Livestock grazing can affect the riparian environment by changing and reducing vegetation or actually eliminate riparian areas as a result of channel widening, channel aggradation, or lowering of the water table. The most apparent effects on fish habitat are reductions of shade, cover, and terrestrial food supply, and the resultant increases in stream temperature, changes in water quality and stream morphology, and additions of sediment through bank degradation and off-site soil erosion. Rangeland grazing practices can affect the water quality characteristics of runoff in a watershed, especially by increasing a stream's turbidity and sediment. Photosynthesis is decreased by stream turbidity and primary productivity is reduced. Aquatic insect food production for native salmonid species is reduced by removal of streambank vegetation.
Bank erosion causes sedimentation in streambed gravel.
Recreational opportunities are significantly reduced. Encourage agencies to conduct complete and accurate inventories of streams and riparian areas on public lands to determine their location, condition, and potential for recovery if improved livestock management were to be applied. Promote development and implementation of land use and grazing allotment management plans that provide the vegetation necessary to ensure adequate watershed protection to perpetuate vegetation, maintain and enhance plant vigor, and assure soil stability. Encourage Congress and agencies to provide for standardized monitoring and habitat restoration programs designed to document and arrest the decline in stream riparian ecosystems. Encourage documentation of the economic values and benefits of restoring damaged streams and protecting those that are not damaged.