Upland pasture
{{Short description|Type of grassland}}
File:Upland Pasture.JPG 1905 painting "Upland Pasture"]]
Upland pasture (rough grazing and/or semi-natural rough grazing) is a type of semi-natural grassland located in uplands of rolling foothills or upon higher slopes, greater than 350 meters (1148.29 feet) and less than 600 meters (1968.50 feet) from ground level, that is used primarily for grazing.{{Cite journal|last1=Davies |first1=A. |last2=Fothergill |first2=M. |last3=Jones |first3=J.R. |date=1998|title=Efficient Use of Upland Pasture|url=https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/media/departmental/ibers/pdf/innovations/98/98ch10.pdf|journal=IGER Innovations|pages=59–63|access-date=21 September 2018}} Upland pastures occur in most grassland systems where topographic slope prevents feasible crop production; they are a primary component of rangelands, but are not necessarily water limited. Upland pastures include highlands, moorland, and other grasslands in regions of upland soils (said to have the potential for hydric inclusions, rather than definitive hydric inclusion; meaning there is potential for "saturation, flooding, or ponding long enough during the growing season to develop anaerobic conditions").{{Cite web|url=https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detailfull/pr/soils/?cid=nrcs141p2_037283|title=Hydric soils definition |publisher=United States Department of Agriculture: Natural Resources Conservation Service Caribbean Area |access-date=21 September 2018}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.wetlandsforum.org/faqsoils.htm|title=Wetland FAQs|last=Beall |first=Barbra B. |publisher=New York State Wetland Forum |access-date=21 September 2018}}
Locations
The term originates in the British Isles where upland pastures constitute approximately 9 million hectares, 48% of agricultural land use in the UK. Upland pastures are widely managed in the United States in New England and Appalachia, and in semi-arid mountain regions in the inter-mountain west where their management is an important aspect of historic farming, wildlife preservation, and range livestock production.{{Cite journal|last=Mires|first=Peter B.|date=December 1993|title=The importance of aspect to historic farmstead site location in the green mountains of Vermont|journal=Historical Archaeology|volume=27|issue=4|pages=82–91|doi=10.1007/bf03373575|issn=0440-9213}}{{Cite journal|last1=Jurney |first1=D. H. |last2=Stahle |first2=D. W. |date=2004|title=Old-growth wooded pasture in the Ozarks|journal=Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-73 |pages=42–52}}{{Cite journal|last1=Clary |first1=Warren P. |first2=Bert F. |last2=Webster |date=1989|title=Managing grazing of riparian areas in the Intermountain Region|journal=Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-263 |volume=11|pages=263}} Upland pastures are also of primary importance to livestock production in western Australia,{{Cite web|url=https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/rangelands/mitchell-grass-upland-pastures-kimberley|title=Mitchell grass upland pastures of the Kimberley |date=2018|publisher=Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Western Australia |access-date=21 September 2018}} the Mongolian-Manchurian grassland ecoregion,{{cite web |url=https://www.worldwildlife.org/ecoregions/pa0813 |title=Mongolian-Manchurian grassland |first=Chris |last=Carpenter |location=Washington, DC |publisher=World Wildlife Fund |access-date=21 September 2018}} in the Andes of Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and western Brazil, in the Eurasian Steppes, in South Africa's Highveld, in Switzerland and the Alps, Sweden, Iceland, India, Juniper grasslands around Jabal Sawda in Saudi Arabia and other Juniper encroached grasslands in the Middle East including in Jordan, Israel, Turkey, Kazakhstan, as well as in eastern European nations, and, Tibet, New Zealand, Ethiopia, Canada, Kenya, Tanzania, Eritrea, Yemen, Ghana, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Syria, and Cantabria.{{Cite book |title=Contemporary visions in Tibetan studies: proceedings of the First International Seminar of Young Tibetologists|date=2009|publisher=Serindia Publications|last=Dotson |first=Brandon |isbn=9781932476453|edition=1st |location=Chicago|oclc=426147229}}{{cite book |last1=Ross |first1=Mars |last2=Cooper |first2=H. Stonehewer |date=1885 |title=The Highlands of Cantabria; or, Three days from England |location=London |publisher=Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington |page=491 |url=https://archive.org/details/highlandscantab00coopgoog |access-date=21 September 2018}}
{{Gallery|title=Pictures of upland pastures}}
File:Upland Pasture Overlooking Haltwhistle - geograph.org.uk - 217647.jpg|Black Scottish Highland bull in upland pasture overlooking Haltwhistle, UK
File:NRCSVT84001 - Vermont (6683)(NRCS Photo Gallery).jpg|Jersey cattle grazing central Vermont, US upland pasture
File:Agfr highland shrubs.jpg|Highland shrubs in Agua Fria National Monument, Arizona, US
File:New Zealand - Rural landscape - 9850.jpg|Sheep in New Zealand upland pasture
File:Shillong Eco Park.jpg|Shillong Eco Park upland pasture/ highlands in Meghalaya, India
File:Horton Plains valley.JPG|upland pasture in Horton Plains Valley, Horton Plains National Park in central highlands of Sri Lanka
File:Lincoln National Forest 2.jpg|Upland pasture in Lincoln National Forest, southern New Mexico, US
File:Valmarecchia 2.jpg|Chianina cattle in {{interlanguage link|Valmarecchia|it}}, Italy upland pasture
See also
Sources
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