There is a movement on the rangelands of western Wyoming.  And it is good! The “good old days” for Wyoming's rangelands are today, because the days of yesteryear saw range conditions which weren’t nearly as good condition as they are today.

There are reasons for the Wyoming’s improving rangelands.  Maybe the first reason was the winter of 1886-87 which, to a large degree, doomed large scale open range grazing. A great second reason might have been the Taylor grazing act in 1934 which began the regulation of grazing on federal lands.

And today, more and more ranchers are applying newly acquired knowledge of rangeland ecology and range management science toward their management of rangeland. We can all be proud of the fact that more and more ranchers are beginning to actively monitor their impact on range, and the condition of the rangeland they graze. Ranchers monitoring rangeland, largely a phenomena of the last 20 years, is largely the result of efforts on the part of ranchers to enhance their knowledge of their resources and how cattle integrate into a healthy rangeland.

The demands and opportunities of today’s rancher is much more than animal husbandry. From the University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension Service, I’m Eric Peterson.