Other forest products such as firewood, mushrooms and ginseng are eliminated or reduced in a grazed woodland. The simple solution to the woodland erosion problem is to fence livestock out of the woods. Convert marginal woodlands into productive pasture and fence to protect remaining woodlands from pasturing. A small corner of the woods should be included in the pasture for summer shade and winter wind protection, while the remaining area is protected from livestock. Sugar maple woods protected from grazing for 10 years.
Grazed woodland shows results of soil compaction, loss off topsoil, and no understory.
In addition to white snakeroot, a well-balanced woodland can contain up to half of the 50 species of plants that are toxic in various degrees to livestock. Black cherry leaves contain a substance that at various stages of wilting will kill livestock. This is the extreme, but many plants are toxic enough to make an animal lose weight rather than gain, which usually is undesirable. The net nutrient takeup would be almost nothing. White snakeroot is extremely poisonous to livestock and people.