Fish and Grazing Relationships: The Facts and Some Pleas

Abstract

Information on the relationships or linkages between livestock grazing and fishes in the western and southwestern United States is sparse. Although much information in the literature demonstrates the direct impact of livestock grazing (herbivory) on vegetation and less on streambanks (trampling, compaction), limited information on the indirect effects of grazing on fishes and their habitats (e.g., channel morphology, streambanks, cover, instream substrates, water column characteristics) exists. Further, most available information is not scientifically derived and/or addresses salmonids and domestic livestock only. In the southwestern United States, cypriniform species of fishes and large, wild ungulates, especially elk, must be considered critical components of the “fish-grazing” management and research paradigm. Future management and research must address these two components within the context of linkages to watersheds, riparian areas, riparian habitats, fish habitat, and fish communities (native versus introduced species). Efforts must embrace adaptive management, intra- and interagency management-research partnerships, and data collection rather than opinions, summarizations, and promotion of the litany of information on fish-grazing relationships that often has been adopted as fact.