Kerry Baldwin has it exactly right - it's not a matter of grazing v. no grazing, it's a matter of how, where, and when the grazing is done. Grasslands have evolved to be grazed. Simplistic calls from entities like the Western Watersheds Project to pull all cattle off of public lands reveal a lack of understanding of the ecology of grasslands. If you take the grazing animals off of grasslands they either don't stay grasslands very long (progression to woody shrubs) or become derelict (persistence of dead matter inhibits growth of new grasses, and lack of disturbance creates hardpan soils and increases erosion). Sounds to me like Pima Co. needs to get in touch with Holistic Management or some other entity that can help them plan their grazing to both sustain grazing and restore the grassland systems.
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