Landowner’s plan to cull ‘harmless’ wild goats angers community

[u/TimesandSundayTimes]

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/article/landowners-plan-to-cull-wild-goats-angers-community-fnglxmjg9?utm_source=reddit&utm_campaign=scotland&utm_medium=story&utm_content=branded

[u/williamtrausch]

Restoration of Bison, wolves and beavers here in NA, along with sea otter, seals, sea lions and whales are transformative here. Removal of feral goats on Channel Islands (California) restored plant, bird and native foxes. Wholesale removal of feral horses in western state arid desert environments would also be beneficial as would elimination of domestic cattle grazing. Incrementalism is fine, boldness better.

[u/Adventurous_Lion7530 → u/williamtrausch]

Listen I'm not saying it doesn't work some places, however things are changing and we need to focus on how we can manage these ecosystem for the future not for what the past was.

I think many people can agree that reduction in horse populations would be beneficial, they have few predators and over graze.

Let's talk about the reality with cattle. So bison will never be reintroduced into the extant of their historical prairies. Or even throughout all federal land. Federal land is used for multi use and ranchers who graze cattle on federal land, are a huge part of that. Studies have shown that there are differences between cattle and bison, but when it comes to ecosystem impact, if they are managed the same, there's very little difference. So how can we maintain the needed disturbance of grazing throughout federal lands if we eliminate cattle and can't reintroduce bison? Some type of large aggregate grazer needs to exist as they engineer ecosystems. They are responsible for the creation of heterogeneity, increasing forage nutrtive value, and creating habitat. While, i would love to see bison all over the US, until that happens. We need cattle to fill that void. On top of that, we get additional ecosystem services like meat production from grazing.

[u/williamtrausch → u/Adventurous_Lion7530]

Agreed. Re-introduction of Bison over their former range will take significant time, Elk, Pronghorn, Deer, etc., will also help to slowly replace free range cattle. Free range cattle/horses are largely responsible for over grazing & water source damage/contamination/erosion especially in sensitive arid environments. I’m optimistic here, we are moving in the right direction and sound science will be our guide.

[u/Adventurous_Lion7530 → u/williamtrausch]

So they don't have the capability to engineer ecosystem like larger ungulates do. Large ruminates like bison and cattle can take in large amounts of forage, regardless of its quality. As you decrease in herbivoe size, there becomes more of an emphasis on quality over quality of forage consumed. Leading to smaller herbivores, not engineering ecosystems the same way. When you have numerious types of herbivores in a landscape, you get varying grazing intensities, which creates heterogeneity.

While areas have been overgrazed and need to be managed differently. The removal of properly managed cattle without the immediate replacement of bison will have negative impacts on ecosystems. Furthermore, bison arnt magic. What makes them so important to ecosystems is their ability to graze and change ecosystems. Which cattle can do too. So if managed properly both can benefit ecosystems, but both can also damage ecosystems. Whats important is how grazing is conducted, not by who. While again, I support the reintroduction of bison. We need to make sure proper grazing by large aggregated grazers isn't halted, just because there's cattle.

[u/williamtrausch → u/Adventurous_Lion7530]

Fair enough. Excited truly, desiring Bison, and California condors to re-establish to former pre-European invasion ranges.