Overgrazing Major Causes of Soil Erosion
Overgrazing Major Causes of Soil Erosion
Lee Garrant
Everest University Online
Instructor: William Gangloff
There are three major practices that expose soil to erosion and they can be corrected and create a more sustainable society. They are over cultivation, overgrazing, and deforestation. We were asked to pick one out of the three and discuss it, the one that’s I chose was overgrazing.
Overgrazing is one of the major practices of exposing soil to erosion. Overgrazing isn’t a new issue that we are facing. Grazing animals in great numbers on the land can support in the long term. But on other hand animals consuming more grass than can be produced causes issue and the ground becomes scarce which it then leaving the soil exposed to erosion. In order for them to try help protect the overgrazing issue the NRCS which means U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Services had to create a program. It was called the Conservation Stewardship Program; this program provides information and support to enable ranchers who own their lands. With the information and support it thought the ranchers to burn unwanted woody plants and then reseed the land with perennial grass varieties that hold water. Then also taught them to manage cattle so that herds are moved to a new location before overgrazing occurs, so once they see it starting to take place then know to move the animals. Ranchers have found that cattle hooves break up ground that left alone would be too hard for seeds to penetrate and find a place to germinate. So they realized they have to have cattle in an area for so long then move them and plant seeds let it grow with the manure can be use to fertilize the area. With this it can cause the overgrazing to be semi controlled but there is much more that can be done to help. If this problem is left untreated it could also pose a serious threat to the food chain.
So, there are major issue involving expose soil to erosion and they can be corrected with just
Lee Garrant
Everest University Online
Instructor: William Gangloff
There are three major practices that expose soil to erosion and they can be corrected and create a more sustainable society. They are over cultivation, overgrazing, and deforestation. We were asked to pick one out of the three and discuss it, the one that’s I chose was overgrazing.
Overgrazing is one of the major practices of exposing soil to erosion. Overgrazing isn’t a new issue that we are facing. Grazing animals in great numbers on the land can support in the long term. But on other hand animals consuming more grass than can be produced causes issue and the ground becomes scarce which it then leaving the soil exposed to erosion. In order for them to try help protect the overgrazing issue the NRCS which means U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Services had to create a program. It was called the Conservation Stewardship Program; this program provides information and support to enable ranchers who own their lands. With the information and support it thought the ranchers to burn unwanted woody plants and then reseed the land with perennial grass varieties that hold water. Then also taught them to manage cattle so that herds are moved to a new location before overgrazing occurs, so once they see it starting to take place then know to move the animals. Ranchers have found that cattle hooves break up ground that left alone would be too hard for seeds to penetrate and find a place to germinate. So they realized they have to have cattle in an area for so long then move them and plant seeds let it grow with the manure can be use to fertilize the area. With this it can cause the overgrazing to be semi controlled but there is much more that can be done to help. If this problem is left untreated it could also pose a serious threat to the food chain.
So, there are major issue involving expose soil to erosion and they can be corrected with just
References: Boorse, D.F., Wright, R.T.(2011). Environmental Science Toward a Sustainable Future; 11th Edition, San Francisco, CA: Pearson. "What Is Overgrazing? | Grazing Systems content from BEEF Magazine." BEEF Magazine Home Page. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 May 2013. . "WWF - Agriculture and Environment: Beef." WWF - WWF. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 May 2013. .