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The U.S. Department of AgricultureNatural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS) has used resource inventories for over 65 years to assess the Nation’s natural resources on nonfederal lands. Rangeland National Resources Inventory (NRI) activities in NRCS have provided scientifically credible information about status, conditions, and trends on nonfederal rangelands. The inventory process has evolved in the last two decades from qualitative in the early 80s to more quantitative field methods in the 90s. Since 1995, cooperation between government agencies has resulted in new protocols for rangeland field inventory techniques giving the Nation a quantitative foundation for assessing rangeland conditions. The new proposed NRI protocols are designed to detect long-term—years to decades—changes in the condition on rangeland ecosystems, and monitor shortterm impacts, which may be of immediate concern.The new rangeland NRI protocols will provide field-based benchmarks for primary sample units and fulfill NRCS-NRI objectives (see sidebar, page 20A). An interagency group—the USDANRCS, USDA-Agricultural Research Service (ARS),U.S.Department of Interior (USDI)-Bureau of Land Management (BLM), USDI-U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and the USDA-Forest Service (USFS)—worked together to develop a list of data elements that could be used for national level inventories. Through pilot studies and inventories the group originated a new NRI design for rangelands.