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A working career in a field you enjoy or perhaps love is a goal of most individuals in the work force. I must say that my 38.5 years with first the Soil Conservation Service and after 1994, when the name changed to Natural Resources Conservation Service, I truly had a job that I loved. I graduated from Texas Tech University with a degree in Range Management with a Wildlife Habitat option. This degree enabled graduates to be employed with federal agencies as a range conservationist or as a wildlife biologist. Range conservationists received training in plant identification, ecology, prescribed fire, and other ecological courses aimed at helping the graduate to manage or provide guidance in the proper use of native grasslands. The wildlife habitat option provided much of the same courses along with a heavy dose of wildlife management for several bird and big game wildlife species. I spent almost exactly the first half of my career as a range conservationist working in Goldthwaite, Snyder, and Abilene. These were counties where native grasslands, or rangeland, made up a large part of the working area. The last half, I have spent as a wildlife biologist working 52 counties in north central Texas and headquartered in Weatherford.
One common factor in both professions is the importance of having a good knowledge of native plants, their identification, and their value for both livestock and wildlife. Native grasslands, often called rangeland, make up nearly one-half of the world’s land mass, and 59% of the state of Texas. Rangelands are home to the cattle, sheep, and goat industries, the home for all of our native and introduced wildlife species, home to our very important pollinators, and where we buy land to live and enjoy. Our native rangelands have changed greatly from the time period before the influx of Europeans arrived to carve a living and home out of the wilderness. The Native Americans lived in harmony with the land, taking only enough of the natural resources to live. The early settlers, having moved westward from depleted farmlands in the eastern United States, saw what to them was an inexhaustible grassland stretching for miles upon the horizon. The thought of proper grazing management in these newer, dryer, and windier lands was not on the radar of those early settlers.
I don’t mean to paint all managers of grazing animals as abusers of the land, but over the past 200 years overuse has certainly been seen. There are numerous excellent grazing managers and well-managed ranches in Texas, and I have worked with many in all locations I worked. But overgrazing still happens every year A small patch of buffalograss is resisting the onslaught of King Ranch bluestem in a Central Texas pasture across Texas and in larger amounts during drought years. Overgrazing weakens the native grasses and forbs that blanket the soil, similar to having a cut on your skin that allows germs to enter. The weakened native plants are then easily taken over by the rapid spread of invasive non-native species of all types of plants. Once the highly competitive introduced plants, such as many species of Old-World Bluestems, get a start they rapidly spread and can out-compete the weakened natives for soil, sunlight, and water.
The introduction and spread of non-native plants, the overpowering growth of several native woody species such as juniper, mesquite, and cactus has changed much of the fabric of Texas. Imagine if the Great-Great-Great Grandparents of a ranching family could return and walk across their family ranch, it is almost certain that they would not recognize their land and would swear they were standing on someone else’s land. But good land stewardship, minimizing the use of introduced plants, and brush sculpting can slow the change and restore, in many ways, the essence of Texas.
In 1970, when the Manual of the Vascular Plants of Texas by Donovan S. Correll and Marshall C. Johnston was published, they reported 5,479 taxa of plants found in Texas. Dr. George Diggs, with the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, stated at a native plant conference on October 16, 2015, there are now 5,839 recognized taxa in Texas. This is an increase of 360 plants in 45 years. How many of these new plants were natives? How many were introduced plants? I do not know the exact number, but many introduced grasses, forbs, and woody plants have found their way to Texas. Some are accidental arrivals on cargo ships, some are intentional like the many species of grasses imported for perceived grazing values. Some of these grasses include buffelgrass, vasey grass, the many species of Old-World bluestems and lovegrasses, and Guinea grasses.
An interesting change in growth habits and distribution across South Texas is happening with tanglehead, Heteropogon contortus. Ranches that have historically been grazed by livestock would have scattered plants of tanglehead and it was considered a decreaser. This means that it was a palatable grass to the livestock and under heavy grazing would decrease in abundance within the pastures. In the early 20th century, ranchers did not have any issues with tanglehead, but in the last 50 years or so, with many ranches being bought for wildlife and recreational uses, the cattle were removed from the ranch. In the last 30 years, tanglehead has exploded upon many of these ranches and it now forms monocultures as the dominate grass found there.
What all of these ramblings mean is that there is still a lot that we don’t know about native and introduced plants, but if we try and manage for the long term and practice good land stewardship, we can continue being proud of our rangelands. Long live Texas rangelands and well-managed ranches.
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**ARCHIVED POST AUTHOR: rickylinex
