Rotational grazing partnerships between public land managers and private cattle producers offer the potential to maintain and improve public grasslands while increasing the profitability of grass-fed beef and dairy. Rotational grazing can increase biodiversity and soil quality, with potential to slow the detrimental encroachment of woody and non-native plants on state grasslands. An interdisciplinary research team from the University of Wisconsin-Madison partnered with land managers from state agencies, grazing specialists, and local cattle producers to investigate the opportunities and challenges of using rotational grazing as a management tool on Wisconsin public grasslands.
Because of the ecological and social challenges of public-private conservation partnerships, the group used strategies from adaptive co-management (ACM) as a framework to implement pilot grazing projects and research. ACM is a mode of environmental resource governance that acknowledges the complexity and uncertainty of interdependent social-ecological systems. ACM focuses ecosystem management and policy around iterative learning, collaboration and power-sharing between stakeholders, conflict resolution, and long-term sustainability. Through literature review and content analysis from stakeholder meetings, site visits, and group interviews, we developed a case study of ACM in practice across five ongoing Wisconsin grazing research projects.
Results/Conclusions:
The ACM framework underpinned the development of the grazing partnership in 2015, directed the research focus at each of the grazing sites, and provided mechanisms for discussion, feedback, and adaptation among the different partners. The interests of land managers, grazing specialists, and producers contributed to the development of research topics on ecological, economic, and social features of grazing and grassland management. The groups developed flexible, context-specific grazing plans and data collection activities at each site, and emphasized the importance of communication, liability, and responsibility for the partnership. Researchers shared ongoing fieldwork activities and findings throughout, and supported the other groups in managing publicity and planning beyond the initial pilot grazing projects. Findings from this case study indicate that the ACM framework has potential to guide public-private conservation projects and build resilience in ecological research partnerships.