Heterogeneity is increasingly recognized as a driving force in the creation and maintenance of biodiversity.  Novel range management practices such as patch burn grazing show promise as both a means of conserving rangeland biodiversity and maintaining viable livestock productivity in the Great Plains.  We are studying the application of patch burn grazing to sand sage prairie in western Oklahoma.  These rangelands are characterized by distinct areas of contrasting soil texture and vegetation composition and structure.  We measured vegetation structural components in sand sage prairie and used ordination techniques to identify the unique contributions of soil patchiness and patch burn grazing to the total amount of variation.  The application of patch burn grazing imposes an additional level of heterogeneity upon the inherent level of heterogeneity resulting from soil patchiness.  The heterogeneity generated by patch burn grazing likely differs substantially from that imposed by soil patchiness in its spatial and temporal transience, its effects on higher trophic levels, and by the ability of managers to readily manipulate it.