WWRC 86-05r
Grazing Exclosures and Natural Rehabilitation of Eroding Streams
Introduction
Recently, a certain degree of controversy has arisen
over the use of "exclosures" as it were, in the
management of streams for riparian recovery efforts
in not only Wyoming, but throughout the west But,
in all honesty, we must really ask ourselves, "What's
the Beef?" Exclosures are nothing new in the science
of range or land management...they've been used for
decades, in fact Small "exclosures" are often referred
to as "utilization cages" or "browse cages"; larger
units are referred to as "range trend study plots"
(several dozen of which have been funded and studied
by numerous agencies and the University of Wyoming
Range Management Department, for the last
twenty years or more); even larger units are often
referred to as simply "pastures," for in the true
meaning of the word, whenever you fence something
out of one area, you fence it in to another. In any
intensive glazing management system, cattle are
typically fenced into one pasture (the enclosure) and
out of the others (the exclosures). So, "Where's the
Beef?" (Unless properly managed, it's usually in the
riparian zone!) And the basic rub of the issue of
exclosures in riparian zone recovery or management is
usually one of politics, rather than applied
management techniques.
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