Refuge on the range: grazing

Livestock grazing obviously competes with wildlife for land use,
but controlled grazing can sometimes be an effective management
tool in refuges; grazed areas can be better habitats for birds
and other small animals. In an average year more than 1.4 million
refuge acres (566,580 hectares) are available for grazing, including
land set aside for managed herds of bison and elk.
One of the largest tracts of grazing land lies in the Big Sky
country of Montana, where almost 900,000 acres (364,230 hectares)
of the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge, stretching
for 125 miles (201 kilometers) along the banks of the Missouri
River, are set aside. Hands from the Burke Ranch of Glasgow, Montana,
drive their cattle into the sage country (above).
Ranchers are permitted to graze a certain number of cattle on
the refuge but must comply with regulations, such as the compact
not to poison prairie dogs (who compete for forage with livestock).
Prairie dogs are prey for the endangered blackfooted ferret,
which the government has reintroduced into the refuge.
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