Beyond Inventories: Emergence of a New Era in Rangeland Monitoring

Authors

Matthew O. Jones, University of Montana, MissoulaFollow
David E. Naugle, University of MontanaFollow
Dirac Twidwell, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Daniel R. Uden, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
Jeremy D. Maestas, USDA, Natural Resources Conservation Service
Brady W. Allred, University of Montana - MissoulaFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2020

Citation

Rangeland Ecology & Management 73 (2020) 577–583

doi:10.1016/j.rama.2020.06.009

Comments

© 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of The Society for Range Management.This is an open access article under the CC-BY license.

Abstract

In the absence of technology-driven monitoring platforms, US rangeland policies, management practices, and outcome assessments have been primarily informed by the extrapolation of local information from national-scale rangeland inventories. A persistent monitoring gap between plot-level inventories and the scale at which rangeland assessments are conducted has required decision makers to fill data gaps with statistical extrapolations or assumptions of homogeneity and equilibrium. This gap is now being bridged with spatially comprehensive, annual, rangeland monitoring data across all western US rangelands to as- sess vegetation conditions at a resolution appropriate to inform cross-scale assessments and decisions. In this paper, 20-yr trends in plant functional type cover are presented, confirming two widespread national rangeland resource concerns: widespread increases in annual grass cover and tree cover. Rangeland vegetation monitoring is now available to inform national to regional policies and provide essential data at the scales at which decisions are made and implemented.