Riparian Zone Amnesia

Cattle tend to congregate in riparian zones because they provide food, water, and shade. Photo George Wuerthner 

One of the biggest problems in conservation is that people do not miss what they don’t know. How many people really miss the Ivory-Billed woodpecker or Stellar’s sea lion? And I’ve found that people living in the eastern United States where nearly all the virgin old-growth forest has been cut off think that a forest of 8-inch poles is a healthy landscape.

Landscape amnesia is the loss of a memory or even an idea of what has been lost or what could be again in many instances if we stopped degrading the land.

Aldo Leopold once famously wrote that ecological awareness means one lives in a world of wounds.  When I travel the West, I see wounds from the livestock industry almost everywhere I go.

Smith Fork on the Cache National Forest, Utah. Note the relict willows, wide shallow stream and trampled streambanks. This is vandalism of public lands by the livestock industry. Photo George Wuerthner 

One of the important ecosystems in the West that suffers due to landscape amnesia are riparian zones. Riparian areas are the thin, green line of vegetation influenced by water found along streams, seep, and springs.

Lush cow-free riparian zone with intact vegetation and streambanks. Selway River, Selway Bitterroot Wilderness Idaho. Photo George Wuerthner

Riparian areas typically make up about 1% of the West’s vegetation, yet up to 70-80% of all wildlife species depend on them for hiding cover, nesting, and forage. They are also crucial for energy flow, nutrient cycling, water cycling, hydrologic function, and plant and animal population.

Many human activities have damaged the West’s riparian areas. Dams, irrigation withdrawals, housing, highways, and other development has altered or obliviated these fragile areas.

Cattle have totally annihilated this riparian area on BLM lands in Nevada. This should be viewed as legalized vandalism. Photo George Wuerthner 

However, the single greatest impact and threat has come from livestock production. Cattle are particularly attracted to riparian areas. The majority of cattle breeds used in the West, like Black Angus and Hereford, evolved in moist woodlands in northern Europe. Consequently, they are naturally attracted to the only green, lush habitat found in many arid western landscapes that remotely resembles their ancestorial homelands.

Note the wide shallow stream and vegetation that has been grazed to golf ball height. Normally the grass in such wet areas should be a foot or more high. Sunflower Allotment, Ochoco National Forest, Oregon. Photo George Wuerthner 

Riparian areas typically support the bulk of all palatable vegetation found on many grazing allotments. If you go to, say, a mountain valley in many western ranges, the hillsides are steep, and cattle avoid them, while the green grass and water pull them down into the stream corridor. Plus, riparian zones provide shade and water, two other significant attractants to domestic livestock.

The evolutionary attraction of cattle for riparian areas has dire consequences for the West’s wildlife and aquatic ecosystems.

Cow trashed riparian area on the Boise NF, Idaho.  Note the stream  is shallow and wide which means it provides less habitat for aquatic species and warms up faster in the sun. Photo George Wuerthner 

The majority of riparian areas on public lands (and private lands) are not functioning. With heavy grazing, the riparian vegetation may be removed and banks broken down so that the stream can no longer reach its flood plain. When this happens, a stream will begin to “down cut’ to make an arroyo or deep gully. Over time, the ravine cuts farther up the creek and is known as “head cutting.”

The above photos were taken in the Sawtooth Valley, Idaho on the Sawtooth National Forest. The first photo shows a severely damaged riparian area and stream, but most people would probably think it looks like a good trout stream. But once the stream crosses the fence into an area that has had no livestock grazing for 100 years, the stream suddenly narrows and deepens. The last photo is taken about 100 feet from the fence and the stream is completely invisible. The channel is so deep and narrow with lush vegetation over it that it’s nearly impossible to see. Photos George Wuerthner 

Another consequence is that riparian vegetation dependent on water disappears, and plants adapted to arid situations will establish near the creek or stream. For example, I’ve seen many places where sagebrush grows immediately adjacent to a stream. Since sagebrush cannot tolerate flooding, this is often a sign that the water table has dropped.

Healthy riparian areas also slow floodwaters and decrease erosion.

Cattle have broken down the banks of this stream, striped the riparian vegetation and compacted the soil. The Nature Conservancy ranch in Utah. Photo George Wuerthner 

Cattle hooves compact soils, especially the wet soils found along streams. Soil compaction decreases water infiltration and storage. Healthy springs seep, and riparian areas are like sponges, soaking up water in the wet season and releasing it slowly in the dry season.

Thus, maintaining a healthy riparian has numerous economic values in reducing floods and supporting healthy aquatic ecosystems for fish and other wildlife.

The lush vegetation along riparian areas also provides cover for many birds and mammals. For instance, sage grouse chick move to riparian areas after they are born to feed on forbs and insects and to find cover from predators. When riparian areas are grazed down to putting green height, they provide no cover and little food for sage grouse and many other species.

Healthy riparian areas are so rare that almost everyone has landscape anemia regarding what a healthy functioning riparian zone is supposed to look like.

This is a healthy riparian area and stream in Yellowstone National Park. Note the grass is over a foot tall, with the vegetation all the way to the water and intact banks. Photo George Wuerthner 

As a general rule, here are some things to look for. A healthy riparian area will be dominated by native vegetation like willow, cottonwood, red osier dogwood, and other shrubs or sometimes native grasses that require a good water supply. A healthy stream with an intact riparian zone will often access its flood plain and tends to have deep undercut banks. Damaged streams are wide and shallow.

Federal and state agencies are forced to act because of the growing public awareness of the importance of healthy streams and riparian areas. However, they tend to favor mechanical solutions rather than eliminating livestock grazing from public lands. These solutions favor the livestock industry, typically at public expense.

Rather than eliminate livestock grazing by private interests, the government often builds expensive half way solutions like tapping springs or streams and pumping the water  to a water trough–all at public expense to protect the public land from ranching vandalism. Photo George Wuerthner

Sometimes the fence riparian areas to keep cattle out of the zone. However, fences are costly and need to be maintained to work. They also inhibit the free movement of other wildlife.

Fence built to protect the riparian area from livestock. Red Rock Valley, Montana. George Wuerthner 

Another “solution” is to build a pipeline that transfers water from a spring or stream to a water trough some distance from the stream so that cows get the water without damaging the streambanks. However, draining springs to provide water to private cattle also impacts many animals that depend on intact springs and streams for their survival. For instance, many amphibians like frogs and salamanders tend to be found around these water sources. Not to mention water being pumped out of a spring or stream is necessary to maintain the aquatic ecosystems.

The best solution is the one that is seldom implemented: the removal of cattle from public lands. When the choice is protecting the public values or protecting the profit of private businesses (i.e., ranchers), the range cons that manage livestock on public lands nearly always favor the rancher.

The first photo of cattle grazing the San Pedro River Riparian Conservation Area in Arizona. The second photo was taken from the same photo point ten years after cattle were eliminated from the river. Landscape amnesia is the biggest obstacle to bringing about range reform.  Photo George Wuerthner 

The first step in changing these dynamics is to recognize the problem. Landscape amnesia is not acceptable.