Rangeland

Rangeland, any extensive area of land that is occupied by native herbaceous or shrubby vegetation which is grazed by domestic or wild herbivores. The vegetation of ranges may include tallgrass prairies, steppes (shortgrass prairies), desert shrublands, shrub woodlands, savannas, chaparrals, and tundras. Temperate and tropical forests that are used for grazing as well as timber production can also be considered rangeland. Rangelands occupy about 40–50 percent of the land area of Earth and support unique plant and animal biodiversity and culturally diverse pastoral communities. For these reasons, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization named 2026 “the international year of rangelands and pastoralists.”

Rangelands are distinguished from pastureland by the presence on them of native vegetation, rather than of plants established by human societies, and by their management principally through the control of the number of animals grazing on them, as opposed to the more intensive agricultural practices of seeding, irrigation, and the use of fertilizers. The tallgrass prairies of the North American Great Plains, Ukraine, and parts of Argentina and Hungary formerly made ideal rangelands but were too well suited to cultivated crops to be left for grazing purposes. Rangelands are thus more generally confined to areas of marginal or submarginal agricultural land or to areas that are entirely unsuited to permanent cultivation.

Fire is an important regulator of range vegetation, whether set by humans or arising from lightning. Fires tend to burn or kill off trees, shrubs, and brush and to permit the more quickly recovering grasses to flourish without excessive competition from the former. The artificial elimination of periodic fires from desert shrublands, savannas, or woodlands frequently invites the dominance of trees and shrubs to the near exclusion of the grass due to ecological succession.

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Ecosystems

Threats

The degeneration of range condition has become one of the most serious problems in the agriculture of many developing countries, and is an important contributor to biodiversity loss and desertification. See also grassland.

Overgrazing

The most pernicious and chronic problem in the management of ranges is overgrazing. Overgrazing of the vegetation reduces the production of forage; exposes the soil to sealing, baking, and erosion; reduces the infiltration of water into the soil; increases water runoff and flooding; and induces unfavorable changes in the botanical composition of the vegetation. Overgrazing has practically denuded vast areas of rangeland in nearly every continent, and in the Sahel region of sub-Saharan Africa, for instance, overgrazing has led directly to the southward expansion of the Sahara over distances of many miles.

Typically, the damage in rangeland environments due to overgrazing can be separated into damage to soil and damage to vegetation. The former is more important than the latter; however, large areas experience both. The process of soil damage and loss often begins with the activities of grazing animals. Grazing livestock sometimes consume plants down to the ground. This activity weakens the individual plant; with a reduction in tissues capable of photosynthesis, its growth is greatly inhibited. In addition, livestock herds may trample and kill vegetation by walking to and from permanent water sources. Trampling destroys plant roots that bind the soil together. When rains come to those grazing lands, rivulets often form along the walking paths and wash away unprotected topsoil. Also, the repeated movement of herds over one section of the landscape can compact the soil, hindering the development of plant roots.

Livestock can also substantially alter plant communities. It may be obvious that these animals reduce plant populations through their grazing activities, but livestock can also change the composition of the plant community by consuming some species and leaving others alone. The grazing pressure placed on grasses and other edible species gives a competitive advantage to cacti and other inedible species. For example, in the southwestern United States, honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) is a native shrub, but it can increase its range considerably when cattle overgraze grasslands. The resulting plant community supports few livestock and is a persistent one—that is, the extensive thickets of mesquite often prevent grasses from recolonizing their former range.

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Management

Range management is a professional field whose aim is to ensure a sustained yield of rangeland products while protecting and improving the basic range resources of soil, water, and plant and animal life. Besides producing forage for domestic and wild animals, a range can provide timber, minerals, natural beauty, and recreational opportunities. Modern range management utilizes the concept of multiple use, which requires that all the resources of a rangeland be managed simultaneously, using constant monitoring and adjustments to provide a mix of material products and intangible assets that best satisfy the needs of both landowners and the general public. Range management depends for its effectiveness on range science, which is a body of knowledge drawn from the botanical and zoological sciences as well as from ecology, climatology, pedology (soil science), hydrology, and so on. The responses of rangeland to grazing and other uses are predicted from range science’s accumulated knowledge of the functioning of rangeland ecosystems, which in turn has been aided by computer-simulated mathematical models. In the 21st century, a small but growing body of Western land managers began to acknowledge the value and wisdom of Indigenous land stewardship practices, many of which encourage a relationship of reciprocity with the natural world rather than merely extracting its resources.

In concrete terms, most range-management practices center on the regulation of the number of animals allowed to graze on a given range, along with the duration and season of their grazing. The stocking of domesticated animals on a range must be carefully regulated so that the existing grasses are not depleted or exhausted from overgrazing. Rotational grazing, in which livestock are frequently moved to new grazing areas before they cause permanent damage to the plants and soil of any one area, is a common practice in sustainable ranching. Aggressive monitoring and eradication programs are often necessary to cull and contain invasive species. Many rangeland restoration efforts commonly have dual priorities of replanting and reintroducing native species while simultaneously removing invasives. The application of prescribed burns can help maintain grasslands and prevent the encroachment of woody trees and shrubs.