Rethinking grassland management in the Great Plains during the era of woody plant encroachment

Abstract Woody encroachment threatens grassland ecosystems worldwide. Recovery options often aim for a return to an idealized, grassy state that is more vulnerable to future climate regimes and can no longer be maintained using historic management techniques. We argue for a fundamental rethinking of how to manage woody plant encroachment in the North American Great Plains that moves away from binary options (e.g., encroached versus pristine). This approach acknowledges that some grassland landscapes will contain mosaics of woody cover that, if managed effectively, can provide beneficial ecosystem services. The resist–accept–direct framework is one option to guide management efforts to maintain grasslands with high resilience and direct changes to avoid mono-specific communities and move toward heterogeneous communities of herbaceous and woody species. Shifting baseline conditions (e.g., climate and disturbances) and complex social views on grassland services render historic management options incomplete, requiring new perspectives and frameworks for grassland conservation.