Activity 2.3.2 Ranches as Grassland Conservation

1. Exploratory

In the podcast, Jim Howell went on to go over the important role that grasslands have in the global ecosystem. Grasslands are only roughly 40 percent of the world’s surface of land, and the grasslands are the most terrestrial ecosystem. The ecosystems act more like a carbon sink which stores more carbon than forests. This in turn helps out the climate changes. He then also goes over how because of the negative activities taking place such as urbanization, industrial agriculture, and overgrazing had been causing the grasslands to degrade over the past 200 years. He focused on using the technique of Holistic Management in order to restore these grasslands. Grasslands are important for the environment as they bring along healthy ecosystems, and having natural grazing patterns allows for the land to recover  

 2. Diagnostic

Maintaining the Grasslands is important in keeping the ecosystems healthy and the spread of biodiversity. Being able to maintain the livestock without overgrazing like the Holistic management will be able to keep these ecosystems thriving. The grasslands provide habitats for many species. But because of overgrazing, it causes the grasslands to degrade faster than they could regenerate. Keeping a balance will lower the chances of loss in this environment. Restoring the grasslands is an extremely important need for not only balancing the economy but also for climate mitigation.

 3. Cause and Effect

Overgrazing of the grasslands is causing the soils to erode and is preventing the grasslands from regenerating. Meaning if this continues this will cause a loss in the biodiversity of the grasslands which also means many habitats will be destroyed along with the soil erosion causing harm to the economies. This could reduce carbon which in turn would affect the global climate system. By using the Holistic Management technique and managing the grazing patterns it will allow for the grasslands to be a lot healthier which will bring more biodiversity leading to a more productive ecosystem.

 4. Priority 

The most important issue that was brought up in the podcast was the degradation of the grasslands. Howell explains that these grasslands have a very important role in our ecosystem because of the strong amounts of carbon that are stored, and if that carbon is released due to the degradation of the grasslands it would worsen climate change, which is already a major problem. This would not only affect climate change, it also affect the health of the soils and the biodiversity. Healing these grasslands will ensure the health of the ecosystem as well as improve the agricultural system.

 5. Application

In the podcast, the information given offers some solutions to combat the degradation of the grasslands. For instance, the Holistic management, which is the farmers using rotational grazing, which is giving the grasslands enough time to heal. The farmers using these solutions also help them adapt to climate change because it improves the soil and water retention. Also in the podcast, it also shows the importance of the interconnectedness of the ecosystems, and how human interaction has mixed signals when it comes to ecosystems in which sometimes it helps and sometimes it destroys. 

 6. Critical

Having the management of the grasslands is important to make sure that the ecosystems stay healthy and productive, before listening to this podcast I was unaware of the degradation of the grasslands, and how overgrazing and industrial agriculture were negatively impacting the grasslands. Making sure the grasslands are conserved will both benefit the environment and also the ecosystem’s health.          

                         Works Cited

Roberson, E. (Host). (2016, May 26). Conserving and restoring the world’s grasslands [Audio podcast episode]. In Mountain & Prairie Podcast. http://mountainandprairie.com/jim-howell/.

Photo: https://photos.com/featured/wondering-cattle--nalati-grassland-feng-wei-photography.html

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