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Defining rangelands as anthromes enabled Ellis and Ramankutty (2008) to conclude that more than three-quarters of Earth’s land is anthropogenic; without rangelands, this figure would have been less than half. They classified all lands grazed by domestic livestock as rangelands, provided that human population densities were low; similar areas without livestock were excluded and classified instead as ‘wildlands’. This paper examines the empirical basis and conceptual assumptions of defining and categorizing rangelands in this fashion. Empirically, we conclude that a large proportion of rangelands, although used to varying degrees by domesticated livestock, are not altered significantly by this use, especially in arid, highly variable environments and in settings with long evolutionary histories of herbivory by wild animals. Even where changes have occurred, the dynamics and components of many rangelands remain structurally and functionally equivalent to those that preceded domestic livestock grazing or would be found in its absence. In much of Africa and Asia, grazing is so longstanding as to be inextricable from ‘natural’ or reference conditions for those sites. Thus, the extent of anthropogenic biomes is significantly overstated. Conceptually, rangelands reveal the dependence of the anthromes thesis on outdated assumptions of ecological climax and equilibrium. Coming to terms with rangelands—how they can be classified, understood, and managed sustainably—thus offers important lessons for understanding anthromes and the Anthropocene as a whole. At the root of these lessons, we argue, is not the question of human impacts on ecosystems but property relations among humans.
Nathan F. Sayre; Diana K. Davis; Brandon Bestelmeyer; Jeb C. Williamson. Rangelands: Where Anthromes Meet Their Limits. Land 2017, 6, 31 .
AMA StyleNathan F. Sayre, Diana K. Davis, Brandon Bestelmeyer, Jeb C. Williamson. Rangelands: Where Anthromes Meet Their Limits. Land. 2017; 6 (2):31.
Chicago/Turabian StyleNathan F. Sayre; Diana K. Davis; Brandon Bestelmeyer; Jeb C. Williamson. 2017. "Rangelands: Where Anthromes Meet Their Limits." Land 6, no. 2: 31.
Lynn Huntsinger; Nathan F. Sayre; Claudia Bieling; Tobias Plieninger. Landscape Stewardship for Rangelands. The Dartmoor Vision – A Long-Term, Participatory Management Process on the Landscape Scale 2017, 284 -305.
AMA StyleLynn Huntsinger, Nathan F. Sayre, Claudia Bieling, Tobias Plieninger. Landscape Stewardship for Rangelands. The Dartmoor Vision – A Long-Term, Participatory Management Process on the Landscape Scale. 2017; ():284-305.
Chicago/Turabian StyleLynn Huntsinger; Nathan F. Sayre; Claudia Bieling; Tobias Plieninger. 2017. "Landscape Stewardship for Rangelands." The Dartmoor Vision – A Long-Term, Participatory Management Process on the Landscape Scale , no. : 284-305.
Few scientific experiments have influenced more land than one conducted in the Wallowa Mountains of eastern Oregon by the US Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Plant Industry and US Forest Service in 1907–1909. Four square miles of land were enclosed with a “coyote-proof fence,” guarded by a hunter, and stocked with an untended band of sheep. Data were collected on vegetation and sheep performance inside and outside the fence, and two years later success was declared. By 1910, the Forest Service had wrested range research from the Bureau of Plant Industry, subordinating the emerging field to timber production and fire suppression for decades to come. The young scientist who conducted the experiment, James Jardine, was promoted to Inspector of Grazing for the fledgling Forest Service, while his Wallowa collaborator, Arthur Sampson, went on to become “the father” of range science. The model of range management that they pioneered was applied across the US West and, later, on many rangelands in the developing world. Fencing and predator control are now generally viewed as unrelated management practices, but in the Forest Service model they were intimately connected. A critical physical geography of the Wallowa experiment reveals that the institutional context in which it occurred was more important than the findings themselves, and that although the results appeared to be scientifically rigorous and ecological, the methods were weak and the real criteria for “success” were economic. The high costs of fencing could be justified only if they were offset by a reduction in labor costs for herders. But without herders to guard the livestock, predators would have to be eliminated. Enormous public subsidies were required to implement the model, which continues to affect rangelands around the world.
Nathan F. Sayre. The Coyote-Proof Pasture Experiment. Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment 2015, 39, 576 -593.
AMA StyleNathan F. Sayre. The Coyote-Proof Pasture Experiment. Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment. 2015; 39 (5):576-593.
Chicago/Turabian StyleNathan F. Sayre. 2015. "The Coyote-Proof Pasture Experiment." Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment 39, no. 5: 576-593.
Nathan F Sayre. Review of Black Ranching Frontiers: African Cattle Herders of the Atlantic World, 1500-1900 by Andrew Sluyter. Pastoralism 2014, 4, 8 .
AMA StyleNathan F Sayre. Review of Black Ranching Frontiers: African Cattle Herders of the Atlantic World, 1500-1900 by Andrew Sluyter. Pastoralism. 2014; 4 (1):8.
Chicago/Turabian StyleNathan F Sayre. 2014. "Review of Black Ranching Frontiers: African Cattle Herders of the Atlantic World, 1500-1900 by Andrew Sluyter." Pastoralism 4, no. 1: 8.
Rangelands encompass 30–40% of Earth's land surface and support 1 to 2 billion people. Their predominant use is extensive livestock production by pastoralists and ranchers. But rangelands are characterized by ecological, economic, and political marginality, and higher value, more intensive land uses are impinging on rangelands around the world. Earth Stewardship of rangelands must address both livestock management and the broader socioecological dynamics that promote land‐use changes, fragmentation, and degradation. We identify specific gradients on which human–rangeland systems can be arrayed, including issues of variability, adaptation to disturbance, commercialization, land‐use change, land‐tenure security, and effective governance, and we illustrate the gradients' interactions and effects in sites worldwide. The result is a synthetic framework to help in understanding how rangeland Earth Stewardship can be achieved in the face of marginality, globalization, and climate change.
Nathan F Sayre; Ryan RJ McAllister; Brandon T Bestelmeyer; Mark Moritz; Matthew D Turner. Earth Stewardship of rangelands: coping with ecological, economic, and political marginality. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 2013, 11, 348 -354.
AMA StyleNathan F Sayre, Ryan RJ McAllister, Brandon T Bestelmeyer, Mark Moritz, Matthew D Turner. Earth Stewardship of rangelands: coping with ecological, economic, and political marginality. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. 2013; 11 (7):348-354.
Chicago/Turabian StyleNathan F Sayre; Ryan RJ McAllister; Brandon T Bestelmeyer; Mark Moritz; Matthew D Turner. 2013. "Earth Stewardship of rangelands: coping with ecological, economic, and political marginality." Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 11, no. 7: 348-354.
Monitoring is a critical component of adaptive management but often weak or missing in practice. We examined grazing allotment files to identify patterns in monitoring and management practices on the Coronado National Forest from 1927 to 2007, and conducted interviews with key informants to understand the mechanisms behind those patterns. Standardized, documented monitoring occurred on a near-annual basis on all allotments until 1978; ceased abruptly from 1978 to 1998; then resumed. Before 1978, monitoring frequently indicated excessive stocking, but reductions often did not occur. Interviews revealed that monitoring ceased for this reason, as agency employees turned to more informal methods in hopes of affecting management. Monitoring resumed in response to litigation by environmental groups. Curiously, more effective adaptive management of grazing allotments appears to have begun during the period when standardized monitoring was not occurring.
Nathan F. Sayre; Eric Biber; Greta Marchesi. Social and Legal Effects on Monitoring and Adaptive Management: A Case Study of National Forest Grazing Allotments, 1927–2007. Society & Natural Resources 2013, 26, 86 -94.
AMA StyleNathan F. Sayre, Eric Biber, Greta Marchesi. Social and Legal Effects on Monitoring and Adaptive Management: A Case Study of National Forest Grazing Allotments, 1927–2007. Society & Natural Resources. 2013; 26 (1):86-94.
Chicago/Turabian StyleNathan F. Sayre; Eric Biber; Greta Marchesi. 2013. "Social and Legal Effects on Monitoring and Adaptive Management: A Case Study of National Forest Grazing Allotments, 1927–2007." Society & Natural Resources 26, no. 1: 86-94.
Sayre, N. F., L. Carlisle, L. Huntsinger, G. Fisher, and A. Shattuck. 2012. The role of rangelands in diversified farming systems: innovations, obstacles, and opportunities in the USA. Ecology and Society 17(4): 43. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-04790-170443
Nathan F. Sayre; Liz Carlisle; Lynn Huntsinger; Gareth Fisher; Annie Shattuck. The Role of Rangelands in Diversified Farming Systems: Innovations, Obstacles, and Opportunities in the USA. Ecology and Society 2012, 17, 1 .
AMA StyleNathan F. Sayre, Liz Carlisle, Lynn Huntsinger, Gareth Fisher, Annie Shattuck. The Role of Rangelands in Diversified Farming Systems: Innovations, Obstacles, and Opportunities in the USA. Ecology and Society. 2012; 17 (4):1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleNathan F. Sayre; Liz Carlisle; Lynn Huntsinger; Gareth Fisher; Annie Shattuck. 2012. "The Role of Rangelands in Diversified Farming Systems: Innovations, Obstacles, and Opportunities in the USA." Ecology and Society 17, no. 4: 1.
Nathan F. Sayre; Richard L. Knight. Potential Effects of United States-Mexico Border Hardening on Ecological and Human Communities in the Malpai Borderlands. Conservation Biology 2010, 24, 345 -348.
AMA StyleNathan F. Sayre, Richard L. Knight. Potential Effects of United States-Mexico Border Hardening on Ecological and Human Communities in the Malpai Borderlands. Conservation Biology. 2010; 24 (1):345-348.
Chicago/Turabian StyleNathan F. Sayre; Richard L. Knight. 2010. "Potential Effects of United States-Mexico Border Hardening on Ecological and Human Communities in the Malpai Borderlands." Conservation Biology 24, no. 1: 345-348.
Nathan F. Sayre. Bad Abstractions: Response to Sullivan. Conservation Biology 2009, 23, 1050 -1052.
AMA StyleNathan F. Sayre. Bad Abstractions: Response to Sullivan. Conservation Biology. 2009; 23 (4):1050-1052.
Chicago/Turabian StyleNathan F. Sayre. 2009. "Bad Abstractions: Response to Sullivan." Conservation Biology 23, no. 4: 1050-1052.
The papers collected here demonstrate that rural landscapes around the world are increasingly entering into global-scale circuits of capital accumulation and circulation for purposes other than the conventional ones of raw materials, cheap labor and agricultural commodities. Although the concepts of “exurbia” and “amenity migration” remain to be further specified, it is clear that emerging rural landscapes are an important and vast field for empirical and theoretical research. Four common threads run through the diverse cases presented here: (1) fictitious commodification of nature by capital, in various and novel forms that interact with each other and with antecedent forms; (2) the importance of the category of rent (both actual and potential) to understand these processes adequately; (3) the increasing scale, rate, and magnitude of capital production and circulation as drivers that widen the “rent gap” in rural areas; and (4) the symbolic character of capital invested in amenity for
Nathan F. Sayre. Commentary: scale, rent, and symbolic capital: political economy and emerging rural landscapes. GeoJournal 2009, 76, 437 -439.
AMA StyleNathan F. Sayre. Commentary: scale, rent, and symbolic capital: political economy and emerging rural landscapes. GeoJournal. 2009; 76 (4):437-439.
Chicago/Turabian StyleNathan F. Sayre. 2009. "Commentary: scale, rent, and symbolic capital: political economy and emerging rural landscapes." GeoJournal 76, no. 4: 437-439.
Selections of the Grundrisse were translated into English beginning in 1964; a full translation did not appear until 1973. Anglophone Marxian social science has changed dramatically since then; this article attempts to assess the role of the Grundrisse in these changes, focusing specifically on anthropology and geography. In geography the effects are most apparent in the work of David Harvey, who was among the earliest Anglophone social scientists to undertake a full reinterpretation of Marx in the light of the Grundrisse. I identify four insights that can be seen in Harvey's writings and elsewhere in recent human geography, but whose relation to the Grundrisse is not often acknowledged. In anthropology, the effects of the Grundrisse are perhaps even more pronounced but also more complex and obscure; nonetheless, a similar, and similarly under‐acknowledged, influence can be discerned, especially in historical anthropology and recent studies of value. I suggest that the Grundrisse's translation into English has facilitated a convergence of anthropology and geography, and that critical ethnography in this vein is needed to grapple with the financialization of everything, in which commodification is only a preliminary step.
Nathan F Sayre. Assessing the Effects of the Grundrissein Anglophone Geography and Anthropology. Antipode 2008, 40, 898 -920.
AMA StyleNathan F Sayre. Assessing the Effects of the Grundrissein Anglophone Geography and Anthropology. Antipode. 2008; 40 (5):898-920.
Chicago/Turabian StyleNathan F Sayre. 2008. "Assessing the Effects of the Grundrissein Anglophone Geography and Anthropology." Antipode 40, no. 5: 898-920.
Nathan F Sayre. Scott Prudham's Knock on Wood: Nature as Commodity in Douglas-Fir Country. Antipode 2006, 38, 1073 -1076.
AMA StyleNathan F Sayre. Scott Prudham's Knock on Wood: Nature as Commodity in Douglas-Fir Country. Antipode. 2006; 38 (5):1073-1076.
Chicago/Turabian StyleNathan F Sayre. 2006. "Scott Prudham's Knock on Wood: Nature as Commodity in Douglas-Fir Country." Antipode 38, no. 5: 1073-1076.