Graduation Year

2025

Document Type

Campus Only Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Environmental Analysis

Reader 1

Marc Los Huertos

Reader 2

Bowman Cutter

Reader 3

Char Miller

Terms of Use & License Information

Terms of Use for work posted in Scholarship@Claremont.

Abstract

Livestock grazing land accounts for 41 percent of the continental United States by land area, with the majority of beef cow-calf operations using continuous grazing. Continuous grazing contributes to a range of ecosystem degradation impacts including loss of biomass, soil carbon loss, and soil erosion, and water runoff. Six Shooter Ranch (Mitchell, OR) trialed the alternative grazing method of intensive, adaptive multi-paddock grazing (IAMP). Evidence supports its ecological restoration abilities, but few studies examine its financial and cultural viability. Through interviews and a cost-benefit analysis, there appear to be financially viable pathways for the implementation of IAMP. However, financially pathways are limited under current market conditions and cultural perceptions may sway outcomes positively or negatively. Carbon credits and water infrastructure costs have important implications in the cost-benefit of IAMP based on the scenarios tested in this study. This research underscores the necessity of context-specific approaches and cooperation across public and private sectors for intensive, adaptive multi-paddock grazing implementation.

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