Improper grazing Sample Clauses

Improper grazing. Improperly managed livestock grazing in shrub-steppe and associated riparian habitats can result in decreased cover of herbaceous plants and herbaceous plant litter, concurrent with increased shrub cover and bare ground. Increased bare ground and the loss of herbaceous plant roots means less water infiltration (for plant growth), less soil moisture and soil organic (carbon), plus increased soil erosion (from overland water flow). The loss of over-grazed herbaceous plants results in both reduced food availability for livestock or wildlife, as well as a broken water cycle. DLL’s livestock grazing goals are to 1) conduct a high-quality and profitable livestock grazing operation on the Ranch and 2) increase water capture and infiltration by increasing ground coverage by plants or litter, thereby decreasing bare ground. Water capture, infiltration, and availability to grow plants are inversely related to the percentage of bare ground - which promotes runoff and evaporation. Ranch monitoring data suggests well-planned and timed grazing has decreased bare ground and increased vegetative richness and abundance on the Ranch. These observed improvements in both riparian and upland sagebrush habitats have a positive effect on food and cover for the Covered Species. Proper grazing alternates periodic grazing with adequate rest. If monitoring indicates a trend of increasing herbaceous vegetation cover and decreasing bare ground cover, then the grazing practices employed are deemed proper and effective. The opposite effect is also true, an observed trend toward increasing bare ground at the expense of herbaceous plants will negatively affect land health and the Covered Species. The ‘normal’ or average long-term grazing regime expected to occur is previously described in Section 3. However, since the proper application of grazing and rest occurs in the context of unpredictable weather and forage conditions, it is impractical and poor management to tightly define or ‘cookbook’ a pattern of grazing such that it cannot quickly adapt to current and variable