Multiplier

Livestock Grazing Can Reduce the Ecosystem Services Supplied by Public Rangelands. Despite This, Public-land Stakeholders Expect Rangelands to Provide Increasing Levels of Multiple Ecosystem Services. a Common Solution to Balance Grazing and Other Ecosystem Serivces Is to De-stock Rangelands - But This Can Harm Rancher Livelihoods. as an Alternative, We Examine How Grazing Systems That Alter Grazing Duration (the Amount of Time Cattle Are Grazed in a Location) and Timing (when in the Season Cattle Are Grazed) Can Improve Ecosystem Service Supply. the Goal of Our Research Is to Demonstrate That Innovative Grazing Strategies Can Maintain a Diverse Suite of Ecosystem Services on Public Lands While Also Supporting Producer Livelihoods.we Will Focus on Stream Areas, Which Are Key Locations for Ecosystem Service Production in Arid Rangelands, and Examine Services Desired by Local Stakeholders, Including: Water Quality, Sage-grouse Habitat, Erosion Control, and Forage Recovery. We Will First Link Ecosystem Service Supply to Grazing Duration and Timing by Comparing Service Generation Among Commonly Employed Grazing Systems in Our Region. These Include: Continuous-turnout (which Is a Long-duration System) and 4-PASTURE Rotation (which Is a Medium-duration System). We Will Also Meausre Ecosystem Service Generation on Pastures Managed via an Innovative Watershed Scale, Time-controlled Rotation System Used on Private Rangelands (which Is a Short-duration System). Next, We Will Capitalize on a Collaborative, Local Management Project That Will Alter Current Public-lands Continuous-turnout and 4-PASTURE Grazing Systems to the Time-controlled Rotation. We Will Use This Project to Determine How Ecosystem Services Can Increase When Grazing Is Switched to the Short-duration System. Finally, to Ensure That Such Innovative Grazing Management Can Be Adopted by Ranchers, We Will Collect Data on the Costs Ranchers Incur When Switching to the New System, and Couple the Costs With the Measured Gains in Ecosystem Services Realized Under the New Management System. This Is a Critical Link to the Development of Incentive Programs That Help Managers Establish Sustainable Grazing Systems That Supply Multiple Ecosystem Services on Us Rangelands.