The Effects of Grazing and Trampling Behaviors of Large-Sized Livestock on the Formation and Weathering Patterns of Soils

Hess, D. (2011). Mcknight's Physical Geography; A Landscapes Appreciation. (10th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc

The Southern Uplands is somewhat similar to that of the Northern Uplands in the likeness that it also contains savannas and grassy woodlands. Beginning on the southern end of the central basin, this region has an average elevation of about 2,730 feet above sea level, having fertile soils and retaining may of the countries mineral deposits it allows for the locals to grow grains and raise cattle.

There are quite a few interesting facts I learned about grassland biomes. One would be that they are located

1 The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has stepped in to provide restorative practices upon 500,000 acres of heavily degraded public grasslands. This land is suffering from severe soil erosion as well as degradation due to overgrazing. The suppression of natural fires has caused shrubs and invasive weeds to encroach upon the grasslands. A full scale assessment will take place on this land before restoration efforts begin. The first thing that would need to be assessed is the soil, for it is eroding and holding little nutrient value. Samples would be taken of this soil from various parts of the grasslands including the eroded gullies. Each soil sample would be taken from at least 1 foot below the surface, to test for carbon richness below the topsoil. These would then be tested for texture, density, water retention, and chemical composition. Typically, powerful, healthy soil will contain amounts of both Nitrogen and Phosphorous, which are essential nutrients in sustainable plant growth. These samples would also be tested for any build-up of salts, something known as soil salinization. Unhealthy, salinized soil is created over years of over-hydrating and deep plowing. Excess water will suffocate root systems of once-healthy crops, and salinized soils will reduce crop output up to 20% (Withgott &Brennan, 2011). The next assessment would be in the shrubs and invasive weed species on the land. Knowing the volume and location of these plants gives way to a better understanding of

The book RISING FROM THE PLAINS (1986) talks about how the Rocky Mountains had developed in Wyoming, McPhee was accompanied by David Love during this book. It was the first of the books “Annals of the Formal World” that talked about the effects of human beings, and how it complicates science. The book concentrates on how different parts of geology directly affects

5. Question : In the rangeland succession model what are some of the factors that keep rangelands from progressing toward climax?

By this time there had been four generations of farmers who had worked the land, but they did not realize they needed to keep some of the natural prairie grasses because that was what held the dirt down and kept it from blowing away. All the loose topsoil was exposed and at the mercy of the winds.

farming practices and thousands of acres of flat grassland being plowed, the soil no longer had

In his book, Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water, Marc Reisner’s main thesis is to show the inefficiency, greed, and inherent difficulty in the American West’s never-ending struggle to turn its unwelcoming desert into a lush garden. One of his main sub-points is that the West is not meant to support millions of people. It has a wide range of geographic challenges throughout the entire region. Its inconsistency and diversity is a primary cause of its water problems. For example, Reisner notes that the West consists of “plains so arid that they could barely support bunchgrass; deserts that were fiercely hot and fiercely cold; streams that flooded a few weeks each year and went dry the rest; forests with trees so large it might take days to bring one down; . . . hail followed by drought followed by hail;” (23).

“Drainage patterns, the hilliness of the ground, the range of soils, the nature of the bedrock,

Stress? Cattle? Do they not just lie around and chew their cud? The stereotype of lazy cows soaking up the sun perhaps is far stretched. Cattle are associated with this stereotype because it is what people see. An average citizen’s only interactions with cattle are seeing them in the field grazing; however a farmer understands to keep his profit and cattle healthy he must reduce stress.

The conditions in which meat livestock live in is not exactly that of a large open green field in which they are free to roam and be merry. In the Economist article, Cows down: The beef business (2008) the effects of the ill conditions cows talks of how a

As lack of water and a particularly dry climate out competes shrubs, trees, and grasslands across Colorado, erosion rates increase reducing the infiltration of moisture into the soil. Causation is believed to have come from heavy livestock grazing, fire suppression, and the introduction of exotic annual plants. Habitat problems for animals and communities that rely on ranching and hunting have been directly affected by these desertification effects. Desertification has had large ecological impacts on the state of Colorado. Vegetation and ecosystems are among the most crucially impacted by the effects of desertification. While Colorado continues its dry drought like climate, restoration of soil becomes one of the major solutions to fight off desertification. Because of the overuse of our land in past generations, we are continuing to see the harmful effects due to desertification. The overall impact on humans produced by desertification is best noticed by a diminishing food production as well as a wealth of water sources becoming dry. People in affected areas are likely to experience poor water quality, dust storms, and pollution. More importantly, as soil loses its nutrients, it no longer becomes farmable; thus, impacting local businesses, livestock, and the many people in that community. If desertification continues in Colorado, an increase of lost farmlands and livestock will pose an economic decease within agriculture markets, farmers will be forced to move to find better

Iowa has changed rapidly from the vast prairie lands it used to be, but many of these lands are being slowly reclaimed and restored to their once natural splendor. The most rapid change in Iowa’s landscape occurred during the Industrial Revolution, and when large scale farming became a possibility. This has left serious consequences on Iowa’s landscape with erosion, but is being combatted by more productive farming practices. Iowa as the “middle lands” is continuously changing, for the better or the worse, alongside the people who call it

The area within the reserve where the observations were completed was at the southern end which has walking tracks, leaving the northern end as undisturbed as