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ARS Home Plains Area Las Cruces, New Mexico Range Management Research Docs





- Landscape Toolbox
- Long Term Agricultural Research
- EcoTrends
- Long Term Ecological Research
- Ecological Site Descriptions
- Monitoring & Assessment
- Southwest Climate Hub
- Land Potential Knowledge System
- National Ecological Observatory Network
- JournalMap
- Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring (AIM)
- Data Catalogs

Ecological Site Descriptions Workshops and Presenetations - 2005 to 2010headline bar **November 16-18, 2010**
**Rangeland Interagency ESD Pilot Workshop**
**Las Cruces, NM**Link to Rangelands website with ESD meeting information and agendas - http://www. rangelands.org/ESD/
**Tuesday - Workshop Day 1** - Target Audience:  WO Leadership, Regional and State Technical Leadership, Point-of-contact Field-Level Employees
Agency Leadership - Significance of the Workshop
NRCS - Michael Hubbs, Director of Ecological Sciences Division
USFS - James Pe?a, Associate Deputy Chief (video link)
BLM - Mike Pool, Deputy Director (video link)A Collaborative Approach: The Value, Use and Applicability of ESDs to the Agency Mission
BLM - Bill Merhege, DSD Resources, NMSO
USFS - Janette Kaiser, Director, Rangeland Management, WO
NRCS - Micheal Golden, Director, Soil Survey Division, WOAgency Implementation and Needs -
Rangeland Interagency Ecological Site Manual - policy overview (Dennis Thompson, NRCS)
Science and Technology Needs/Challenges (Pat Shaver, NRCS; Jeff Rose, BLM)
Role of ARS in Science Needs (Mark Weltz, ARS)
Correlation With/Cross-walk to Existing Data Collection Systems; Relationship to Other Land Unit Classification Systems (Jeff DiBenedetto, USFS; Sherm Karl, BLM)
Ecosystem Site Description Funding - Opportunities for Research, Education, and Extension Support (Jim Dobrowolski, USDA)What is an Ecological Site Description? Historical Development and Emerging Science (Brandon Bestelmeyer, ARS, NM)
The Science behind Ecological Sites. How can the current research and science contribute to the development of ecological sites and what are some emerging trends? The intent is to respond to morning presentations (above) by agency leaders
Hydrology (Fred Pierson, ARS, ID)
Modeling State Attributes (Mark Weltz, ARS, NV)
Vegetation Dynamics (Justin Derner, ARS, WY)
Invasive Species (Roger Sheley, ARS, OR)
Opportunities for developing an interagency hierarchical approach to defining ESD's and addressing cross-scale interactions (Dave Cleland, USFS, WO)**Wednesday - Workshop Day 2** - Target Audience:  Regional and State Technical Leadership, Point-of-contact Field-Level Employees
Principles of ES Development (broad overview of principles and approaches) - developing ESD concepts at the regional scale, grouping soil properties into functional units, developing State and Transition Models, testing, refining and correlating Ecological Sites (Brandon Bestelmeyer, ARS and Pat Shaver, NRCS)
Delivering the information - Case Examples of Success in the Field - Using Case examples........identify utility and success of ESDs
Speakers:Leticia Lister, BLM, NM; Judith Dyess, USFS, NM; Kenneth Alcon, NRCS, NM**February 2010**
**Climate Change and Potential Natural Vegetation** - at the **63rd Annual Meeting of the Society for Range Management**
**Denver, CO**Land managers, federal agencies, and international aid organizations often recognize management targets and degradation based on ecological potential, historical range of variation, or potential natural vegetation. This relationship has been codified in U.S. rangeland management via ecological site descriptions (ESDs). Climate change may dramatically alter potential natural vegetation in many rangelands. Unless ESDs can be developed to anticipate and accommodate climate change effects, they could rapidly become obsolete. On the other hand, ESDs could serve as valuable tools for understanding how climate change effects are mediated by soil-geomorphic properties and existing vegetation condition.
Climate change and potential natural vegetation - Peter Adler
Regional climate variability in the Western U.S.: What can be said about the observed variability vs. anticipated 'Climate Change' in the next century? - Klaus Wolter
Ecological forecasts from the past: applying ecological history to vegetation management in a time of environmental change - Stephen T. Jackson
Preparing for the future by looking at the past - Rick Miller
Grassland ecosystems and climate change: Insights from experiments - Alan Knapp
Climate change effects on rangeland resources: using the past to predict the future with population models - Harmony Dalgleish, Peter Adler
Climate-soil interactions: Global change, local properties, and ecological sites - Michael Duniway, Brandon Bestelmeyer
Degraded states, novel ecosystems, or reconfigured landscapes: How should we view ecosystem change in a changing world?- Brandon Bestelmeyer, Joel Brown**January 28, 2008**
**State-and-Transition Models: Triggers, Feedbacks and Thresholds**
**Louisville, KY**The 2008 Joint Meeting of the Society for Range Management and the American Forage and Grassland Council
Current Status of the State-and-Transition Framework - Tamzen Stringham, David D. Briske, Brandon T. Bestelmeyer, Pat L. Shaver
Variation in Ecological Resilience: A Fundamental Concept for Rangeland Ecology - Brandon T. Bestelmeyer, David D. Briske, Joel Brown, Kris M. Havstad, Rhonda K. Skaggs
Resilience-Based Application of State-and-Transition Models - David D. Briske, Brandon T. Bestelmeyer, Tamzen K. Stringham, Pat L. Shaver
Soils, Resilience, and State and Transition Models - Jeffrey E. Herrick, Skye Wills, Debra Peters, Arlene Tugel, Brandon Bestelmeyer
Rangeland Health Indicators: Can they provide early warning signals? - David A. Pyke
Resilience, Triggers, Feedbacks and Thresholds: A Western Juniper Model - Steven L. Petersen, Tamzen K. Stringham
Winterfat in the Catlow Valley: Ecological Resilience and State-and-Transition Modeling - Casey A. Matney
Vulnerability and Triggers in Threshold Development: Models from the Chihuahuan Desert - Brandon T. Bestelmeyer, Jeffrey E. Herrick, Caiti M. Steele
Plant Community Dynamics in the Northern Great Plains - Recognizing the Impacts of Invasive Species - Jeffrey L. Printz, Stan Boltz
Resilience and Feedbacks within A Deep Sand Savannah Ecological Site - Pat L. Shaver**August 14-16, 2007**
**Riparian Ecological Site Description Workshop**
**Albuquerque, NM**Geomorphic Stream Classification - W. Barry Southerland, Fluvial Geomorphologist, NRCS
Riparian Workshop I, Geomorphic Components of Riparian Ecosystems - W. Barry Southerland
Riparian Workshop II, Stream Classification Level II and Departure Analysis - W. Barry Southerland
Riparian Workshop III, Departure and Potential - W. Barry Southerland
Soils in the Riparian Complex, Incorporating Soil Dynamics into Ecological Site Descriptions - Kenneth F. Scheffe, NRCS
Riparian Complex and Vegetation- Tamzen Stringham, OSU
Channel Succession Riparian Plant Community Dynamics - Tamzen Stringham
Vegetation Succession and Geomorphic Thresholds - Tamzen Stringham
Ecological Sites in Riparian Areas - Bob Leinard, NRCS, Retired
Issues With Riparian Ecological Site Descriptions - Brandon Bestelmeyer, ARS Jornada Experimental RangeSelected Key Terms, Stream Geomorphology - by W. Barry Southerland, Fluvial Geomorphologist
Part 654 - Stream Restoration Design - USDA, Natural Resources Conservation Service**October 23-25, 2007**
**Understanding and Improving Applications for Wildlife Habitat Management in Sagebrush Ecosystems**
**Park City, UT**Following the workshop, there were many requests for opportunities to view the high quality presentations provided at the workshop. As a result, speaker presentations are now availbable at: http://rangelands.org/esd_presentations.shtml
We thank the speakers for their efforts at the workshop and their willingness to share their informative presentations.
Workshop organizers have also produced a "Synthesis of the Comments From the Breakout Sessions". This document can be viewed at: http://www.rangelands.org/pdf/esd_summary_recommendation.pdf**August 28-30, 2006**
**State and Transition Monitoring Workshop**
**Corvallis, OR**Threshold and State Concepts Used in ESDs: Needs and Applications - Brandon Bestelmeyer
Ecological Thresholds: Bridging Theory and Application - D.D. Briske, F.E. Smeins, F.D. Fuhlendorf
Evaluating S&T Models and ESDs - Fuhlendorf
Considerations When Applying Thresholds to Management - Jeff Herrick
NRCS Efforts in Developing and Utilizing State and Transition Models - Shaver
State and Transition Modeling History & Current Concepts - Tamzen K. Stringham**September 26-27, 2006**
**Integrating Soil Properties and Ecological Site Descriptions**
**Las Cruces, NM**Ecological Sites and Soil Survey (Part 1) - Arlene Tugel, NRCS and the NRCS Soils-ESD Advisory Group
Site Descriptions-History, Concepts and Emerging Issues - Joel Brown, NRCS-Jornada Experimental Range
A Framework for Soil and Vegetation Dynamics (Part 2) - Arlene Tugel, NRCS and the NRCS Soils-ESD Advisory GroupThis was a meeting of the Interagency Ecological Site Manual Team and included participants from Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, ARS-Jornada Experimental Range, National Park Service, and Natural Resources Conservation Service. This meeting was hosted by Agricultural Research Service-Jornada Experimental Range, Las Cruces, New Mexico.**November 15-18, 2005**
**Ecological Site Description Development Workshop**
**Jornada Experimental Range, NMSU, Las Cruces, NM**Introduction to ESD Development Workshop - Brandon Bestelmeyer
Overview, Organization, Components of ESDs - George Peacock, Dan Caudle - ESD: Contents and Data Requirements and Interagency Ecological Site Description Manual
Steps in Producing ESDs: A Perspective from Arizona - Dan Robinett
Step 1: Climate, Geomorphology, and Soil Development in Landscapes - Curtis Monger
Paleoclimate - Curtis Monger
Step 2: Integrated Map Unit Design: Defining MLRAs, LRUs/CRAs, Soil Map Units, and Ecological Site Development - Arlene Tugel - Ag Handbook 296 Land Resource Regions and Major Land Resource Areas of the US and Soil Survey and Ecological Sites: Integrated Map Unit Design and Interpretation
The Relationship of Ecological Site Descriptions to the Terrestrial Ecological Unit Inventory (TEUI) of the Forest Service - Wayne Robbie
Step 3: Vegetation Dynamics In State and Transition Models (STMs): History, Concepts and Examples - Joel Brown
Beyond Plants: Indicators and Soil Surface Properties in STMs - Arlene Tugel
Measurements, Calculations, and Database Storage and Retrieval - Laura Burkett, Brandon Bestelmeyer
Vegetation and Soil Sampling for STM Development - Brandon Bestelmeyer, Dan Robinett
Mock State-And-Transition Model Workshop: How to Probe Their Minds - George Chavez, Homer Sanchez, Brandon Bestelmeyer
Developing and Using Ecological Reference Sheets Based on Rangeland Health Indicators - Arlene Tugel, Phil Smith, Homer Sanchez
Resources and Strategies for ESD Development - Brandon Bestelmeyer


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