A century of grazing: The value of long-term research

Abstract

A century ago, Johnson Thatcher Sarvis and scientists at Mandan set out to determine the area needed to sustainably support a steer during the grazing sea-son. In addition to answering the original question, scientists gathered some of the first data on grazing resilience of native grasses, determined the critical role of soil moisture in maintaining rangeland productivity on the semiarid northern plains, and generated applied ecological insights on the persistence and resilience of native prairie during the worst drought of the last millennium. Because of the foresight of Sarvis and others, this long-term study continues to serve as a unique and valuable resource. Important long-term ecological and resource management questions, such as vegetation, soil, and cattle weight gain changes with respect to weather, management, etc., simply cannot be answered with short-term data. Leveraging existing long-term data with formation of the LTAR network and NEON can allow us to peer into the future of the northern Great Plains. The question in the twentyfirst century is a similar one: how do we sustainably intensify agroecosystems in an era of climatic and social changes? Our challenge is to exhibit the same foresight and develop research that is still relevant in 100 years.