Comprehensive Study Guide for Rangeland Management and Economics

Methods of Seed Planting and Rangeland Revegetation

Within the realm of rangeland management, the selection of an appropriate planting method is critical for success. Drill seeding is considered the by far superior method of planting seed, provided that the site conditions permit its use. In contrast, broadcasting refers to any method that scatters the seed directly on the soil surface without providing soil coverage. Other practices involving vegetation manipulation include the removal of plant material from nursery beds and mechanical controls. It is noted that certain manipulations, such as mechanical control or burning, involve various levels of risk, though drill seeding remains the preferred standard for efficiency and seed-to-soil contact when feasible.

Targeted Grazing and Chemical Vegetation Manipulation

Targeted grazing serves as a low-cost, low-risk, and highly effective natural approach to controlling specific noxious plant species. While herbicides are a common tool, they are not categorized as the cheapest or most natural method of vegetation manipulation; that distinction belongs to burning. However, herbicides play a vital role in modern management. Translocated herbicides, such as $\text{2,4-D}$, are applied to one part of a plant and are then carried through the plant tissues to other parts of the organism. For foliar sprays to be most effective, plants must be growing vigorously with their leaves fully expanded, as this is when they are most sensitive to the application.

Prescribed Burning and Fire Ecology

Burning is recognized as one of the cheapest and most natural tools for manipulating vegetation. Successful combustion in a prescribed rangeland burn requires three essential elements: oxygen, fuel, and heat. Of these, heat is the element that can be manipulated by managers through the selection of specific burn weather conditions. Before combustion can occur, the fuel (litter) must be raised to an appropriate temperature, and all moisture must be removed. To effectively carry a ground fire, a range unit must possess a sufficient amount of fuel or litter. The benefits of a well-planned prescribed burn for wildlife include the maintenance of a variety of vegetation and a highly diverse habitat. Techniques such as patch burning are effective in creating structural diversity in habitats, which serves to enhance wildlife populations.

Ecological Impacts of Fire and Successional Changes

The effects of fire on rangelands can be seen in successional shifts and changes in plant communities. In northeastern New Mexico, an unplanned winter burning transformed a shortgrass community, dominated by blue grama ($\text{Bouteloua gracilis}$), into a midgrass plant community consisting of little bluestem ($\text{Schizachyrium scoparium}$) and sideoats grama ($\text{Bouteloua curtipendula}$) within a period of $2$ years. This shift is clearly visible at the ecotone, which is the sharp line or zone of transition in vegetation where the burn ended. Beyond successional changes, burning affects the palatability and availability of forage, as livestock such as cattle tend to congregate on recent burns to consume tender, succulent new growth. Additionally, removing vegetation through fire can lead to increased predation on livestock, such as sheep, because it increases their visibility to predators. Notably, as the steepness of a rangeland slope increases, the rate of fire spread also increases. However, burning can have adverse effects on soil, such as leading to water repellency which influences infiltration, and it can decrease soil nutrients including nitrogen ($N$), phosphorus ($P$), and sulfur ($S$).

Mechanical and Manual Control of Noxious Plants

Noxious plant invasion is a significant issue driven by overgrazing by domestic livestock, climatic fluctuations, local landscape fragmentation, denudation due to rapid human population increases, seed transport by grazing animals, and seed dissemination by small animals. Control of these unwanted plants, alongside revegetation and fertilization, can increase production by $2$ to $10$ times within $1-3$ years. Hand-grubbing is a manual control method best employed during the early invasion stage of unwanted plants rather than late invasion. Mechanical control methods, such as disking or chaining, may be necessary for dense stands where burning or chemical controls are not feasible. While these methods cause slight disturbance to the rangeland soil, they do not always provide a high degree of kill for shrubs that sprout from below the soil surface.

Pastoralism and Rangeland Management in Developing Countries

In arid and semiarid regions, individuals who derive the majority of their sustenance and income from livestock grazing are known as pastoralists. In many developing countries, communal grazing practices have led to the destruction of rangelands due to excessive livestock numbers. Strategies for pastoralists to manage drought include reducing livestock numbers, whereas strategies such as increasing numbers or restricting access to supplemental forage are detrimental. The process of commoditization involves shifting pastoral households toward the production of commercial products for sale. In these regions, indiscriminant burning often destroys large amounts of forage that could have been utilized by livestock. The issues surrounding excessive livestock numbers are complex and are not easily resolved through simple remedies.

Rangeland Economics and Market Mechanisms

Economics is defined as the science of how to produce and distribute goods and services to society. Macroeconomics focuses on the economy as a whole, while microeconomics focuses on the behavior of individual components. The basic goals of rangeland economics include economic growth, the equitable distribution of income, price stability, and environmental sustainability. Economic growth refers specifically to the expansion of the supply of goods and services available to the human population, while price stability involves managing the economy to minimize periods of rapidly rising or falling prices. Market mechanisms allow consumers to obtain an optimum combination of goods and services relative to their income, and competition among producers keeps prices and supply in balance with demand. Rangeland managers utilize economic models to increase equity, reduce risk, and improve efficiency.

Financial Analysis and Production Costs

Profitability and efficiency in ranching are influenced by cattle prices, business cycles, ranch location, and the costs of livestock production. Fixed costs in rangeland production include land taxes, insurance, and depreciation. To evaluate the feasibility of projects, managers use tools like the Internal Rate of Return, which compares the rate of return for a project to the interest for the funds. Other metrics include benefit-cost analysis and present net worth. Government cost-sharing programs often assist with brush control, range seeding, and water development. An externality is an economic concept referring to the cost of an economic activity borne by a third party who was not part of the original transaction; historical examples include the Dust Bowl resulting from over-farming, river pollution from $1880s$ factories, and severe overgrazing on public lands in the late $1800s$.

Energy Efficiency and the Green Revolution

Energy efficiency is a major factor in livestock production. Rangeland beef production is sensitive to oil prices; high oil prices make it financially ineffective to raise cattle using high inputs of harvested forage and feed grains, whereas low oil prices make such high-input systems more feasible. The Green Revolution refers to the development of farming techniques designed to produce enough food for a growing global population. These techniques rely heavily on fossil fuel inputs for irrigation, cultivation, fertilization, harvesting, and transport. Without these high-input systems, a significant portion of the population might go hungry unless they returned to personal food production. To maximize gross production per land unit, it is ideal when real interest rates on borrowed capital are low.

Political Systems and Global Climate Change

Centrally planned or command economies (socialistic economies) are systems where the government makes all production and distribution decisions and controls the factors of production. While these systems promise full employment and equitable income distribution, they often result in high-level bureaucrats enjoying lavish lifestyles while common citizens live in poverty, facing empty stores, low-quality goods, and poor distribution. Regarding environmental concerns, global warming is primarily attributed to $\text{CO}_2$ emissions from human fossil fuel usage. Global warming is expected to adversely impact agriculture through intense droughts followed by intense flooding, and by making regional temperature and precipitation regimes more variable. Globalization, a key feature of the modern economy, is characterized by international trade, the integration of financial markets, and the free movement of labor and capital.

Rangeland Fertilization and Maintenance

Specific management practices are required for different plant types and seasons. For instance, cool-season plant species respond most effectively to nitrogen ($N$) fertilization during the late fall or early spring. Prescribed burning can be used to meet multiple objectives, including improving livestock forage by eliminating competing plants, reducing litter to increase the growth of desirable forage, improving wildlife habitat, and reducing labor costs associated with handling horses and cattle. Additionally, long-range goals of prescribed burning include fuel reduction to lower the probability of catastrophic wildfires in forest and chaparral range types.