Caribou-Targhee NF and partners renew rangelands with targeted grazing
Intermountain Region/Caribou-Targhee
June 3, 2025
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Ranchers move their cattle to targeted grazing area on the Caribou-Targhee National Forest.
(USDA Forest Service photo by Jared Fisher.)Public lands provide a variety of opportunities for the public. Grazing is one of those activities which has occurred for well over a century. A rancher’s existence depends on a healthy landscape and ecosystem. Lands covered in noxious weeds or invasive grasses can quickly destroy this way of life. Historic wildfires, climate change, and other environmental factors can affect the native grasses and forbs that form and damage our native ecosystem. Figuring out ways to improve and sustain these lands for future generations is one of the missions of the Forest Service.
Robbert Mickelsen, forest ecosystem branch chief and Hans Bastian, range management specialist on the Westside Ranger District of the Caribou-Targhee National Forest and Curlew National Grasslands, have been working with S-S Ranch, the University of Idaho, and Idaho Department of Lands through the Good Neighbor Agreement to use livestock as a tool to manage vegetation.
“Open range livestock production is critical to maintaining economically viable ranches. These ranches provide open space, wildlife habitat and convert stored sunlight in the form of grass into a product that people can use,” said Mickelsen. “We’re doing that in such a way that we’re restoring native rangelands with the state of Idaho, the University of Idaho and local ranchers,” said Mickelsen.
Each of the partners came together to design targeted grazing plans to restore healthy ranges using the best science, monitoring, education, and information available to them. The primary goal is to reduce cheatgrass and bulbous bluegrass, both invasive species to the area, and restore native flora such as blue bunch wheatgrass, needlegrass, bluegrass and Idaho fescue.
Targeted grazing on the Caribou-Targhee National Forest.
(USDA Forest Service photo by Robbert Mickelsen.)
Targeted grazing reduces the amount of bulbous bluegrass and cheatgrass when grazed in the early spring before native perennial grasses have started to grow. Grazing is stopped before native grasses begin actively growing. The invasive grasses also have a fall growth period after the desirable perennial plants have gone dormant, providing two opportunities for livestock to graze these plants and decrease the invasive species. Cattle are moved into these areas to graze during the spring and fall invasive growth period for about 30 days.
“This is the first project under the Good Neighbor Agreement designed for rangeland restoration and on the Caribou-Targhee. Using what we learn from this project we hope to expand to other areas needing native grass restoration.” said Mickelsen. “Many areas in southern Idaho have areas dominated by bulbous bluegrass and cheatgrass, but also have remaining perennial native grasses.”
The Idaho Department of Lands is a strong partner that contracts with the local S-S ranch for grazing on the project. The University of Idaho provides educational aspects, technical expertise, and a connection to livestock producers to apply lessons learned on these projects to other areas.
The two focus areas are in Lead Draw, south of Pocatello and Spring Hills, east of Malad. These projects are showing the benefits of using livestock to reduce undesirable grasses by changing the timing of grazing.
Some cattle were fitted with GPS collars for students to monitor where the cattle were grazing and what food they were eating.
(USDA Forest Service photo by Robbert Mickelsen.)
The University of Idaho graduate students monitor the soil moisture and temperature and grazing that occurs to help develop grazing prescriptions that can be applied in similar situations. University of Idaho extension specialists are working with producers to share the lessons learned.
Targeted cattle grazing can be used to reduce fine fuels and decrease rate of spread of fires.
“We have used targeted grazing in combination with shrub mowing to reduce fuels in strategic locations on the Curlew Grassland helping provide fuel breaks if fires occur,” said Mickelsen.
Targeted grazing has been applied for many years to reduce fine fuels in fuel breaks in California and to decrease vegetation that competes with tree seedlings in plantations. It has recently been used to decrease fuels and slow fire spread in the Great Basin and to maintain sagebrush stands on the landscape. The Caribou-Targhee used sheep grazing to decrease leafy spurge cover for several years improving vegetation on more than 7,000 acres yearly.