The Rio Puerco Watershed (RPW) is a highly dynamic and diverse ecological system that has a long history of anthropogenic alterations. Located at the southeast edge of the Colorado Plateau, the regional environmental conditions that drive the development of plant and animal communities in this watershed are highly variable in space and time. Flood and fire regimes have been altered by human activity, and prolonged periods of drought have intensified the transformation of the landscape. The RPW is currently recognized as the main source of suspended sediment in the Rio Grande after the confluence of the two river systems. Management within the RPW has focused on multiple uses, namely grazing and wildlife habitat, with brush encroachment and erosion as their primary ecological concerns. Prescribed grazing and brush management conservation practices are used on private and public lands throughout this watershed to improve their condition. Although, many changes in the plant and soil community have been noted visually and anecdotally, limited monitoring of these conservation practices have left a number of questions regarding treatment outcomes. The objectives of this project are to assess the effects of prescribed grazing and brush management conservation practices on plant and soil communities, wildlife habitat, hydrologic processes, and erosion in the RPW, and to provide a foundation for future range management decisions. Plant and soil community dynamics are being monitored using standard USDA methods, and runoff-monitoring plots including local weather observations are being established within the treatment areas. The methodological approach and preliminary data on existing plant community composition and structure will be presented as this project is in its initial phases. If conservation practices on rangelands within the RPW can decrease potential runoff and sediment load, the improvement of the ecological and hydrological stability would provide valuable water resources across the region.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.