If there’s anything
everyone can agree on about grazing in the West, it’s that
livestock’s influence on the land has been ubiquitous. Biologists
Carl and Jane Bock have spent much of their lives studying the
ecology of one of the few exceptions, an 8,000-acre short-grass
prairie in southern Arizona. In their thoughtful new book,
The View from Bald Hill: Thirty Years in an Arizona
Grassland, the Bocks summarize their decades of fieldwork
on the Appleton-Whittell Ranch, where no grazing has occurred since
the 1960s.
The Bocks’ work addresses questions
that many Western scientists have spent their careers trying to
answer: What is “healthy” grassland? What does rangeland
restoration look like? Are livestock really the enemy of the West’s
natural ecology? Because the Appleton ranch is as close as it gets
to a control in what the Bocks call our grazing “experiment,”
everyone with a stake in rangeland management should take note of
what the Bocks have found: that the native, semi-arid grasslands of
the Southwest may never return to pre-grazing conditions, but that
some native species rare in grazed areas are returning to the
sanctuary.
The best thing about The View
from Bald Hill, though, is that it’s a science text that
manages to be understandable and humble at the same time. Above
all, the Bocks convey their deep affection for the plants, animals
and people of the Sonoita Plain. In the politicized world of
natural resource management, where opposing interests constantly
invoke science to justify their positions, their perspective is
refreshing.
“Certain ranchers and range managers
have predicted that grasslands on the Research Ranch will degrade
over time without some sort of essential stimulation provided by
livestock,” they write.
“If the sanctuary
eventually becomes as barren as a strip mall parking lot, then our
studies will have documented the importance of livestock in
sustaining the Southwestern Plains. But don’t bet on
it.”
The View from Bald Hill: Thirty
Years in an Arizona Grassland, Carl E. and Jane H. Bock,
University of California Press, Berkeley, Calif., 2000. Paperback:
$16.95. 197 pages. Hardcover: $45. 221
pages.
Copyright
© 2001 HCN and Ali Macalady
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline A refreshing view.
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