RANGELAND INVENTORY & MONITORING

Rangeland Management is:• The use and stewardship of rangeland resources to meet goals and desires of humans.

• You cannot make good management decisions if you do not know the effect of past management actions.

CURRENT FUTURE

Information for Management

• Inventory = record of resources at one point in time:• Land area & pasture sizes• Roads & trails• Water• Vegetation types• Corrals, buildings, fences• ?• ?

Information for Management

• Maps for management = resources referenced geospatially:• Vegetation map• Range map• Watershed map• Land ownership

Information for Management• Assessment = evaluation of condition at one point in time:• Riparian Proper Functioning Condition• Rangeland Health• Ecosystem Integrity

• Usually involve protocols based on “qualitative” attributes (rather than “quantitative” measures).

Monitoring• The word "monitor" is rooted in a term meaning "to warn." • Enable managers to take appropriate actions and change course if needed.

MonitoringAfter a wildfire, a land manager of this sagebrush steppe area in Southern Idaho may implement a monitoring program to determine if and when the burned area recovers to a plant community similar to an unburned area. 

Monitoring

A rancher may implement a monitoring protocol to determine if a new grazing system is affecting establishment of sedges or willows along a stream, improving the stability of stream banks. 

Monitoring

A leafy spurge patch such as this could be monitored to determine if the weed management plans are effective. 

Monitoring: The Main Steps• Complete inventory – know resources available• Develop objectives• Design and implement management• Design the monitoring methodology• Evaluate management actions

One Example of a Planning Model

Main Steps in Rangeland

Management

What do you

have?

How will you get

there?

What do you want to

have?

Just

do it!

How is it

going?

What needs t

o

change?

Inventory

Set Goals

PlanImplement

Evaluate

Revise

Monitoring: The Main Steps• What do I need to know to make good management decisions?• What/how can I realistically monitor?

Set SMART Objectives

SMART Objectives:

• Specific – Objectives should specifically state what you want to achieve on the land you are managing.

• Measurable – It must be possible to measure whether you are meeting the objectives or not.

• Achievable - Are the objectives you set achievable in your current setting? Consider environmental constraints, societal expectations, economic parameters, legal requirements, and technological limitations.

• Realistic – Set objectives that you can realistically achieve given the natural and management context of your situation.

• Time – Set a time horizon for management objectives.

SMART Objectives:

To set SMART objectives, you must know:

What you are capable of: Skills Abilities Knowledge

What affects your resources: Ecological site Climate Current condition

What resources you have: Land Human capital Economic

Examine Trend

Trend = upward or downward based on conditions measured at least 2 points in time:• Used to evaluate management actions• Measures change over time• Best if done frequently

Apparent Trend = attributes measured at one time point in time to infer trend.• Often misleading

Trend vs. Current Status

Time

Eco

logic

al Sta

tus

Factors influencing trend

• Weather• Grazing/Browsing• Insects• Recreation• Fire• Trampling• Rodents

All of these can be beneficial or detrimental,

depending on circumstances.

FORTY YEARS OF CHANGE IN A SHADSCALE STAND IN IDAHOLee A. Sharp, Ken Sanders & Neil Rimbey

Access full text article at. http://digitalcommons.library.arizona.edu/objectviewer?o=http://rangelands.library.arizona.edu/Volume12/Number6/azu_rangelands_v12_n6_313_328_m.pdf

The following rangeland photo journal charts the changes that have occurred in a shadscale (Atriplex confertifolia) stand in southern Idaho starting in 1951.

Photos of the site have been taken annually since 1955, but the selected photos show the dynamic nature of the site.

Background of Photos

L.A. Sharp Experimental Area –Malta Idaho

1951

1955

1958

1959

1960

1961

1963

1964

Scale Insect

2005 8.0 15.4

Interpretation of data• Determine if management objectives have been achieved.• if not, why?

• Determine if management objectives need redefining.• are they realistic?• have your goals changed?

• Determine needed management action.

“Pictures are worth a thousand words”• But only if you know the true story of what happened over time.• Photos are used by critics, but they seldom make the correct interpretation.• The permittee is the person most likely to know the true story.