Get reliable rangeland science

I have been using the Vegetation GIS Data System (VGS) in my role as a University of Arizona rangeland extension specialist/research scientist for eight years. We use VGS to collect annual rangeland monitoring data on the V Bar V Ranch Agricultural Experiment Station, which operates on a US Forest Service allotment, as well as in monitoring efforts on several other public land ranches in northern Arizona. These collaborative efforts provide many hands-on extension education opportunities. For instance, the ability to save data and view a report in the field immediately upon completion of reading a key area facilitates onsite discussion of results with participants. For sites read in the past, comparisons to previous data are readily obtained. These features provide for informed discussions concerning management, cause and effect, and future planning. Such discussions with producers or land managers typically occur days if not months after observations are collected and while still useful, are not as effective as those occurring in "real-time". Additionally, we have collected research data on projects ranging from an evaluation of the effects of grazing on soil carbon and nitrogen in two climate/vegetation types to comparing different data collection techniques to inform landscape scale biophysical plant growth models. Early extension efforts using VGS largely centered on the latter research project listed and involved approximately 200 local high school students over a three year period. These students were attracted to the technology of ruggedized tablet computers, easily learned how to use VGS, and stayed engaged in the data collection process. Students also seemed to learn and remember plants more quickly than when we were only working on plant identification, or when we collected data with pen and paper on a clipboard. VGS has proven to be an effective teaching tool for a variety of learners and applications.