{"id":224,"date":"2025-02-06T11:12:26","date_gmt":"2025-02-06T19:12:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stagewp.extension.wsu.edu\/extension-conservation-grazing-wds\/?page_id=224"},"modified":"2025-02-21T15:17:37","modified_gmt":"2025-02-21T23:17:37","slug":"european-overview","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/extension.wsu.edu\/conservation-grazing\/european-overview\/","title":{"rendered":"Co-Management of Habitat and Grazing, A European Overview"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Examples of efforts to design grazing with some attention to habitat and species protection are available widely and increasing. Some areas our project group have explored are northern England, and the North Pennines where 40% of England\u2019s remaining \u201chigh nature value\u201d grasslands remain. Alpine pasture management and herding culture in and around Hortobagy National Park in the Carpathian basin are two additional examples. The \u201cSuper G\u201d project and UK Wildlife Trusts provide information in western Europe. Researchers out of the Hungarian Centre for Ecological Research speak better to central and Eastern European approaches. See resources below.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\r\n\n\n

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\"Hungarian
A Hungarian herder watches his daughter turn sheep back from the forest edge. She was recently accepted into the local secondary school for agriculture and will begin coursework in the coming year. The sheep here are raised on a part of a local national park in collaboration with a park ranger. The rare pasqueflower (Pulsatilla sp.) is part of the management of this site.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\r\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Grassland management is undergoing a broad transition, as much in Europe as elsewhere. In North America this has been described as a transition from \u201cutilitarian\u201d focus on forage and livestock production to an \u201cecosystem management\u201d approach (Derner et al. 2009, Havstad et al. 2007, Freese et al. 2014, Fuhlendorf et al. 2012). With several grasslands biodiversity management mechanisms in place in Europe\u2019s Common Agricultural Policies (CAP), it is a good location to to observe this dynamic. In western Europe, agriculture intensification over the past 100 years has significantly decreased grassland biodiversity (Bardgett et al. 2007, Stevens et al. 2010, Walker et al. 2004). Despite this, there are remnants of more extensive grazing systems on semi-natural grasslands on the continent. These sites provide insight on the compatibility of biodiversity with livestock production (Baldi and Batary 2023).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thoughts to Ruminate On:<\/strong> What is the role of herders versus electric fence (the \u201celectric shepherd\u201d) in managing livestock? What are intensive and extensive grazing systems. Can traditional ecological knowledge be taught, or must a person be raised within a traditional grazing system to learn the skills and knowledge?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow-on Resources<\/h2>\n\n\n\n