Elk and Cattle Grazing Can Be Complementary

Abstract

For decades, many wildlife managers and livestock producers disagreed about the impact livestock grazing has on forage for wildlife. A little over 20 years ago, one ranch family grazed their cattle on their private land as well as on a portion of Utah’s State Trust Lands known as The State Roadless Area (TSRA) in the re- mote Book Cliffs Mountains of Utah (Fig. 1). Ranchers who grazed their cattle in TSRA wanted to know how elk affected the amount of forage for their cattle on their private land and how their private land contributed to elk forage and habitat.

DOI: 10.2458/azu_rangelands_v35i1_burritt