Ranching in the mountain parks of Colorado

The livestock ranching industry of North, South, and Middle parks in Colorado is based on a surprisingly happy combination of resources that has permitted year-round ranching to thrive in a high-altitude environment where only summer grazing or marginal agriculture might be expected. The mountain pa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geographical review 1975-10, Vol.65 (4), p.445-460
Main Author: Crowley, J.M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agroecosystems
Forest ecosystems
Livestock
Meadows
Mountain forests
Pastures
Ranches
Ranching
Rangelands
Silvopastoral systems
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Summary:The livestock ranching industry of North, South, and Middle parks in Colorado is based on a surprisingly happy combination of resources that has permitted year-round ranching to thrive in a high-altitude environment where only summer grazing or marginal agriculture might be expected. The mountain parks are famous for their high-quality commercial feeder cattle. The biophysical resources include lush irrigated meadows on floodplains and outwash trains, abundant irrigation water supplied by the humid mountains, extensive dry rangelands on the park floors, subhumid parklike rangelands in the foothills, forest and tundra grazing lands in the high mountains, and the healthy high-altitude conditions. Human and economic factors that help to explain the ranch prosperity are rancher ingenuity in developing fine cattle, low-cost use of extensive public lands, and absence of competition from crop agriculture. Although outside forces are now threatening to bring about a conversion of the land to other uses, those ranchers willing to undertake drastic irrigation and meadow improvement programs can probably continue in operation for the immediate future.
ISSN:0016-7428
1931-0846
DOI:10.2307/213744