Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
to overgrazing, acknowledged that woody shrubs they used for fuel (e.g., Ceratoides and
Potentilla spp.) had become noticeably scarcer within recent memory. Further, government
officials who had lived their entire lives in the area were unanimous in their opinion that
grassland health generally had deteriorated substantially compared with its condition in
their youth. They described specific reduction in plant height, the presence of shrub species
that were by 2000 gone entirely (e.g., Sabina , Tamarix , Salix spp.), and the contraction
or complete drying of natural springs that had historically been used by livestock.
Clearly, Jianshe represents the extreme among pastoral areas I have examined: it comes
by its fragility naturally, and neither traditional cultures nor market-driven forces can
be blamed for its lack of resilience. As well, my colleagues and I remain unclear as to
exactly when, and under what circumstances, the negative trends we documented began
to emerge. 75 Livestock statistics have always been untrustworthy, and we were never able
to understand precisely how, and with what intensity, livestock were managed during the
commune period. Vegetative communities may exhibit a lag in response to stress, so we
cannot state with certainty whether the livestock practices operational during 1997-2003
were the root of the problem, or, conversely, may have actually been improving upon
an already bad situation, the pastoralists of Jianshe perhaps having been bequeathed a
legacy of already seriously compromised range health by previous management schemes.
But there was little doubt that rangelands in Jianshe were highly stressed by livestock
grazing.
In summary, these four case studies appear to capture a range of grassland conditions,
from stable and healthy to declining and degraded. Baizha, where range conditions seemed
best, evidently benefited from both the mildest climate and the absence of a commercial
market for livestock products; instead, the traditional subsistence economy still held
sway. 76 Jianshe, where range conditions seemed worst, had both the driest climate and
the most commoditized economy; few herders had traditional knowledge, and none had
a long history of connection with the area. The other two areas, Gouli and Yeniugou, ap-
peared to occupy intermediate positions along the same continua.
GRAZING PRESSURE AND LOCAL LIVELIHOODS
It seems clear that, in much of China's west, livestock density is too high to allow for
stability of plant species sensitive to grazing, and thus has led to increasing cover of less
palatable and poisonous species, and, in the extreme, to a decline in vegetative cover of
any sort. In these areas, most wildlife species have land but not habitat; they have space
but neither food nor cover. Beyond grazing pressure, other activities have taken their
toll that are more local in scope but also more injurious to vegetation and soil, and their
intensity is likely closely correlated with both human population density and economic
activity. (In particular, there are the traditional practices of cutting the turf layer to produce
material for corrals, small structures, or for lining the inside of tents, and also removing
woody plants for fuel and digging for medicinal plants. 77 ) It is no surprise that in such
areas, native fauna is stressed.
In other areas, however, livestock grazing has not yet led to “degradation,” nor is it
Search WWH ::




Custom Search