What is Prescribed Grazing?

Prescribed grazing is the intentional use of ruminant animals (hoofed herbivores–sheep, goats and cows) to accomplish specific vegetation management goals on a given landscape. It’s a principle element in the practice of pastoralism and is a critically effective method of mitigating wildfires while providing the co-benefits of carbon sequestration, native plant and habitat restoration, and the production of local food and fiber.

Why utilize Prescribed Grazing?

Employing prescribed grazing is critical for mitigating the impacts of the climate crisis by preventing wildfires, restoring biodiversity in depleted landscapes, and improving soil health in crop systems, while also providing opportunities for regionalized food and fiber production.

What is Prescribed Grazing’s effect on wildfires and land restoration?

California and much of the West are experiencing a wildfire crisis on a scale never seen before. More than 25 million acres of California wildlands are classified as under very high or extreme fire threat and wildfires were the second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the state in 2020. California’s grasslands (25% of the state) co-evolved with vast herds of grazing animals, some now extinct, which, along with Indigenous practices of controlled burning, kept wildfires in check. Grazing reduces flame length and fire intensity (“fuel load”), and can therefore shift grasses from a highly flammable and effective fire spreader into a natural fire barrier.

This shift has both ecological and safety benefits and is a departure from our current mitigation strategies that rely heavily on fossil fuel-dependent machinery, such as 2-stroke weed whippers, and herbicide-intensive vegetation management (i.e. using glyphosate) that poison our landscape, pollute our air, and fall short of our wildfire prevention needs. Conversely, grazing requires little-to-no chemical or fossil fuel inputs, and when managed correctly it boosts the potential for soil carbon sequestration, water retention and cycling, land and habitat restoration, and increased biodiversity.

How can Prescribed Grazing be used in crop system and food/fiber systems?

Raising livestock and crops together was once the norm in the U.S. and research has found that reintegrating livestock via prescribed grazing in crop production systems yields substantial benefits in improved soil health, reduced risks associated with product diversification, reductions in fertilizer and animal feed costs, reduced labor and machinery costs, and increased carbon sequestration. When the soil’s organic carbon content increases, the soil’s ability to hold water also increases, which provides landscapes with a critical buffer to the impacts of drought. Increased water holding also lessens the need for increased irrigation and reduces agricultural use of aquifers and surface water. As animals increasingly are integrated into our practices of wildfire mitigation, land restoration and crop integration, we gain the interconnected benefit of creating more regionalized and ecologically responsible food and fiber systems. Through this process we’re feeding the demand for regionally produced food, building avenues for climate-beneficial fiber production, and forging more pathways for the viable livelihoods of graziers and a thriving local ecosystem of businesses, practitioners, and professionals in the field of regenerative agriculture, food systems, land stewardship, and public safety.

Why is Prescribed Grazing important now?

In the CA Budget Act of 2022, $80 million was allocated to the Fire Prevention Grants Program, which lists “prescribed wildland grazing” as an increasingly effective fire prevention approach. To reaffirm the critical need for this work, in February 2023, California State Senator Monique Limón introduced SB 675, sponsored by the California Climate and Agriculture Network, to push through a more comprehensive integration of prescribed grazing into some of the state’s existing wildfire resilience programs and strategies.

If we’re going to meet this critical need, we must create the skilled workforce to do so. This essential industry of prescribed grazing for fire fuel reduction and ecological enhancement is challenged by a lack of skilled shepherds in the U.S. Currently the majority of this workforce comes from other countries on special H2A visas, and with recent various policy changes, this is becoming unsustainable for prescribed grazing operations.

We need pathways for folks in the U.S. to satisfy this demand.