Abstract
In the modern era cattle ranching in Nicaragua has become a principle economic activity for a number of reasons, with the result that as much as 30% of the country´s forested lands have been converted to pasture for grazing. The deforestation attendant with modern cattle ranching in Nicaragua has caused soil erosion and perceived land degradation. This paper provides a long-term perspective on the evolution of land management by investigating the thresholds of change associated with the practices of cattle ranching from an historical ecology perspective. An historical ecology approach has particular salience when applied to land-management history since collective decisions to transform local practices and livelihoods are influenced by a number of political, economic, and cultural factors that transcend geographical boundaries and spans of time.