Rangeland management

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Range Management graduate research assistant recording line point intercept data on southern New Mexican rangeland.

Rangeland management (also range management, range science, or arid-land management) is a

goods and services for society on a sustained basis".[2]

History

The earliest form of Rangeland Management is not formally deemed part of the natural science studied today, although its roots can be traced to

neolithic agricultural revolution when humans domesticated plants and animals under pressures from population growth and environmental change.[3] Humans might even have altered the environment in times preceding the Neolithic through hunting of large-game, whereby large losses of grazing herbivores could have resulted in altered ecological states; meaning humans have been inadvertently managing land throughout prehistory.[4][5]

Rangeland management was developed in the United States in response to rangeland deterioration and in some cases,

Tragedy of the Commons".[6][7][8] Historically, the discipline focused on the manipulation of grazing and the proper use of rangeland vegetation for livestock.[9]

Modern application

Rangeland Water Development May 1954 (9824825465) We uncovered these photos from the early days of the BLM's Burns District. Located in eastern Oregon, the Burns District manages over three million acres of public lands starting at the Oregon-Nevada border and heading up to the Blue Mountains. Some highlights include Steens Moutain, the Donner and Blitzen National Wild and Scenic River, and the Diamond Craters Outstanding Natural Area. In total, Burns features 23 Wilderness Study Areas which protect the natural values of over one million acres
Burns District, Oregon, rangeland water infrastructure development: May, 1954.

Global

Range management's focus has been expanded to include the host of

manipulation of grazing activities of large herbivores to maintain or improve animal and plant production.[10] With increasing levels of rangeland degradation, for example as evident through woody plant encroachment, active rehabilitation efforts become part of rangeland management.[11]

Pastoralism has become a contemporary anthropological and ecological study as it faces many threats including fragmentation of land, conversion of rangeland into urban development, lack of grazing movement, impending threats on global diversity, damage to species with large terrain, decreases in shared public goods, decreased biological movements, threats of a "tragedy of enclosures", limitation of key resources, reduced biomass and invasive plant species growth.[12] Interest in contemporary pastoralist cultures like the Maasai has continued to increase, especially because the traditional syncreticly-adaptive ability of pastoralists could promise lessons in collaborative and adaptive management for contemporary pastoralist societies threatened by globalization as well as for contemporary non-pastoralist societies that are managing livestock on rangelands.[13][14]

Maasai man herding cattle

United States of America

The United States Society for Range Management is "the professional society dedicated to supporting persons who work with rangelands and have a commitment to their sustainable use".[15] The primary Rangeland Management publications include the Journal of Range Management, Rangelands, and Rangeland Ecology & Management.[16]

As

ecosystem functioning and the sustainable production of ecosystem services. In an open letter to the White House in 2017, the president of the SRM offered President Trump the society's support in seeking management strategies to mitigate climate-induced phenomenon like drought and forest fires,[23] a subject which was brought to the national debate stage and which has received significant push-back by Trump and his administration.[24] Likewise in 2021 the SRM and several other institutions sent an open letter to President Biden urging for more research and development funding to be provisioned toward agricultural and food systems research, especially as climate change threatened national security of agricultural resources.[25]

Australia

The Australian Rangeland Society is the peak group of rangeland professionals in Australia. It is an independent and non-aligned association of people interested in the management and sustainable use of rangelands.[26] Rangeland Management publications from the Society include The Rangeland Journal [27] and the Range Management Newsletter.[28]

Grazing cattle, Oxley Creek Common, Rocklea, Queensland, Australia


Education and employment

Bouteloua gracilis illustration on the cover of a rangeland monitoring guide book developed by the Bureau of Land Management[29]

In the United States, the study of range science is commonly offered at

. These courses are essential to entering a range science profession.

Students with degrees in range science are eligible for a host of technician-type careers working for the federal government under the

US Department of Agriculture and other state run departments.[31]

See also

References

  1. ^ Society for range Management. Society for Range Management, 2016. Web. 22 Apr. 2016.
  2. ^ Holechek, Jerry L., Rex D. Pieper, and Carlton H. Herbel. Range Management: Principles and Practices (6th Edition). 6th ed. N.p.: Pearson, 2011. 5. Print.
  3. ^ Vasey, Daniel A. (1992). An Ecological History of Agriculture 10,000 B.C.-A.D. 10,000. Ames, Iowa: Iowa State University Press. p. 23.
  4. ^ Stephen Wroe , Judith Field , Richard Fullagar , Lars S. Jermin. "Megafaunal extinction in the late Quaternary and the global overkill hypothesis." Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology. Vol. 28, Iss. 1, (2004).
  5. ^ Mazoyer, Marcel, and Laurence Roudart. A History of World Agriculture: From the Neolithic Age to the Current Crisis. New York: Monthly review Press, 2006. Print.
  6. ^ Morris, Melvin S. "History of Range Management Education." Rangelands 3.3 (1981): 119-20. Print.
  7. ^ Talbot, M W., and F P. Cronemiller. "Some of the Beginnings of Range Management." Journal of Range Management 14.2 (1961): 95-102. Print
  8. ^ Nathan F. Sayre, William deBuys, Brandon T. Bestelmeyer, and Kris M. Havstad. "'The Range Problem' After a Century of Rangeland Science: New Research Themes for Altered Landscapes." Rangeland Ecol Manage 545-552: 65 (2012)
  9. ^ Parker, Kenneth W., W R. Chapline, Lloyd W. Swift, George W. Craddock, and Donald R. Cornelius. "Arthur W. Sampson- Pioneer Range Scientist." Journal of Range Management 20.6 (1967): 245-351. Print.
  10. ^ J. E. Herrick, J.R. Brown, B.T. Bestelmeyer, S.S. Andrews, G. Baldi, J. Davies, M. Duniway, K.M. Havstad, J.W. Karl, D.L. Karlen, D.P.C. Peters, J.N. Quinton, C. Riginos, P.L. Shaver, D. Stainaker, S. Twomlow. "Revolutionary Land Use Change in the 21st Century: Is (Rangeland) Science Relevant? Rangeland Ecol Manage 590-598: 65 (2012).
  11. ^ Archer, S.R., Davies, K.W., Fulbright, T.E., Mcdaniel, K.C., Wilcox, B.P., Predick, K.I. 2011. Brush management as a rangeland conservation strategy: A critical evaluation. In: Briske,D.D., editor. Conservation benefits of rangeland practices: Assessment, recommendations, and knowledge gaps. Washington, DC:USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. p. 105-170.
  12. ^ Reid, Robin S.; Fernández-Giménes, María E.; Galvin, Kathleen A. "Dynamics and Resilience of Rangelands and Pastoral Peoples Around the Globe." Annu. Rev. Environ. Resource. 39:217-249 (2014).
  13. ^ Reid, Robin S.; Fernández-Giménes, María E.; Galvin, Kathleen A. "Dynamics and Resilience of Rangelands and Pastoral Peoples Around the Globe." Annu. Rev. Environ. Resource. 39:217-249 (2014).
  14. ^ Briske, D.D.; Sayre, Nathan F.; Huntsoinger; Fernandez-Gimenez, M.; Budd, B.; Derner, J.D. "Origin, Persistence, and Resolution of the Rotational Grazing Debate: Integrating Human Dimensions Into Rangeland research." Rangeland Ecol Manage. 64(4): 325-334 (2011).
  15. ^ "Society for Range Management". www.rangelands.org. Retrieved June 17, 2016.
  16. ^ "Publications". www.rangelands.org. Retrieved June 17, 2016.
  17. S2CID 55826305
    .
  18. ^ "SRM Climate Change Position Statement" (PDF).
  19. JSTOR 3505834
    .
  20. .
  21. .
  22. .
  23. ^ "SRM 2017 Priorities Letter to President Trump" (PDF).
  24. ^ Aton, Adam (September 30, 2020). "'Try to be serious.' Climate policy gets rare notice in chaotic presidential debate". E&E News. Retrieved October 1, 2020 – via Science.
  25. ^ "Ag-Research-Letter-to-Congressional-Leadership" (PDF). Society for Range Management. June 8, 2021.
  26. ^ "About Us". Australian Rangeland Society. Retrieved February 23, 2022.
  27. ^ "The Rangeland Journal". Australian Rangeland Society. Retrieved February 23, 2022.
  28. ^ "Range Management Newsletter". Australian Rangeland Society. Retrieved February 23, 2022.
  29. ^ Rangeland monitoring: actual use studies. Denver, CO: U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Denver Service Center. 1984.
  30. ^ Society for Range Management. Society for Range Management Universities and Colleges, 2016. Web. 22 Apr. 2016.
  31. ^ Society for Range Management. Society for Range Management Jobs and Employment, 2016. Web. 22 Apr. 2016.