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I don't disagree with the sentiment of returning ecosystems to their balanced ideal, however it should be pointed out alongside your statement that overgrazing

I don't disagree with the sentiment of returning ecosystems to their balanced ideal, however it should be pointed out alongside your statement that overgrazing is by far and away more common as it stands than undergrazing, and there is a concerted effort by the cattle industry to change the narrative to one where they become "land custodians" rather than exploiters. Large ungulates are a keystone species, however they are more often than not grazed in herds far larger than the land they are on can sustain. Illness, famine, water shortages and predatation (by many species long extinct now) kept these herds in check - they don't so much now. This article summarises it better than I ever could: https://westernwatersheds.org/the-history-of-public-lands-grazing/ https://westernwatersheds.org/the-history-of-public-lands-gr...

staticautomatic 2y ago
You call 50,000,000 buffalo “in check”?
- Aromasin 2y ago
  Over a range of the entire United States? Yes, absolutely. The grazing land is now a fraction of what it was pre-colonialization, and much more highly concentrated. Instead of giant herds moving from one pasture to another, they're kept in conparitively tiny cattle reservations where they overgraze leading, to these barren dustbowls. The cycles of graze, move, graze, move, with seasons where plantlife had time to recuperate, are long gone. It's graze, graze, graze, until there's nothing left and the herd die out or are moved elsewhere to do the same. The problem with this issue is it's complex in a bell curve nature. With humans in the mix, we take it to an extreme - it's either cattle land or its not, and there's no room for a compromise because cattle can't graze on cropland, or through urban/industrial areas, so they get put on lots too small for them and cause immeasurable ecological damage in the process.

staticautomatic 2y ago

You call 50,000,000 buffalo “in check”?

Aromasin 2y ago
Over a range of the entire United States? Yes, absolutely. The grazing land is now a fraction of what it was pre-colonialization, and much more highly concentrated. Instead of giant herds moving from one pasture to another, they're kept in conparitively tiny cattle reservations where they overgraze leading, to these barren dustbowls. The cycles of graze, move, graze, move, with seasons where plantlife had time to recuperate, are long gone. It's graze, graze, graze, until there's nothing left and the herd die out or are moved elsewhere to do the same. The problem with this issue is it's complex in a bell curve nature. With humans in the mix, we take it to an extreme - it's either cattle land or its not, and there's no room for a compromise because cattle can't graze on cropland, or through urban/industrial areas, so they get put on lots too small for them and cause immeasurable ecological damage in the process.