Cattle and Sage Grouse Doesn't Have to be Either-Or Decision

Sound rangeland management benefits native rangeland species and by actively managing rangeland plant communities — both cattle and Sage Grouse benefit. It doesn’t have to be an “either-or” conversation. USDA Agricultural Research Services Research Leader Dr. Tony Svejcar shares more
Svejcar: “Well the work that has been done over the years on range management has basically helped us to understand how to we manage to maintain these native communities — the grass, sagebrush communities. The prior work is not grazing too hard, not grazing at the wrong time of the year — those sorts of things —- basically benefit the community - the plant community that is. Maintain the stability of these systems so that they can produce forage for the cattle over time. All those same things benefit Sage Grouse because you are maintaining all those native species that are the forage base. Those are also the forage base for the grouse as well in many cases. And they provide the cover that the grouse need for their nesting.”
Svejcar says another benefit cattle bring to the rangeland is controlling the wildfire fuel. Cattle are helping an environment that is important to the sage-grouse, showing that these two species may indeed share the land in peace.