Each fall, about a thousand cattle pass through southern Utah’s Pando aspen grove, believed to be the world’s most massive living organism, pausing for a week or two on their way from summer to winter pastures.
During the herd’s brief stay, up to 90% of the plant growth beneath the trees in the unfenced portions of the grove is grazed away, according to a new study that fingers livestock, as opposed to mule deer, as the chief culprit in the world-famous Pando’s troubling decline.
Western Watersheds Project, an advocacy group that seeks to reduce livestock grazing on public lands, conducted the study over the course of last year’s growing season using four motion-detecting trail cameras, two rigged inside Pando and two in neighboring stands of quaking aspen, Utah’s state tree.