Sunset

Livestock grazing; discussion followed by lecture

Bring all the information you know about this topic, so that we may discuss impacts of livestock grazing on western rangelands. In addition to general discussion, be prepared you should be prepared to support or refute all the issues raised by Freilich et al. (2003).

Today's powerpoint file

Extinction spike is particularly relevant to this discussion


Extinction: drivers, outcomes, solutions

Individual actions

System drivers


Response thresholds for:





Livestock grazing on public lands: three failed arguments


Livestock grazing on public lands: an argument that may succeed


Consequences of adopting the latter argument



Additional Information (also see assigned readings):

Callenbach, E. 1996. Bring Back the Buffalo! A Sustainable Future for America's Great Plains. Island Press, New York.

Ferguson, D. and N. Ferguson. 1983. Sacred Cows at the Public Trough. Maverick Publications, Bend, Oregon.

Russell, S.A. 1993. Kill the Cowboy: A Battle of Mythology in the New West. Addison-Wesley, Boston.

Vavra, M., W.A. Laycock, and R.D. Pieper, editors. 1994. Ecological Implications of Livestock Herbivory in the West. Society for Range Maangement, Denver, Colorado.

Wuerthner, G., and M. Matteson, editors. 2002. Welfare Ranching: The Subsidized Destruction of the American West. Island Press, Washington, D.C.