Valle Grande Grassbank

Abstract

There has been a tremendous loss of grassland due to tree and shrub encroachment in parts of New Mexico. This encroachment can be partially blamed on the lack of fire that used to be a natural part of the ecosystem. As a result, the project's focus is using controlled burning to rehabilitate public lands subjected to intense grazing pressure. This is done by allowing ranchers to put their cattle on good grazing land maintained by the grassbank, and taking the public lands out of production until they can be rehabilitated. The Valle Grande Grassbank project goals are to improve the ecological health of public grazing lands, advance the economic and environmental foundation ranching, and demonstrate a wide range of stakeholders can work together for a common goal.