TheImprovement ofTropical and Subtropical Rangelands

Case Study 10
Wildlife Land Use at the Athi River, Kenya
BY DAVID HOPCRAFT
BACKGROUND
The rel!Jearch described in this cue Itudy, which began in 1965,
was initiated in order to understand and prevent the Ipread ofdesertification
in Kenya. In earlier research, the author had compared the
remaining productive lands with the deteriorated lands within similar
regions, concluding that deterioration and destruction followed
substitution of domestic Itock for indigenoUi animals, which were
often killed to reduce competition for forage with cattle.
If this theory were correct, would it then be p08lible to reverse
the destructive process by returning to the use of native animals?
Would IUch a land-use IYltem protect and restore the rangeland resource?
Could native speciel be harvested for meat and hides, like
cattle? Could ranching of native Ipecies be u economically productive
as cattle ranching, but without the negative environmental
effects? Could coneervation of native species be enhanced through
production?
At this point, the National Science Foundation (NSF) wu approached
for research funds to test the hypothesis that utilization
of a natural system with native animals would be nondestructive,
yet productive in comparison with usage of imported stock. An experiment
was designed to compare cattle with a native species, to
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