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THE SOCIETY FOR RANGE MANAGEMENT AND SOIL HEALTH: THE MEANING OF HEALTH AND THE SRM MISSION.
Author
Shaver, Patrick
Anderson, Val
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
2016
Body

The Society For Range Management recognizes the basic role that healthy soils play in producing the goods and services managed for on rangelands throughout the world. Healthy soils are required to produce healthy plants and healthy animals on rangelands. We recognize that mismanagement or inappropriate monitoring and response can result in loss of soil that often requires evolutionary time to replace. It is a primary goal and significant part of the SRM mission to understand soil and soil process better, such that managers can be informed as to how to monitor and manage the soil resources, by managing the integral plant and animal communities associated with rangelands. By their nature, rangelands are found in areas typically not suited to intensive agriculture and where abiotic conditions can be relatively harsh. These harsh conditions require managers to adapt conventional agronomic views and practices to fit the conditions of the specific rangeland considered. As we move into a time where climate change becomes more apparent, adaptive methods of monitoring and management of soil and soil processes will be critical to maintaining healthy rangeland ecosystems and the goods and services associated with them. SRM champions the efforts made by managers and scientists working together to form the Rangeland Health initiatives and development of Ecological Site Descriptions. These are tools that have at their very core, considerations of soil health and link the abiotic and biotic systems. We look forward to future studies that can help to improve these tools and help mangers of rangeland resources achieve sustainable production in healthy, functioning ecosystems.

Language
English
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Conference Name
SRM Corpus Christi, TX
Collection
SRM Annual Meeting Abstracts