# Presentation: 261753

## Transitions in Rangeland Evaluations

- David A. Pyke & Jeffrey E. Herrick

**Jornada Experimental**
**Range**

**Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center**

## Rangeland Evaluations:

- Age of Discovery - 1800’s to 1930
- Rangeland Uses & Abuses
- Observations
- Age of Inventory - 1930’s to 1970’s
- Described Vegetation, Production, Soils
- Taylor Grazing Act - Adjustments of AUM’s
- Age of Planning & Management - 1970’s to 1990’s
- Condition & Trend
- Broader Objectives
- Age of Sustainability - 2000 to ????

## 1905

**1905**

## Age of DiscoveryWhat is the West? How can we use it?

- Age of DiscoveryWhat is the West? How can we use it?

- Settlers expected consistent moisture
- Powell warned of the harsh environment
- Livestock successful use
- Livestock overuse observed by federal officials

- Powell

- Pinchot

## Succession & Indicators

- Clements & Sampson
- Plant communities change with grazing
- Grazing sensitive or preferred species are reduced
- Grazing tolerant and non-preferred increase
- Basis of Clements 1920 book on indicators

## Grazing Indicators

- Observations from -
- Smith, Bentley, Griffiths, Sampson, Jardine, Wooton & Sarvis
- Certain species within communities are indicators of grazing abuse.

## 1959

**1959**

## Age of Inventory

- Dust Bowl leads to Taylor Grazing Act
- Required inventories of the amount of forage available for livestock
- Stoddart introduces rangeland condition classes
- Dyksterhuis relates Clementsian succession to condition classes
- Rangeland Classification
- Dyksterhuis
- Proposes range site concept
- Daubenmire
- Habitat types

## Monitoring Techniques Begin

- BLM
- Deming 2-phase
- Combination qualitative and quantitative (plot)data
- USFS
- Parker 3-step
- 100 points on transect with loop frequency/cover

- K. W. Parker

## Monitoring Focus

- Vegetation tends to dominate over soils
- SCS still maintains soil-vegetation emphasis
- Forage plants & undesirable plants are indicators of rangeland status
- Upland communities are the focus
- Lands around water sources tend to be sacrificed
- Wildlife habitat needs are secondary to livestock needs

## 1978

**1978**

## Heady 1975

- Rangeland Mgmt.

- Stoddart, Smith & Box. 1975.
- Range Management

## Congressional Directions

- Forest & Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974
- USFS Habitat types were mapped
- Federal Land Policy & Management Act of 1976
- BLM Soil Vegetation Inventory Method (SVIM)
- Soil & Water Resources Conservation Act of 1977
- National Resources Inventory (NRI)

## Inventory  Condition & Trend

- Inventory  Condition & Trend

- All agencies used some form of Dyksterhuis’ Condition Ratings
- Monitored trend using various techniques
- Biomass or cover
- Theory behind cond. & trend was still Clementsian succession

## Utilization becomes Important

- Measure of the percent production consumed
- Direct via biomass
- Indirect via height:weight
- Done on a species-basis
- Difficult to determine utilization of pastures
- Estimated by ocular estimate maps

## Key Species

- Utilization by species lead to key species being monitored.
- Selected up to four species
- Utilization consistent over season
- Sufficient abundance and palatability for livestock
- Should make up the majority of forage

## Weakness of Key Species Concept

- Less abundant, highly palatable species are sacrificed
- Rangelands recovering from excessive livestock grazing in the early 1900’s :
- Former dominant, but palatable species would be rare
- Some dominant or co-dominant palatable species might have been sacrificed.
- Possible example - Basin Wildrye

## Introduction of New Ecological Concepts

- Introduction of New Ecological Concepts

- Biological Diversity
- Species richness, evenness
- Diversity among communities
- Non-equilibrium ecosystem dynamics
- State & transition successional models
- Thresholds of community change
- Riparian and wetland communities as integral parts of rangelands
- Ecosystem processes
- Nutrient & water cycles, energy flow

## Influential Documents in Changing Rangeland Evaluations

## 2004

**2004**

## Age of Sustainability???

- West 2003 - Risk Assessment, Sustainability, Desertification
- Evaluations not focused on single use
- Evaluations strive to incorporate multiple scales
- Upland & Riparian ecosystems often given equal weight in evaluations

## Upland Evaluations & Community Dynamics

- Threshold

- Reference State

- Shrub - Annual
- Grass State

- Annual Grass
- State

## Evaluations of Ecosystem Processes

- Interpreting Indicators of Rangeland Health
- 3 Attributes (Site Stability, Hydrologic Function, Biotic Integrity; 17 indicators with some overlapping
- Qualitative with Quantitative methods proposed & being tested
- Landscape & Ecosystem Analysis (Tongway et al)
- 3 indices (Stability, Infiltration, Nutrient cycling); Multiple indicators)
- Quantitative methods published

- Soil/Site
- Stability

- Hydrologic
- Function

- Biotic
- Integrity

## Riparian, Wetland & Aquatic

- Water quality measures
- Stream Geomorphic Classifications
- Stream Cross sections
- Veg. Classification based on soil and water table depth.
- Greenline techniques
- Proper functioning condition
- Wetland & stream invertebrates

- Bear Cr. 1977 Season long use

- Bear Cr. 1987 Winter use

## National/Regional Assessments

- Sustainable Rangeland Roundtable
- 5 criteria; measured indicators/criteria
- Ecological, Social & Economic
- Heinz Center
- 10 national & 14 grassland & shrubland indicators
- Many indicators not populated
- NRI
- Rangeland NRI begun in 2003
- Non-federal lands

- National Resources Inventory

- Sustainable
- Rangelands
- Roundtable

## Remote Sensing & GIS

- Combine soil, climate and current vegetation
- Large areas
- Allows for use of predictive models
- Invasion risk
- Erosion potential
- Useful for wildlife habitat assessments
- Multiple scales

- Wisdom et al. 2003

## Landscapes:Patterns, Processes, Resistance & Resilience

- Landscapes:Patterns, Processes, Resistance & Resilience

- Linkages across multiple scales
- Fragmentation monitoring
- Prediction  early ID of threats and drivers
- Interactions among multiple threats

## Future Evaluations: Carbon?

- Carbon Credits on Rangelands
- What could be included
- How to measure?
- International politics may dictate the need

## Slide 29