APPENDIX F: 

DROUGHT MANAGEMENT 

GUIDELINES 
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Jarbidge Draft RMP/EIS Appendix F 

APPENDIX F: DROUGHT MANAGEMENT GUIDELINES 

Drought is defined by the Society of Range Management as a period of time when the precipitation is less 

than 75% of normal (Holecheck, Pieper, & Herbel, 1998). However, the beginning and end of a drought 

are difficult to recognize because drought is a gradual phenomenon. Normal precipitation is based on the 

median of 30 years or more of precipitation (Thurow & Taylor Jr., 1999; Wilhite & Glantz, 1985). Droughts 

are not uncommon in the West and, based on tree ring data, can occur for intervals between five to more 

than fifty years (Gray, Jackson, & Betancourt, 2004) and cover fairly large areas (Graumlich, 1987; Gray, 

Betancourt, Fastie, & Jackson, 2003). Drought management can be implemented in the short-term (one 

year) and/or long-term (two or more years). 

Drought effects are variable and sometimes a gradual phenomenon. Making an accurate prediction of 

either its onset or end is a difficult task (Wilhite & Glantz, 1985). The April-May-June precipitation period is 

most important for determining vegetation production and making annual adjustments to stocking rates 

(Comstock & Ehleringer, 1992; Sharp, Sanders, & Rimbey, 1990); however, the October-through-March 

precipitation period is important for maintenance of vegetation communities through soil moisture 

recharge and initiation of plant growth in the early spring (Comstock & Ehleringer, 1992). Drought can 

also occur at a range of spatial scales, from local areas to an entire region; guidelines would be applied at 

the scale at which drought is occurring. Average annual precipitation varies substantially from between 

the northern and southern portions of the planning area (see the Air and Atmospheric Values: Climate 

and Meteorology section in Chapter 3); as a result, the amounts of precipitation that reflect drought would 

depend on the average for a specific location within the planning area. Therefore, applying the following 

guidelines must be done on a case-by-case basis according to the applicability to an area, vegetation 

type, and soil characteristics. 

Development of drought conditions may be difficult to predict the first year of a drought, making it difficult 

to determine if adjustments to stocking rates either before or after turnout are necessary. During drought, 

implement the following tools as appropriate to provide for retention of litter for watershed protection and 

wildlife habitat. 

 If precipitation between October and January is less than 75% of normal, send a letter to affected 

permittees to coordinate with them for potential changes to their operations if drought conditions 

persist. 

	 If drought continues through the April-May-June precipitation period, implement the following as 

appropriate. The specific measures to be implemented would depend on the length and severity of 

the drought, the area under drought, as well as vegetation and soil characteristics. 

- Monitor utilization closely and remove livestock from pastures or the allotment if allowable use 

criteria will be exceeded early. 

- Adjust stocking rate using April-May-June precipitation to match current forage production 

available for livestock (Heitschmidt, Klement, & Haferkamp, 2005) to ensure adequate residual 

ground cover for watershed protection and wildlife habitat. 

- Adjust timing and duration of grazing to reduce utilization of key native grasses and riparian 

vegetation. 

- Adjust timing and duration of grazing to reduce the opportunity for upland and riparian plants to 

be grazed repeatedly during the growing season7

. 

- Modify annual grazing schedule to graze pastures scheduled for rest following the growing 

season to shorten grazing periods and facilitate resource protection on the allotment as a whole. 

- During droughts longer than 1 year, if pastures managed as native are grazed during the growing 

season, defer grazing until after the end of the growing season the following year. 

- During the growing season, shift use to pastures managed as non-native to defer grazing of 

native pastures until after the growing season. 

7 The growing season is defined as the portion of the year during which temperature and moisture typically enable 

plant growth (Vallentine, 2001); for key species in the planning area, this period typically falls between April 1 and 

July 15. 

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Appendix F	 Jarbidge Draft RMP/EIS 

- Consistent with water rights, consider authorizing water hauling to reduce impacts to riparian 

areas and wetlands. 

- Encourage permittees to closely manage livestock watering systems (e.g., turn off troughs when 

not needed by livestock) to facilitate conservation of water within streams and springs. 

	 As the length and severity of the drought increase, livestock grazing management would be more 

constrained to reduce impacts to soil, water, upland and riparian vegetation, and fish and wildlife 

habitat; incorporate the measures outlined above as appropriate. 

	 To facilitate perennial plant recovery following drought, some of the measures outlined above may 

continue to be implemented as necessary. Pre-drought grazing levels should not be implemented too 

rapidly following a return to normal precipitation levels as drought-stressed plants require time to 

regain vigor to resist normal grazing pressure (Vallentine, 2001). 

Works Cited 

Comstock, J. P., & Ehleringer, J. R. (1992). Plant Adaptation in the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau. 

Great Basin Naturalist, 52(3), 195-215. 

Graumlich, L. J. (1987). Precipitation Variation in the Pacific Northwest (1675-1975) as Reconstructed 

from Tree Rings. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 77(1), 19-29. 

Gray, S. T., Betancourt, J. L., Fastie, C. L., & Jackson, S. T. (2003). Pattern and Sources of Multidecadal 

Oscillations in Drought-Sensitive Tree-Ring Records from the Central and Southern Rocky 

Mountains. Geophysical Research Letters, 30(6), 1316, doi:1310.1029/2002GL016154. 

Gray, S. T., Jackson, S. T., & Betancourt, J. L. (2004). Tree-Ring Based Reconstructions of Interannual to 

Decadal Scale Precipitation Variability for Northeastern Utah Since 1226 A.D. Journal of the 

American Water Resources Association, 40, 947-960. 

Heitschmidt, R. K., Klement, K. D., & Haferkamp, M. R. (2005). Interactive Effects of Drought and Grazing 

on Northern Great Plains Rangelands. Rangeland Ecology and Management, 58(1), 11-19. 

Holecheck, J. L., Pieper, R. D., & Herbel, C. H. (1998). Range Management: Principles and Practices. 

Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc. 

Sharp, L. A., Sanders, K., & Rimbey, N. (1990). Forty Years of Change in a Shadscale Stand in Idaho. 

Rangelands, 12(6), 313-328. 

Thurow, T. L., & Taylor Jr., C. A. (1999). The Role of Drought in Range Management. Journal of Range 

Management, 52(5), 413-419. 

Vallentine, J. F. (2001). Grazing Management (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Academic Press. 

Wilhite, D. A., & Glantz, M. H. (1985). Understanding the Drought Phenomenon: The Role of Definitions. 

Water International, 10(3), 111-120. 

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