CAST releases report on environmental impacts of grazing systems on our nation's resources

Livestock grazing: Right for the environment?

DATE:	Tuesday, November 12, 2002
TIME:	2 PM CENTRAL (Noon Pacific, 1 PM Mountain, 3 PM Eastern)
LOCATION:	Tri-Societies Annual Meeting - Indianapolis, Indiana Room 114, Indiana Convention Center
CALL-IN Number:	1-800-347-8268 Meeting ID: 2278 & Password: 4729 (Conference call difficulty - 202-675-8333, ext. 12)
CONTACT:	Teresa A. Gruber, Ph.D., J.D.
TEL:	202-675-8333, ext. 11; Mobile: 202-744-0347
E-mail:	tgruber@cast-science.org

The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST), a non-profit consortium of food and agricultural scientists, will brief the media on the release of its Issue Paper: "Environmental Impacts of Livestock on U.S. Grazing Lands" on Tuesday, Nov. 12 at 2pm at the Indiana Convention Center, Indianapolis, IN. Released at the combined Annual Meetings of three of CAST's member societies - American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America and Soil Science Society of America - the report takes a critical look at the environmental impacts of grazing systems and provides guidance on land management tools. The Issue Paper represents the combined efforts of an eight-person, volunteer expert task force assembled by CAST.

The full text of the Issue Paper: "Environmental Impacts of Livestock on U.S. Grazing Lands" (Issue Paper No. 22, 16 pp.) is available as an embargoed PDF news release at: www.asa-cssa-sssa.org/press/cast_issue.pdf (embargoed until 2 PM on November 12, 2002). Printed copies can be ordered by mail (CAST, 4420 W. Lincoln Way, Ames, Iowa 50014-3447), or e-mail: cast@cast-science.org.

Issue Paper Background
Occupying more acreage than any other single land type in the Unites States, grazing lands constitute more than 860 million acres (350 million hectares) of private and public lands stretching from coast to coast and beyond. The key to sustainability of grazing lands is managing vegetative cover, not only to provide feed for grazing livestock, but also to hold soil in place, to filter water, and to recycle nutrients.

"We were surprised to see that none of us lives significantly far from grazing lands - even in the Northeast and Hawaii," said Task Force cochair, Dr. William C. Krueger, Oregon State University.

Grazing lands are used primarily as a low-cost feed source for livestock, but when well managed, grazing lands can have positive environmental impacts such as reducing soil erosion, sequestering atmospheric carbon, and maintaining biodiversity, explained co-chair, Dr. Matt A. Sanderson, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service.

"We see an urgent need to develop monitoring tools or a series of indicators that provide information to livestock producers and other land managers. Armed with this information, they will be able to make decisions that will sustain diverse ecosystems on the vast tracts of land used for grazing. These tools will require new knowledge of the extensive natural variation in soils, plants, animals, and weather across both time and space in grazing lands ecosystems, and a greater understanding of how these components interact in relation to the multiple roles of grazing livestock," he said.

The potential impacts of livestock and wildlife grazing on the environment have not been adequately synthesized for use in development of environmental protection policies, according to Dr. Teresa Gruber, Executive Vice President of CAST. "This is a complicated subject with many pieces to integrate, so we are pleased that the Task Force has focused in on the 8 key issues regarding the environmental impacts of livestock grazing" ~ (1) soil quality, (2) water quality, (3) riparian and wetland communities, (4) invasive plant species, (5) public lands, (6) grazing and fire, (7) biological diversity, and (8) high-density livestock areas."

ABOUT CAST
Founded in 1972, CAST is a non-profit organization comprised of 37 scientific societies and many individual, student, company, non-profit and associate society members. CAST assembles, interprets and communicates science-based information regionally, nationally, and internationally on food, fiber, agricultural, and natural resources and related societal and environmental issues to our stakeholders -- legislators, regulators, policy makers, the media, the private sector and the public. For more information, visit www.cast-science.org.

ABOUT ASA-CSSA-SSSA
The American Society of Agronomy (ASA) www.agronomy.org, the Crop Science Society of America (CSSA) www.crops.org and the Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) www.soils.org are educational organizations helping members advance the discipline and practice of agronomy, crop and soil sciences by supporting professional growth and science policy initiatives, and by providing quality, research-based publications and a variety of member services.

Task Force Cochairs:
William C. Krueger, Department of Rangeland Resources, Oregon State University, Corvallis
Matt A. Sanderson, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service, University Park, PA

Task Force Authors:
James B. Cropper, USDA, Natural Resources Conservation Service, University Park, PA
Mary Miller-Goodman, Department of Agronomy and Soils, Auburn University, AL
Claudia E. Kelley, Department of Rangeland Resources, Oregon State University, Corvallis
Rex D. Pieper, Department of Animal and Range Sciences, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces
Pat L. Shaver, USDA, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Corvallis, OR
M.J. Trlica, Department of Rangeland Ecosystem Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins

Task Force Reviewers:
Vivien G. Allen, Department of Plant and Soil Science, Texas Tech University, Lubbock
Dwight Fisher, USDA, Agricultural Research Service, Watkinsville, GA
Kris M. Havstad, USDA, Agricultural Research Service, Las Cruces, NM
Phillip L. Sims, USDA, Agricultural Research Service, Woodward, OK

CONTACTS:
William C. Krueger, Ph.D., Oregon State University (TEL: 541-737-1615)
Matt A. Sanderson, Ph.D., USDA/ARS (TEL: 814-865-1067)
Teresa A. Gruber, Ph.D., J.D., CAST (TEL: 202-675-8333, ext. 11; Mobile: 202-744-0347,
E-mail: tgruber@cast-science.org)

See www.asa-cssa-sssa.org/anmeet/ for additional information regarding the 2002 ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting.