McInnis and McIver studied the differences in riparian area damage between pastures that provided free-choice, off-stream watering and salt and those that did not. Over the 2-year study, average utilization in the supplemented pastures was 31%, while in the non-supplemented pastures average utilization was 47%. In the supplemented pastures, the amount of uncovered/unstable banks increased by 3% after grazing, compared to 9% in the non-supplemented pastures. Visually, supplemented pastures maintained a higher level of streambank integrity than non-supplemented pastures, though no other results were statistically significant.
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