Modeling spatial distribution of goat grazing as a fuelbreak management tool in Mediterranean ecosystems
2014
Segal, E | Carmel, Y | Ungar, E D | Glasser, T A | Landau, S Y
Forest fires occur frequently in Mount Carmel, Israel, as well as in other Mediterranean areas. Gra - zing is known to control wildfires by removal of flammable biomass. In order to optimize the use of grazing as a management tool in fire fuelbreak zones, land managers need to control grazing intensity and spatial distri- bution according to the given vegetation cover. Effective grazing is most likely to be applied by goat herds, which, as opposed to free-range beef cattle, are usually guided by a shepherd. However, assessing the stock- ing rates required to maintain effective fuelbreak zones is challenging due to the difficulties in evaluating herd spatial distribution and biomass removal. In an attempt to address this problem we monitored six goat herds using GPS collars, recording goat presence and activity (grazing, walking, and resting) for each area as well as the number of grazing days per area and stocking density. Effective grazing density was derived by mod- elling vegetation cover dynamics, i.e. the difference between annual biomass removal by grazing and primary production (g/m2/year). This information may be used to determine the target number of grazing days to be sought by land managers for a given fuelbreak area. Quantifying grazing services for fire management in Mediterranean ecosystems can improve multi-purpose interfacing of pasture land and fuelbreaks. Keywords.
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