A SPECIAL PRODUCERS’ REPORT OF AG ALERT ® CALIFORNIA Dairy & Livestock ®
Cattle roam on a Northern California coastal rangeland. University of California researchers published a report that states cattle grazing helps remove billions of pounds of highly flammable fuels across the state.
Cattle grazing seen as strategic fire prevention tool By Bob Johnson
As cows graze, helping remove grass before it fuels wildfires, researchers are studying ways to manage that grazing to maximize fire prevention. One factor to consider is that cattle do not eat grass down to the bare ground. “I’m not sure how much time ranchers who graze on private lands spend thinking about how to strategically graze for the maximum fire safety benefit,” Rao said. “That would be a really interesting survey to do, if it hasn’t already been done.” Researchers say there are two key standards to consider for wildfire management. The first is how much cattle must graze to keep potential flames below 8 feet, which could allow firefighters to use equipment on the ground. A more ambitious goal is to keep the flames below 4 feet, which would allow them to use hand tools. The amount of fuel removal needed varies by region and the results may be impacted by temperature, wind speed and humidity during fires. For grazing to be a systematic fire-reduction tool, it is important to determine how much fuel must be removed in a particular area. That is because the rate at which grasslands grow fuel varies with the micro-climates in different regions of the state, researchers say. In analyzing cattle grazing patterns in 2017, researchers noted that grazing helped See GRAZING, Page 12
They may not wear firefighter helmets or flameproof gear, but cows can play a vital role in managing fuels to reduce wildfires that have become more widespread and intense in the state. A team of University of California rangeland researchers is studying how cattle graz- ing can strategically reduce wildfire fuel. “Ranchers of course have many goals for the grazing, including natural resources management,” said Devii Rao, a UC Cooperative Extension livestock and natural re- sources advisor in San Benito County. “I think ranchers are also keenly aware that grazing is a benefit in terms of wildfire behavior.” Rao, who has done extensive research in rangeland ecology, co-authored a UC Agriculture and Natural Resources report that examined the role cattle play in wildfire mitigation by grazing on state rangelands. According to that report, published last September, cattle grazing in 2017 alone ac- counted for 11.6 billion pounds of total fuel reduction. “Overall, this is probably a conservative estimate of fuels reduced on rangelands since it does not take into consideration fine fuels trampled by cattle and incorporated into mineral soil,” the report stated.
March 22, 2023 Ag Alert 11
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