| New
book on rangeland monitoring and assessment soon to
be available.
This book will be a valuable reference for anyone
who manages or is interested in rangelands.
GUIDE TO RANGELAND MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT
Basic Concepts for Collecting, Interpreting and Use
of Rangeland Data for Management Planning and Decisions
Fragmented land ownership in Arizona, and most western
states, creates a problem because different land managers
use different monitoring and assessment approaches,
techniques, and terminology. This complicates coordinate
management across ownership lines because one management
unit (for example a ranch) could have up to 4 sets
of procedures in use.
In 2005 the Arizona Grazing Lands Conservation Association
(AGLCA) was formed and its’ initial goal was to develop
a set of coordinated monitoring and assessment principles
based Arizona specifically, using the latest most
reliable science. The members of AGLCA are Arizona
Cattlegrower’s Association, Arizona Section of Society
for Range Management, and the Arizona Association
of Conservation Districts (AACD). The University of
Arizona, Natural Resource Conservation Service, Forest
Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Arizona State
Land Department are affiliated members. The first
project was a paper describing principles and concepts
of measuring and interpreting utilization on rangelands,
with authors from all the participating agencies and
published by the University of Arizona.
AGLCA then began work on a guidebook on important
basic concepts and approaches to collecting and interpreting
inventory and montoring data. The book is not intended
to be a “how to” manual, since there are a number
of good references that outline the details of various
monitoring procedures. Rather, this guidebook is aimed
at building a better understanding of how to make
decisions about why monitoring is done, what to monitor,
where to monitor, and when to monitor. It also emphasizes
the value and limitations of different kinds of monitoring
data and techniques that affect the interpretation
of results for management situations, and often are
the cause of disagreement and conflict. The guidebook
emphasizes routine monitoring of rangeland for common
land management objectives. It does not specifically
address procedures for research or very narrowly oriented
studies. Most of the concepts presented are applicable
to riparian as well as upland situations.
This guidebook will be a valuable reference for anyone
who has an interest in management of rangelands, including
ranchers, small landowners, environmental groups,
range consultants, and employees of government land
management agencies. Those with range ecology training
will find an up to date review of basic concepts;
those without such training will find a valuable source
of needed information. The book is organized to allow
the reader to access the information without reading
the entire book, and is extensively cross-referenced
and documented. The authors are all range professionals
with long experience in monitoring and managing southwestern
rangelands and represent a variety of agencies and
organizations.
Authors: Dr. Lamar Smith (Uof A retired); Dr. George
Ruyle (U of A); Dr. Walt Meyer (Rancher); Judith Dyess
(Forest Service); Steve Barker (NRCS); Dan Bell (Rancher);
Doc Lane (Arizona Cattlegrower’s); Jim Maynard (Range
Consultant); Steve Cassady (NRCS); Dave Stewart (Forest
Service); Bill Coulloudon (BLM); Stephen Williams
(Az Land Dept)
The
development and publication of this book is hightly
dependent upon donations from interested stakeholders.
If you wish to donate to this effort please send checks
for non-profit tax deductible donations to:
ACIREF
Arizona Cattle Industry Research and Education Foundation
1401 24th Street, Suite 4
Phoenix, AZ 85008
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