Sometimes, however, a rancher may be interested in monitoring a unique spot because of its exceptional resource value or unusual susceptibility to damage. Such sites are called critical areas . It is important to know whether a monitoring site is a key area vs. a critical area when interpreting the monitoring information. Changes to key areas indicate that similar changes likely have occurred on the larger area represented by the key area. In contrast, changes to a critical area cannot be extrapolated to other sites.
Most ranchers have a keen eye for judging the condition of their livestock.
Range health checklists help ranchers complete similar appraisals of their rangeland. A list of useful indicators for assessing range health is given in Table 1. Completing these checklists for a site once every few years can provide insight into long-term changes in range health. One drawback to using checklists is that the questions need to be answered relative to each site ' s ecological potential. Inexperienced observers often overestimate the potential productivity of rangelands and, consequently, underestimate range health.