Challenges Affecting Federal Policies for Grassland Agriculture.

Pasture, hay, turf and range lands cover more than half of the U.S. and grassland agriculture—primarily livestock grazing—is the country’s largest land use.  Developing politically acceptable policies for managing these lands has become increasingly challenging.  Many of the old challenges have not been fully resolved while new challenges continue to emerge.  By 1960s, policy makers recognized that public lands needed science-based management strategies capable of providing a mix of economic, social and environmental outputs beyond the commodities associated with ranching, forestry and mining.  Today privately owned grasslands are facing many of the same social demands as the public lands.  Despite new laws, substantial investment and advances in science and technology, our grasslands are still not fully meeting society’s diverse demands.  Many factors contribute to our limited success.  A rapidly growing population and economy are simultaneously increasing the demand for goods and services while fragmenting the land into smaller, unproductive units.  In some places, outdoor recreation has become an extractive industry turning grasslands into wastelands.  Global change is altering weather patterns and extreme climatic events appear to be on the rise.  The combination of climate change and invasive weeds is dramatically changing ecological patterns.  The loss of critical habitat and more frequent wildfires threaten biodiversity.  These complexities have been multiplied significantly by raising energy prices and interest in biofuels.  Meeting these biophysical and economic challenges is limited by lack of public awareness, underinvestment in research and management, complex institutional arrangements, and the shear magnitude of .managing a billion acres of land.  It appears all needs can’t be met.  Policies makers must allocate scarce resources between competing needs, and more than ever, they need science-based decision-support tools to help optimize management decisions and ensure fairness and long-term sustainability.