PERMFILE138157 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

. ~ Flo c~e° ;ri Department of Range Science Fon Collins. Colorado 80523 U.S.h. 11 March 1991 Mr. William Agnew Trapper Mining Inc. P.O. Hox 184 Craig, CO 81626 Dear Hill: I have been meaning to respond to your request on grazing and reclamation long before this but have been trying to get a research proposal written and once I started looking into your questions the task was larger than I had anticipated. I have structured my response so that each question is addressed independently and you can use whatever supportive information will help build your case. Support for some of your objectives is not all that clear in the literature and it will be difficult to build a strong case for each • of your objectives. The information that I have generated can be summarized as follows. 1. Grazing will reduce litter accumulation and primary production can be increased through this process. There appears to be a fair amount of literature to support this conclusion and I feel confident that this could be accomplished at Trapper. 2. I believe that grazing (if done properly) can result in an increase in species diversity. There is data to support this, but not all studies are in agreement. Some research has shown the opposite effect. However, a strong case can be made for using grazing to increase diversity. 3. There is no question that livestock use accelerates nutrient cycling. The literature is filled with references to support this concept. 4. Conventional wisdom tells us that cattle use in many ecosystems results in a transition to greater shrub density. My personal feeling 1s that these systems are naturally tending towards shrub dominance and that any stress factor (e.g. grazing, fire, or drought) will accelerate the transition. There is support in the literature for your objective.