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Washington State University

From Utilitarian to Ecosystem Management Approach to Grasslands

Posted by bramwell | May 5, 2024

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Management Focus: Transition from Utilitarian to Ecosystem Management Approach to Grassland Management

 

Grassland Ecology Principle: integration of conservation objectives alongside forage and livestock production

Target Species (if applicable): plant species in grasslands for habitat, and on-farm wildlife generally

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.

Location: 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’s remaining “high nature value” grasslands remain. Alpine pasture management and herding culture in and around Hortobagy National Park in the Carpathian basin are two additional examples. The “Super G” 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.

Description of Current Dynamic: Grassland management is undergoing a broad transition, as much in Europe as elsewhere. In North America this has been described as a transition from “utilitarian” focus on forage and livestock production to an “ecosystem management” 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’s 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).

In central and eastern Europe, including the Balkans, grazing systems are more extensive, managed in pastoral systems. In particular in the Carpathian Basin in Hungary. Excellent work by the Centre for Ecological Research has been describing and documenting the ecological knowledge of pastoral herders, and efforts to appropriately/effectively transfer it to upcoming grassland-based livestock producers and conservationists (Molnar et al. 2016). While the knowledge of traditional herders has diminished globally and within Europe, there are still opportunities in Hungary and other European countries (several in central Europe) to study and learn about traditional, extensive grazing systems that sustain species-rich habitat (Kotowski et al. 2023).

Thoughts to Ruminate On: what is the role of herders versus electric fence(the “electric shepherd”) 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?

Follow-On Resources:

Literature citations:

  • Bengtsson, J., J. M. Bullock, B. Egoh, C. Everson, T. Everson, T. O’Connor, P. J. O’Farrell, H. G. Smith, and R. Lindborg. 2019. Grasslands—more important for ecosystem services than you might think. Ecosphere 10(2): 1-20.
  • Freese, C. H. S. D. Fuhlendorf, and K. Kunkel. 2014. A transition framework for the transition from livestock production toward biodiversity conservation on Great Plains Rangelands. Ecological Restoration 32(4):358-268.
  • Fuhlendorf, S. D., Engle, D. M., Elmore, R. D., Limb, R. F., and Bidwell, T. G. 2012. Conservation of pattern and process: developing an alternative paradigm of rangeland management. Rangeland Ecology and Management 65(6):579-589.
  • Havstad, K. M., D. P.C. Peters, R. Skaggs, J. Brown, B. Bestelmeyer, E. Fredrickson, J. Herrick, and J. Wright. 2007. Ecological services to and from rangelands of the United States. Ecological Economics 64:261-268.
  • Derner, J. D., W.K. Laurenroth, P. Stapp, and D. J. Augustine. 2009. Livestock as ecosystem engineers for grassland bird habitat in the western Great Plains of North America. Rangeland Ecology and Management 62:111-118.
  • Westoby, M. B. Walker, and E. Noy-Meir. 1989. Opportunistic Management for Rangelands Not at Equilibrium. Journal of Range Management 42(4): 266-274.
  • Fuhlendorf, S. D., W. C. Harrell, D. M. Engle, R. G. Hamilton, C. A. Davis, and D. M. Leslie. 2006. Should Heterogeneity Be the Basis for Conservation? Grassland Bird Response to Fire and Grazing. Ecological Applications 16(5): 1706-1716.