RANGELANDS: AN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

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I) GRAZING BY NATIVE ANIMALS

At the time of settlement by Europeans....perhaps 67 million “animal units” present 2 3 (Pre-Settlement Grazing Pressure may have approached Current Grazing Pressure)

Four Hudson Bay Fur Company Records (1500’s – 1600’s) Overgrazing by Bison in Canada? (Forage for Horses?)

Overgrazing by Bison in Montana? Meriweather Lewis (1814) 4 6

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Overgrazing by Bison in Kansas? Overgrazing of prairies may have led to low numbers of prairie chickens and waterfowl

Impact of Grazing west of the Rockies in North America? 32 Great Basin Shrubland - Utah

II) EARLY LIVESTOCK GRAZING

Hernando Cortez

.. brought the first Cattle and Sheep into Mexico in ( ) 4 8

Francisco Coronado.. 9

.. brought the first livestock into the United States from Mexico in

Escaped cattle and horses established stocking ranges throughout the Southwest (NM, AZ, TX, CO) 4

Spanish Settlements in (1600’s) Livestock escape, become established in the Southwest 33

.. moved 4000 sheep, 1000 goats and 1000 cattle from south Texas to northern New Mexico 4 *Key to establishing the livestock industry in the Southwest Don Juan de Onate (1590s) …

**Spaniards Attempt to “Christianize” Native Americans, and also teach them about farming and animal husbandry Spanish Missions established all along major rivers in the NM, AZ, TX (17 th Century) 34

10 Herds of cattle and flocks of sheep established in most pueblos by 18 th century Conflict between Spaniards and Native Americans!

New Mexico is major supplier of sheep to regions elsewhere in the Southwest (early to mid 19 th century)

Patrone System in New Mexico (through the mid 1800s) Patrones: Recipients of large Spanish, and then Mexican land grants 4 Peons: Shepherds in charge of individual flocks 4

New Mexico Supplies Sheep to the West (mid-1800s) 4 California Gold Rush (1849) Nevada Silver Mines Colorado Gold Mines Mormon farms in Utah

Livestock Industry Expands into the Pacific Northwest ( s) 4

“Palouse Horse” “Palouse” Country (Beginning of Land Baron Era and Range Exploitation)

III) 1865 – 1900 PERIOD

CIVIL WAR ENDS 12

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Transcontinental Railroad Act (1862) Granted large tracts of land to railroads Large numbers of people moved west

Homestead Act (1862) Grants 160 acres of land after 5 year’s residence Encourages large numbers of people to move west to farm

21 Transcontinental Railroad Completed into Kansas (1866) 4

15 16 Longhorn Cattle Drives from Texas to Kansas (1866 – 1885) 4 “A Market for Long-Horn Cattle in the East”

17 Danger of Cattle Drives

Expansion of Cattle Industry into Northern and Central Great Plains (1870s) Millions of dollars invested to Supply eastern US, European markets 20

1870 : 4.6 million cattle in western states 1884 : million cattle in western states

23 Sheep Industry Expansion into West (1880s – 1890s) 4

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’s – 1900’s CONFLICT!!

Rangeland Production Declines 1884 – million cattle in western states million cattle in western states 4 26

A) Overgrazing B) Severe Summer Droughts (1891 – 1892) C) Severe Winter Weather ( ) WHY? 30

Conversion of rangelands to pasture and farmland by homesteaders (1870’s – 1900’s) (Prairies, Palouse)

IV) PERIOD 1) Government Regulation of Grazing 2) Range Management as a Scientific Discipline

1 2 Stoddart, L.A. and A.D. Smith Range Management, 3 rd edition. McGraw-Hill Book Company, NY Holecheck, J.L., R.D. Pieper and C.H. Herbel Range Management: Principles and Practices. 5 th edition. Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, NJ releasei/images/opuntia_basilaris_treleasei_habitat_lg.jpg 7 Kirsch, L.M. and A.D. Kruse Prairie fires and wildlife. Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference 12:

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