Wilcox and Wood measured infiltrability, sediment concentration of runoff, and sediment production using a hand-portable rainfall simulator in light grazing and no grazing treatments, on slopes greater than 50 percent, in New Mexico. Infiltrability was greater on the ungrazed treatments in both wet and dry conditions. Sediment concentration of runoff was similar on both treatments in the wet conditions, and significantly greater on the grazed treatment at the end of the dry conditions. Sediment production was similar on both treatments in the wet conditions and significantly greater on the grazed treatment in the dry conditions. These data give no indication that steep slopes (30-70%), in semiarid regions, are any more hydrologically sensitive to light grazing than are moderate slopes (<10%).
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