Grasslands as Grazing Land 



Grasslands as Watersheds 



Most grasslands in Montana are used for 

 grazing domestic animals, either on pri- 

 vately owned lands, or on land that is 

 leased from the federal government. About 

 7 million acres of the state's grassland is 

 woodland that can be grazed. 



Cattle, like the bison before them, prefer 

 the high-protein native grasses. In order to 

 conserve these plants, ranchers have 

 learned to "take half, leave half." Most use 

 a system of rest-rotation — that is, they 

 move their stock from one part of the range 

 to another to avoid overgrazing. If salt and 

 water are provided, cattle or sheep can be 

 kept in a desired area. Sheep may be tended 

 by a herder, who moves them to different 

 grazing areas. Such rotation of pasture 

 imitates the natural migration patterns of 

 the wild grazing animals that used to move 

 across the prairie. Other methods of keep- 

 ing range healthy or restoring it to its orig- 

 inal vigor include reseeding to native 

 grasses and weed spraying. 



In Montana the most important contribu- 

 tion that grasslands make besides grazing 

 is that they store moisture. You might not 

 think of abundant water when you look at a 

 dry, brown stretch of prairie in midsum- 

 mer. But grassland plays a vital part in 

 holding water in the soil. This is because 

 soil with a thick matt of grass and roots 

 absorbs as much as 8 or 9 times more wa- 

 ter than ground without such protection. 



Grasslands are like shields that protect 

 the earth. They keep heavy rainshowers 

 from washing away topsoil, and wind from 

 blowing it away; grass cools the earth, and 

 breaks down into the humus that nour- 

 ishes its own growth. In the grassy 

 foothills and mountains of Montana, this 

 ground cover helps to hold the snowpack 

 that builds up during the cold months. In 

 the spring, when the snow starts to melt, 

 the root systems of many different kinds of 

 grass help to control runoff. 



Recreation 



Forested Grassland 



Roughly 7 million acres of Montana's 

 grassland is woodland that can be grazed. 

 Another 18 million acres provides timber, 

 watersheds, and places for recreation. The 

 trees in Montana's forested grasslands 

 range in variety from western ponderosa, 

 Douglas fir, and redcedar on the Pacific 

 slope of the Rockies to scattered dryland 

 stands of ponderosa pine on the high 

 plains. These forests serve as wildlife habi- 

 tat, as sources of timber, and, in the west- 

 ern part of the state, as important 

 watersheds* that hold and conserve the 

 snowpack of the cold months. 



Recreation on grasslands may include 

 fishing, hunting, photography, riding, hik- 

 ing, or camping. Many access areas pro- 

 vide places for people to enjoy these 

 outdoor activities. Among the grassland 

 areas, the National Bison Range near 

 Moiese in western Montana attracts many 

 visitors (figure 5). One of the largest 

 wildlife refuges in the world, the Charles 

 M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge, along 

 the Missouri River in north-central 

 Montana, includes almost undisturbed 

 grasslands. These are two of six publicly 

 owned game preserves in the state that 

 include more than 120,000 acres of 

 grassland. 



* A watershed is a whole region or 

 area of land that supplies water to a 

 lake or river. This water enters the 

 ground from rain or snow and re- 

 turns to the surface in springs, 

 marshy places, or in streamflow. 



