Estimating Effects of Targeted Conservation on Nonfederal Rangelands

Abstract

Estimating the effects of conservation practices on rangelands is extremely challenging, compared with cropland, because rangelands consist of a mosaic of plant species with highly diverse land- scapes of mixed land ownership and management objectives. The checkerboard pattern of land ownership on rangelands in the West, a legacy of 19th century government homestead and railway construction policies, makes conducting assess- ments and estimating effects of conservation at landscape or watershed scale a challenging endeavor. This is complicated by the interaction of climate, topography, plants, soil parent material, and land management that interact to yield a mo- saic of plant communities over time. Rangeland communities are further in uenced by episodic disturbances, such as in- sect outbreaks, re, drought, and ood.1 The most-developed quantitative indicators of conservation effects currently on rangelands are 1) modeled soil erosion, and 2) the number and types of invasive plant species. These indicators can be used to infer impacts on water availability and quality, wild- life habitat quality or suitability for target wildlife species, forage availability for domestic livestock and/or wildlife, and vulnerability to wild re, which will directly in uence sustain- ability of the plant community. 

DOI: 10.2458/azu_rangelands_v34i4_weltz