Pressing flowers between pages…
Connects ranch-scale grazing management with ecological knowledge of native grasses, soil properties, and livestock impacts across pastures in the Gunnison Basin region.
Sustainable grazing and ranch ecology sit at the intersection of agriculture, conservation, and rural livelihoods in the Gunnison Basin and across western Colorado. Livestock grazing is the dominant land use across the region's working rangelands, shaping plant communities, soils, water cycles, and wildlife habitat on both private ranches and adjacent public lands. Sustainable grazing refers to management practices designed to maintain ecological health—healthy soils, diverse native grasses, and resilient wildlife populations—while supporting viable livestock operations. Key concepts include stocking rates measured in animal unit months (AUMs, the forage needed by one cow-calf pair for a month), carrying capacity, range condition, and the palatability and plant quality of native forages such as blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis), galleta (Hilaria jamesii), and bottlebrush squirreltail (Elymus elymoides).
For the Gunnison Basin, these issues matter because ranching is both an economic backbone and a primary driver of landscape outcomes. Decisions about grazing intensity, brush control, range sites, basal area of native grasses, and herbivory impact influence sage-grouse habitat, riparian function, soil grain size and infiltration, and successional trajectories of mountain meadows. Holistic frameworks distinguish brittle from non-brittle environments and emphasize first principles of ecosystem ecology—energy flow, mineral cycling, and succession—as the foundation for ranch-scale decisions Questions Commonly Asked About Holistic Resource Management.
Federal grazing policy on western public lands traces back through the Taylor Grazing Act and a long sequence of administrative rules, culminating in modern regulations issued by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service. The Federal Register Range Management and Technical Services Grazing Administration and Trespass Regulations codified procedures for grazing administration, trespass enforcement, and allotment management on public lands Federal Register Grazing Administration Regulations. Earlier extension and Soil Conservation Service publications, such as Native Grasses, documented forage value and range condition across Colorado's mountainous areas and shaped a generation of range management practice Native Grasses.
The post-Wilderness Act era brought new scrutiny of grazing on public forests, including assessments such as Grazing in the National Forests — Ten Years After the Wilderness Act and reform efforts like the Public Lands Improvement Act . Conservation organizations engaged through testimony on grazing fees and fair market value for public forage and ongoing committee work on public-lands grazing issues . Joint Forest Service–BLM interchange proposals during the 1980s sought to rationalize overlapping jurisdictions .
Grazing practices designed to maintain ecological health while supporting livestock operations
The distribution of particle sizes (sand, silt, clay percentages) in soil that affects water retention and plant performance
Effects of animal feeding on plant biomass and community structure
Nutritional and defensive characteristics of plants that affect herbivore performance, including water content and nutrient ratios
Technical report (1979-1991). Covers Colorado, Fort Collins, Woodruff. Topics: ranch management, forage availability, cattle nutrition, hay production...
Technical report (1946-1955). Covers mountainous areas, western two-thirds of the state, mountains of the state. Topics: range management, forage valu...
Technical report (June 1983). Covers Colorado, Pueblo Area, MLRA 69A. Topics: rangeland management, grazing management, stocking rate, carrying capaci...
Legislation (1978). Covers Washington, D.C., public lands, Alaska. Topics: grazing administration, range management, trespass regulations, livestock g...
Objectives .. 1... . 2c ce cece eee rece tenet eee e eens Ecosystem Ecology Brittle and Non-Brittle Environments ............-.5200085 Biotic and Abio...
Technical report (last 25 years). Covers Ethiopia, United States, America. Topics: Holistic Resource Management, resource management, natural resource...
Land managers choose seed from a variety of provenances for restoration projects. By selecting seed of the local ecotype, managers can increase establ...
The purpose of soil core sampling was to determine soil bulk density, volumetric water content, and soil texture across the sites that were sampled in...
This point dataset contains geologic information concerning regolith thickness and top-of-bedrock altitude at selected well and test-hole locations in...
This release includes Python codes and associated field sampling and remote sensing data for the estimation of the spatial distribution of soil thickn...
This point dataset contains geologic information concerning regolith thickness and top-of-bedrock altitude at selected well and test-hole locations in...
Key agencies include the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, the Soil Conservation Service (now NRCS), the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service, and Colorado State University Cooperative Extension. Universities, the Holistic Resource Center, and the Superintendent of Documents have all contributed technical materials. Ranch-scale planning is organized around the Ranch Conservation Plan, which integrates soil conservation, water conservation, and range management across pastures and range sites What is a Ranch Conservation Plan? What is a Ranch Conservation Plan? — Valley range site. On federal allotments, planning proceeds through Allotment Management Plans developed under NEPA scoping, as illustrated by the Lost Park Allotment process on the Medicine Bow–Routt National Forests Scoping Statement for Lost Park Allotment and earlier basin-scale plans such as the Wetterhorn Basin range management plan on the Ouray District Range Management Plan for Wetterhorn Basin.
The Colorado Ranch Management School curriculum, produced by CSU's Department of Animal Science and Cooperative Extension, provides one of the most comprehensive integrated training programs for producers. Modules address forage availability and cattle nutrition Colorado Ranch Management School Part 5, rangeland stocking rate and carrying capacity in Major Land Resource Area 69A Part 2, profitability from forage-based operations Part 7, enterprise gross margins and contribution analysis Part 8, goal setting and quality-of-life planning Part 11, and ecosystem ecology including brittle and non-brittle environments, energy flow, and mineral cycling Part 13. Coalition advocacy on public-lands grazing reform has been coordinated by the Sierra Club Toiyabe Chapter together with the Natural Resources Defense Council and National Audubon Society Grazing Subcommittee correspondence.
The most pressing issues facing Gunnison Basin ranchers and managers include drought and changing precipitation regimes, encroachment of less palatable shrubs and cacti, conflicts between livestock and game animals, and the financial pressures captured in profitability analyses Colorado Ranch Management School Part 10. Range expansion of species like cholla cactus (Opuntia imbricata) is tied to specific climatic envelopes—roughly 28–48 cm annual precipitation and mild January temperatures—and to soil texture and aspect (Kinraide, 1978); warming winters may shift these envelopes northward and upslope. Brush control, restoration of warm-season grasses such as little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) and switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), and management of buffalograss (Buchloe dactyloides) on terraces remain active concerns, as do grazing fee policy and the long-running debate over fair market value for public forage Sierra Club Testimony.
Looking forward, integration of holistic management frameworks, conservation easements, and collaborative allotment planning points toward ranch-scale adaptive management that explicitly treats ecosystems as dynamic. Quarantine regulations for invasive species, monitoring of basal area and successional forces, and renewed attention to range sites and AUM allocations will all play a role.
Research at RMBL and across the Gunnison Basin connects directly to these management questions through long-term studies of plant phenology, herbivory impact, soil controls on plant performance, and community responses to grazing and warming. RMBL's montane meadow research informs how native grasses, forbs, and pollinators respond to defoliation, canopy damage, and shifting climate—work that translates into stocking guidelines, allotment plans, and conservation strategies for working rangelands shared by ranchers, the Forest Service, BLM, and NRCS.
Colorado Ranch Management School (Part 10). →
Colorado Ranch Management School (Part 11). →
Colorado Ranch Management School (Part 13). →
Colorado Ranch Management School (Part 2). →
Colorado Ranch Management School (Part 5). →
Colorado Ranch Management School (Part 7). →
Colorado Ranch Management School (Part 8). →
Federal Register Range Management and Technical Services Grazing Administration and Trespass Regulations. →
FS Interchange National Summary and Legislative Concepts. →
Grazing in the National Forests — Ten Years After the Wilderness Act (Treiman). →
Grazing Subcommittee correspondence, Toiyabe Trails. →
HR 10587 Public Lands Improvement Act (Nappe). →
Ideas about what issues the Grazing Subcommittee could focus on (Nappe). →
Kinraide, 1978. The Ecological Distribution of Cholla Cactus in El Paso County, Colorado. →
Native Grasses. →
Questions Commonly Asked About Holistic Resource Management. →
Range Management Plan for Grazing in Wetterhorn Basin. →
Scoping Statement for Allotment Management Planning for the Lost Park Allotment. →
Sierra Club Testimony Grazing Fee Hearing. →
What is a Ranch Conservation Plan? (Northeast pasture). →
What is a Ranch Conservation Plan? (Valley range site). →
Vegetative damage leading to temporary or permanent defoliation and/or aboveground stem loss
The acceptability of food items based on taste, texture, and chemical composition
Technical report. Covers United States, western United States, Northeast pasture. Topics: ranch conservation plan, soil conservation, water conservati...
Environmental assessment. Covers Lost Park Allotment, Hahns Peak/Bears Ears Ranger District, Steamboat Springs. Topics: allotment management plan, liv...
1. You will learn a process for setting effective goals. 2. You will understand the importance of moving beyond goal setting to goal achievement. 3. Y...
Correspondence. Covers Las Vegas, Nevada, Eastern California. Topics: grazing fees, fair market value, family-based ranching, public forage. Agencies:...
Evelyn F. Treiman. University of California, Santa Cruz. May 26, 1976.
Correspondence (1959-1976). Covers Wetterhorn Basin, Ouray District, Montrose. Topics: range management plan, grazing. Agencies: United States Departm...
Correspondence. Covers Nevada, Eastern California, Reno. Topics: grazing, public lands, sheep grazing above timberline. Agencies: Sierra Club, Natural...
Tina Nappe. Sierra Club. February 28, 1978.
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Forest Service and BLM. June 7, 1985.
Tina Nappe. Sierra Club.
http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs_rm/rm_gtr298.pdf?Daniel W. Ursek, Greg l. Schenbeck, James T. O’Rourke. 1995.
Technical report. Covers Mount Emmons. Topics: baseline soil inventory, soil inventory.
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