Both the US Forest Service (USFS) and the Bureau for Land Management (BLM) issue permits to livestock producers. These permits allow ranchers to use specific areas of public rangelands called grazing allotments to support livestock herds. Ranchers must meet two basic requirements to qualify for a federal grazing permit:

Base Property: First, ranchers must own private land capable of supporting a livestock operation. This is called a “base property.” Base properties are specifically linked to a grazing permit; in order to maintain a grazing permit, a rancher must also maintain control over the base property associated with it. If a base property is taken out of livestock production, the allotment can be linked to a different base property.

Livestock Ownership: The USFS requires ranchers to own the livestock they plan to graze on public lands. The BLM allows ranchers to graze both their own livestock and livestock they lease from others. When grazing leased livestock, the grazing fee is higher.

Once a rancher qualifies for a grazing permit, they must pay annual grazing fees and manage their livestock consistent with federal regulations and the management plan and operating instructions specific to the grazing allotments for which they hold permits. Ranchers can lose their privilege to graze on public lands if they fail to pay their annual grazing fees or if their management fails to meet the standards set by the USFS or BLM. Generally, ranchers are required to maintain all ranch infrastructure on public lands, including fencing and water systems, as well as follow grazing schedules set each year in collaboration with agency personnel. They may also be required to meet other management requirements, such as special management for wildlife and endangered species. Finally, grazing is only one use of public lands. The management of livestock may be altered or reduced to ensure other uses such as recreation, hunting, and wilderness are maintained.

Rangeland ecosystems are always changing. Succession is the replacement of one plant community by another. Succession occurs through changes in species composition, the abundance of species, and other shifts in plant communities over time. There are two types of succession: primary and secondary successions. Primary successions begin from bare ground such as lava flows and volcanic ash deposits. Secondary successions are those that happen after a disturbance such as fire or grazing.

Historically, rangeland scientists thought that the process of succession in rangeland systems proceeded until a single, stable “climax” plant community was reached and the system was in equilibrium. Today, advances in rangeland science have helped us to understand that many rangeland systems have more than one potential stable plant community. This has changed the way management of rangeland ecosystems is approached. State and transition models (STMs) describe vegetation dynamics and how ecosystems respond to certain disturbances or management practices. Each “state” in an STM is a stable plant community. Each “transition” is a change that can push an ecosystem to a different stable plant community, for example a wildfire, shrub encroachment, or erosion from overgrazing. By developing STMs for different places, rangeland ecologists and managers can improve our understanding of the potential impacts of different management approaches. State and transition models are now an important tool used by federal agencies in management planning and evaluation of the condition of rangeland ecosystems.

Following the end of the Civil War and the development of railroads linking western states and territories with eastern markets, the livestock industry in the western U.S. began a massive expansion. Throughout the late 1800s, livestock grazing developed into a hugely profitable business, drawing investments from eastern cities and even Europe. These investments resulted in a huge growth of western livestock herds. These herds were largely dependent on public lands for forage resources. By 1884 there were an estimated 40 million cattle in the western states, with an estimated 1.5 million head of cattle in Arizona alone. The semi-arid ranges found on the public lands of the western U.S. were not capable of supporting such large numbers and this resulted in large scale overgrazing. This era would ultimately end in both catastrophe and promise for the future. Repeated droughts in the 1880s and 1890s, and the extremely harsh winter of 1886-87, caused the death of millions of cattle and left vast areas of eroded and bare soils in their wake. 

However, this ecological disaster also had a silver lining: ranchers and government agencies recognized the need for regulations to prevent over grazing of public lands and, as a result, the new science of rangeland ecology and management to improve our understanding of rangeland ecosystems and prevent similar outcomes in the future.