Grazing and Range Management - Alberta

Livestock grazing and range management have had major impacts on grassland vegetation in Alberta. Grazing animals have had impacts on plant communities in Alberta since before fur traders occupied the land. Over the years both livestock and wildlife have been studied and managed to try and ensure range health, or optimal conditions for native vegetation and species diversity. Several differences in range health and vegetation species have been observed between cattle grazed and non-grazed land. For this case study, these two types of land management will be compared, and observations will be made to provide direction to best management practices for species diversity and range health on native grasslands. The study will focus on plant species/vegetation identification and diversification on the two separate types of land. The study will also focus on these two separate types of land being on reclaimed wellsites. This data will then be compared against each other to evaluate which style of management will best achieve the desired goals. This study will also focus strictly on the different impacts of cattle grazing. A mixed methods approach will be used to analyse these comparisons, with quantitative data being the primary focus and qualitative data being supplementary. Observations will also be completed to help determine the optimal land management for cattle grazing and range health in southern Alberta.

Author dc:creator

• Fyten, Caitlin

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Ling, Chris

• School of environment and sustainability

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Identifier URI

https://doi.org/10.25316/ir-19797

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:null:10613/28186