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RESEARCH ON SUSTAINABLE RANGELAND MANAGEMENT Research Needs in the 21st Century 1. Does the indicator assess the criterion? 2. At what scales are the indicator valid? 3. How do we come up with thresholds? 4. How to we integrate the criteria? ECC versus Percent Bare Ground by Site 80 60 40 ECC 20 0 -10 Rsq = 0.7734 0 10 20 Percent Bare Ground 30 40 50 60 70 Maintenance and Enhancement of Multiple Economic and Social Benefits to Current and Future Generations Community-level indicators that might be relevant to sustainability: •Value produced by agriculture and recreation as percent of total economy. •Land tenure, land use, ownership patterns by size class •Population pyramid and population change Scale in Ecological Observations Grain = Resolving power of data. Grain determines smallest entities that can be found in data. Extent = highest level that can be accessed. If size of entity is larger than data (spatial, temporal), then associated attributes cannot be observed. FREQUENCY OF BEHAVIOR - Systems have particular characteristic frequencies. - Monitoring must accommodate frequency of a system’s scale. The larger the system, the longer the cycle time of unperturbed behavior. From top to bottom of a hierarchy, there is a continuum of natural frequencies. Research on Benefits to Management in the Field An issue of scale and interactions among indicators • • • • Fire Invasive species Drought Exurban development Thresholds • Thresholds related to Sustainability • • • • Biodiversity Biodiversity Fragmentation Invasive species • Soil cover Ecosystem resilience Productive capacity Biodiversity Biodiversity & Productive capacity Erosion Evaluating Rangeland Sustainability SRM Task Group on Unity and Concepts in Terms Rangelands 17(3):85-92 1995 • Focused on the site level; i.e. rangeland condition and trend. • Soil is the basic resource. • Sought unity in terminology and methodology. Site conservation thresholds Site Conservation rating: sustainable and unsustainable Sustainability as Expressed by Forms of Capital • Capital has investment value • Sustainability attained when combination of investments provide for future needs of society. Human capital: Resources of individuals Social capital: Resources of communities Natural capital: Resources from nature. Financial capital: Resources measured in dollars. NRI / FIA / etc. 2 Rangeland monitoring systems incorporate new protocols. 1 SRR Validates/develops indicators and measurement protocols. no Are the indicators valid and useful? yes 3 NAT’L ASSESSMENTS Monitors trends of SRR indicators.