Rangeland landscapes are a complex mosaic of geology, topography, soils, plants, and climate. Ecological understanding and land management is facilitated by forming homogeneous recognizable groups such as the ecological site. Ecological site concepts are based on stands of native plants with similar climate, soils, and hydrology requirements that occur in a relatively repeated fashion across a landscape. Ecological site development requires a variety of organizational and analysis skills in order to provide a science based approach. A variety of data sources and analysis tools exist for ESD development: 1) historical and current field data; 2) National Resource Inventory (NRI) data (2013-15); 3) Rangeland Health model and matrix concepts; 4) use of Rangeland Hydrology and Erosion Model (RHEM) for exploring hydrology and erosion dynamics and risks; and multivariate software (PCORD) to investigate data patterns and correlations to develop and validate S&T dynamics.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.