that apply grazing management principles are effective for riparian recovery.� Principles are: A. Strengthen important forage plants with only short periods of use OR moderate grazing intensity during the growing season; B. Provide sufficient growing season recovery before next use; and C. Graze at a different time from one year to the next.�6�- Monitor and analyze the effectiveness of actions by focusing on objectives addressing threats to riparian functions and targeted resource values.�7�- Implement adaptive actions. Riparian management must be adjusted by using monitoring information.� Strategies developed for grazing management of streamside riparian areas can be applied with monitoring focused on the driving variables for lentic riparian recovery.

Language
English
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Conference Name
SRM St. George, UT
Collection
SRM Annual Meeting Abstracts