Yellowstone's Northern Range - Greater Yellowstone Science ...

GRASSLANDS
The grasslands have occupied center stage in the long history of the
northern range controversy. No other element of the setting has been the
subject of as much discussion or research. The grasslands on the winter
range have been at the center of this issue; the much larger and higher elevation summer
ranges have not been judged unhealthy in these dialogues. As already explained, many
investigators and observers desclibed the winter range grasslands as overgrazed, especially
since the drought of the 1930s. More recently, the relationship of herbivores to
their grazing lands, and the concept of overgrazing itself, have undergone intense scrutiny
in the scientific community. It has become clear that what a wildland ecologist might
consider normal grazing effects, a livestock manager might consider unacceptable.
Recent scientific investigators have approached the subject of overgrazing from a broader
and more ecosystem-oriented perspective, and it is from that perspective that most of the
recent research on northern range grasslands has proceeded.
DEFINING OVERGRAZING
Since the beginnings of range management science early in this century, the various
scientific disciplines involved have changed greatly. There is now even considerable
disagreement over many aspects of how livestock ranges should be managed. Much of
this confusion results from our changing understanding of how rangeland ecosystems
function. From the 1920s to the 1950s, it was widely believed that most vegetation