Chapter 6 - Agriculture

Chapter 6 – Agriculture
At the western tip of the Mojave desert is the Antelope Valley
Agriculture


Antelope Valley in spring covered by a carpet of goldfields Lasthenia californica.

Parts of the Mojave Desert are conducive to farming. These are located primarily toward the western end. With a history of grazing farmers developed alfalfa and then later, fruit trees. Farming competes with the ever expanding housing market for land.
.leyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antelope_Valley
Growing seasons depend heavily on water. Rainfall varies from 3-10 in so the growing season is from 200-300 days.
Land Use. Composition and successional sequence of some communities has changed because of plant and animal species introduced between the late 1800's and early 1900's related to mining and grazing. Since the early 1900's, significant effects on some plant
Some grazing and browsing has occurred by native mammalian herbivores in the arid southwestern United States during the past 10,000 years (Jefferson 1989), but most recent herbivory by large mammals in the Mojave Desert has been by domestic sheep and cattle.
Domestic grazing by sheep and cattle has occurred on public lands in the Mojave Desert since the late 1500’s, with stocking densities peaking at the turn of the 20th century (Hess 1992; BLM 1994). In addition to defoliation of vegetation, grazing by domestic livestock may have other effects of desert ecosystems. Grazing may change soil surfaces physically and chemically, and can change the form and structural complexity of vegetation (Rowlands et al. 1980; Marrs et al. 1989). These changes in turn can potentially affect species diversity of native animals and plants (Waser and Price 1981).
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/mojave-symposium/abstracts.html
http://www.americansouthwest.net/california/mojave/national_preserve.html