Texas GLCI: Growing Partnerships on Texas Grazing Lands

Abstract

The United States comprises more than 634 million acres of nonfederal grazing lands. Under proper management, these private grazing lands con- tribute to the health and economic sustainability that the nation has relied on for many years. Private grazing land owners understand the need for continued grazing land technical assistance. Providing a mechanism to attain sound, science-based, proven conservation alternatives to address the nation’s grazing land resource concerns is of paramount im- portance to these land owners. The loss of trained individuals providing technical assistance would be detrimental not only to new grazing land managers but also to established opera- tions that have been using this technical assistance for years to make dif cult ranch management decisions. This loss of trained individuals did occur in the past: the loss of USDA– Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) technical re- sources on grazing lands was a by-product of the 1985 Farm Bill, which diverted many NRCS employees to cropland con- servation compliance and other programs. The Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative (GLCI) was formed in response to this decline in technical assistance on private grazing lands. 

DOI: 10.2458/azu_rangelands_v34i4_goodwin