Modern forms of intensive grazing can be damaging to environmental health due to overstocking and overuse of static plots of land, but a growing body of research suggests the loss of practices like transhumance could have a similarly detrimental effect. Moving herds through seasonal ranges helps clear up dry vegetation without pushing pastures into an overgrazed state. The pathways carved by transhumant herds over create a system of natural firebreaks that make isolated spot fires less likely to explode into a full-blown inferno.