The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastlines and encompass a number of climatic zones, including tropical and monsoonal climates in northern areas, arid areas in the "red centre" and semi-arid and temperate climates in southerly regions. The total population is estimated at 607,000 people.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering U.S. federal lands. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the BLM oversees more than 247.3 million acres (1,001,000 km2) of land, or one-eighth of the United States's total landmass.
In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to free range and consume wild vegetations in order to convert the otherwise indigestible cellulose within grass and other forages into meat, milk, wool and other animal products, often on land that is unsuitable for arable farming.
Rangelands are grasslands, shrublands, woodlands, wetlands, and deserts that are grazed by domestic livestock or wild animals. Types of rangelands include tallgrass and shortgrass prairies, desert grasslands and shrublands, woodlands, savannas, chaparrals, steppes, and tundras. Rangelands do not include forests lacking grazable understory vegetation, barren desert, farmland, or land covered by solid rock, concrete, or glaciers.
Pastoralism is a form of animal husbandry where domesticated animals are released onto large vegetated outdoor lands (pastures) for grazing, historically by nomadic people who moved around with their herds. The animal species involved include cattle, camels, goats, yaks, llamas, reindeer, horses, and sheep.
The Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 is a United States federal law that provides for the regulation of grazing on the public lands to improve rangeland conditions and regulate their use.
Grazing rights is the right of a user to allow their livestock to feed (graze) in a given area.
The U.S. Sheep Experiment Station (USSES) is an agricultural experiment station focusing on domestic sheep which is run by the United States Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service. Its stated mission is "...to develop integrated methods for increasing production efficiency of sheep and to simultaneously improve the sustainability of rangeland ecosystems".
San Gabriel National Forest was established as the San Gabriel Forest Reserve by the United States General Land Office in California on December 20, 1892 through a proclamation order by President Benjamin Harrison. With and area of 555,520 acres (2,248.1 km2), it was the first federal reserve in the state of California.
The San Joaquin Experimental Range is an ecosystem research experimental area in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. The range is located in O'Neals, California, outside of the Sierra National Forest about 32 kilometres (20 mi) north of Fresno, California. The range includes a portion of California grassland and California woodlands with blue oak, interior live oak, and bull pine.
The concept of an animal unit (AU) has traditionally been used in North America to facilitate planning, analysis and administration of forage use by grazing livestock, but the term has also had other applications. The term has been variously defined by regulation in different jurisdictions, and by livestock management specialists, rangeland resource managers and others. Consequently, when using or interpreting the term, care is needed to ensure that a definition appropriate for the purpose is being used. Most definitions are based on the concept that a 1000-pound (454 kg) cow, with or without an unweaned calf, is one animal unit, with such a cow being assumed to consume 26 pounds of forage dry matter per day.
Range Improvement Funds are money collected from livestock grazing on United States federal lands and used for rangeland improvements. The Bureau of Land Management calls these funds Range Improvement Funds and uses them solely for labor, materials, and final survey and design of projects to improve rangelands. The Forest Service calls these funds Range Betterment Funds and uses them for planning and building rangeland improvements.
The Public Rangelands Improvement Act of 1978 (PRIA) defines the current grazing fee formula and establishes rangeland monitoring and inventory procedures for Bureau of Land Management and United States Forest Service rangelands. The National Grasslands are exempt from PRIA.
A grazing fee is a charge, usually on a monthly basis, for grazing a specific kind of livestock.
August Ludwig Hormay (1907–1999) developed and applied the concept of the rest-rotation grazing management system in areas of the Western United States. Rest-rotation rangeland management system uses deferred grazing to manage increased plant reproduction and maintenance, while providing grazing lands for both livestock and wildlife. Gus Hormay's rest-rotation management system was developed to increase a healthy plant community, watershed, soil and wildlife habitat, while at the same time increasing livestock production. It has been in use in various forms since the mid-1960s as a rangeland management tool.
A ranch is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of farm. These terms are most often applied to livestock-raising operations in Mexico, the Western United States and Western Canada, though there are ranches in other areas. People who own or operate a ranch are called ranchers, cattlemen, or stockgrowers. Ranching is also a method used to raise less common livestock such as horses, elk, American bison, ostrich, emu, and alpaca.
The Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 (WFRHBA), is an Act of Congress, signed into law by President Richard M. Nixon on December 18, 1971. The act covered the management, protection and study of "unbranded and unclaimed horses and burros on public lands in the United States."
Grazing rights in Nevada covers a number of rangeland Federal and state laws and regulations applicable to the state of Nevada. Rangelands are distinguished from pasture lands because they grow primarily native vegetation, rather than plants established by humans. Ranchers may lease or obtain permits to use portions of this public rangeland and pay a fee based on the number and type of livestock and the period for which they are on the land.
Rangeland management is a natural science that centers around the study of rangelands and the "conservation and sustainable management [of Arid-Lands] for the benefit of current societies and future generations". Range management is defined by Holechek et al. as the "manipulation of rangeland components to obtain optimum combination of goods and services for society on a sustained basis". The United Nations (UN) has declared 2026 the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists, with the Food and Agriculture Organization leading the initiative.
The Jornada Biosphere Reserve is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in southern New Mexico. It is one of three biosphere reserves representing the Chihuahuan Desert. The area extends from the crest of the San Andres Mountains, which are dominated by shrub woodlands, to the Jornada Plains characterized by semi-desert grasslands.
