One of the most striking land cover changes on rangelands worldwide over the past 150 years has been the proliferation of trees and shrubs at the expense of perennial grasses. Woody plant encroachment represents a threat to grassland, shrub-steppe and savanna ecosystems and the plants and animals native to them. Efforts to counteract the threats of woody plant encroachment fall into the broad category of brush management. Brush management, defined by the Natural Resource Conservation Service as the removal, reduction or manipulation of non-herbaceous plants, has been an integral component of range management since its formal emergence in the 1940s. Our goal in this chapter is to provide a contemporary, critical evaluation of ‘brush management’as a conservation tool. In many instances the specific response to practices applied and approaches followed to manage a particular woody plant species are unknown. Thus, many of the perceived benefits of brush management are oversimplified, but it is a critical conservation tool to maintaining grassland, steppe and savanna ecosystems and the biodiversity and services they provide.

Technical Abstract: One of the most striking land cover changes on rangelands worldwide over the past 150 years has been the proliferation of trees and shrubs at the expense of perennial grasses. Woody plant encroachment represents a threat to grassland, shrub-steppe and savanna ecosystems and the plants and animals native to them. Efforts to counteract the threats of woody plant encroachment fall into the broad category of brush management. Brush management, defined by the Natural Resource Conservation Service as the removal, reduction or manipulation of non-herbaceous plants, has been an integral component of range management since its formal emergence in the 1940s. Our goal in this chapter is to provide a contemporary, critical evaluation of ‘brush management’as a conservation tool. In many instances the specific response to practices applied and approaches followed to manage a particular woody plant species are unknown. Thus, many of the perceived benefits of brush management are oversimplified, but it is a critical conservation tool to maintaining grassland, steppe and savanna ecosystems and the biodiversity and services they provide.