Voluntary Grazing Allotment Retirement Act And Wildfire
Removing livestock from public lands could reduce the spread of cheatgrass which fuels large wildfires.
Livestock is one of the major factors in cheatgrass invasion across the West. Photo George Wuerthner
Wildfire is a big issue in Western states. As climate warming has increased temperatures, created severe drought, and increased winds, wildfire has become more challenging to control, and the annual acreage burned is growing over the recent past ( but does not exceed the historical past).
One of the main factors contributing to the spread of wildfire on rangeland is the widespread increase in cheatgrass, a highly flammable exotic (from Asia) annual promoted by livestock grazing.
One fifth of the Great Basin is now dominated by cheatgrass. Photo George Wuerthner
Due to its annual nature and the ability of seeds to survive wildfire in the soil, a land dominated by cheatgrass may burn as frequently as every 1-3 years. Frequent burns favor the domination of rangelands by cheatgrass.
Most native grasses and shrubs have few adaptations to frequent fires. In the past, sagebrush ecosystems burned at much longer intervals of 50-400 years. These frequent fires destroy the sagebrush ecosystems and threaten wildlife like the sage grouse, which depends on mature sagebrush plants for survival.
Cheatgrass now dominates one-fifth of the Great Basin.
Numerous studies have documented that livestock grazing is one of the significant factors contributing to the spread of cheatgrass.
Biocrusts cover the soil reducing the establishment of cheatgrass, but biocrusts are destroyed by livestock hooves.
First, by disturbing the soil biocrust with their hooves, livestock creates an ideal habitat for cheatgrass establishment. Second, biocrusts cover the ground surface in between native grasses and tend to inhibit cheatgrass establishment. Third, there is an inverse relationship between biocrust cover and cheatgrass, and livestock grazing was found to be the primary variable.
As the authors of one study explained: "biocrusts increase site resistance to invasion at a landscape scale and mediate the effects of disturbance." And the researchers go on to conclude: "maintaining biocrust communities with high cover, species richness, and cover of short mosses can increase resistance to invasion."
Secondarily, by selectively grazing native grasses, livestock can put indigenous plants at a competitive disadvantage against cheatgrass, which livestock tend to avoid eating for a short period after greening up.
Cheatgrass greens up earlier than native grasses, and can use up soil moisture needed by native grasses. Photo George Wuerthner
Cheatgrass greens up early can often outcompete native grasses for soil moisture, thus putting native species at a competitive disadvantage for growth.
Plus, when grasses are cropped by livestock grazing, plants must mobilize stored energy resources towards regrowing new leaf material at the expense of roots so that the grazed plant is disadvantaged.
And since it dries out quickly, it lengthens the fire season by providing suitable fuel for early-season blazes.
This area was "treated" to create a "fuel break" and became dominated by cheatgrass. Photo George Wuerthner
Third, much of federal agencies' fire prevention management strategy, like creating fuel "breaks" or "targeted grazing," tends to enhance cheatgrass establishment and spread. Fuel breaks, for instance, by removing all native vegetation with bulldozers and other means, often become linear cheatgrass corridors.
In addition, it is questionable whether fuel breaks even work under the extreme fire weather conditions that drive large rangeland fires.
Much of the justification for fuel breaks is to protect livestock grazing opportunities that might be eliminated by wildfire. Without livestock. Less reason for fuel breaks.
Fourth, even after a wildfire, there is a strong bias towards restocking burnt ranges as soon as possible, often just 2-3 years after a fire. Yet many native bunch grasses may require up to 10 years to recover from fire events.
Sagebrush has no adaptations to wildfire and burns at infrequent intervals of 50-400 years. Cheatgrass can increase fire such that sagebrush can never recover. Photo George Wuerthner
It's important to note that in rangelands already dominated by cheatgrass, even with the removal of livestock may take years to recover. But on rangelands with significant native plant cover, livestock removal may substantially reduce wildfire spread.
Therefore, one of the ways we could reduce the spread of cheatgrass and the resultant wildfires is to reduce livestock grazing on public lands. One mechanism for eliminating domestic grazing is implementing the Voluntary Grazing Permit Retirement Act.
Under the terms of the Act, the federal agencies must:
Accept and terminate, on a first-come, first-served basis, the permit or lease;
Refrain from issuing any new grazing permit or lease within the grazing allotment covered by the permit or lease; and
Ensure a permanent end to livestock grazing on the allotment covered by the permit or lease.
The one current deficiency of the Act is that it limits the permit retirement to no more than 100 allotments a year across the 16 western states. The Act needs to be revised such that there is no limit on permit retirements, but for the time being, that may be too steep a political hill to push up.
It's important to note that grazing on public lands is a privilege, not a "right." The federal government can terminate a grazing allotment at any time for any reason. However, given the influence of Western ranchers over public lands management, such terminations seldom happen even when it is obviously in the public interest.
Under the Voluntary Grazing Permit Retirement Act, a rancher would volunteer to give up grazing privileges in exchange for some predetermined financial compensation. Under the terms of the Act, the federal government would then close the allotment and forever ban grazing by domestic livestock in the future.
This is a critical feature of the Act because in the past, even after agreements between ranchers, and funders of the allotment retirement, some federal agencies have just reissued the permit to another rancher, neglecting any benefits to the public.
In addition to reducing livestock-induced spread of cheatgrass, eliminating domestic livestock grazing would have numerous other benefits for the public lands and taxpayers.
Termination of livestock grazing on federal lands would help riparian areas like Freighter Springs on the Challis National Forest to recover from trampling, soil compaction and water pollution. Photo George Wuerthner
Removal of domestic livestock would reduce soil compaction, reduce riparian damage, reduce water pollution, reduce the need for fences (which block wildlife migration), reduce calls for predator and pest "control," reduce forage competition between native wildlife and domestic animals, reduce disease transmission from domestic animals to wildlife, and reduce the social displacement of native species that occurs when domestic animals are released on grazing allotments.
The Voluntary Grazing Permit Retirement Act has been introduced in Congress in previous years. It has yet to pass, but it could be one of the most effective means of reducing wildfire on rangelands by eliminating one of the significant factors in the spread of flammable exotic plants like cheatgrass.