Arizona has about 62 million acres of rangeland. Rangeland is land with grasses, forbs, and shrubs that support grazing animals, such as cattle, elk, deer, and antelope. In Arizona, rangelands include private land as well as lands managed by state and federal agencies, including the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and the Arizona State Land Department. Rangelands are important for many reasons. They are important to Arizona residents for open space, recreation, wildlife habitat, clean water, and many other amenities. They are used, through leases and permits, for forage by the range livestock industry. This industry is important to Arizona’s economy. In 2000, cattle and calves were the number one agricultural commodity, valued at $621,331,000 (USDA Economic Research Service)(source overview)
Articles, citations, reports, websites, and multimedia resources focused on rangeland ecology, management, restoration, and other issues on American rangelands.