Rangeland Ecology & Management

Get reliable science

PURSUIT OF INTEGRATED LENTIC RIPARIAN MANAGEMENT FOR SAGE-GROUSE, LIVESTOCK, AND WILD HORSES
Author
Swanson, Sherman R.
McCue, Sabrina M.
McBee, Sara
Tsocanos, Sebastian
Burdick, Jacob M.
Duncan, Charlene
Schultz, Brad
McAdoo, Kent J.
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
2018
Body

We have learned to apply state and transition concepts to prioritize objectives for rangeland management. In riparian areas, integrated riparian management begins with riparian proper functioning condition assessment to locate functional at risk conditions. Important resource values such as sage-grouse late-brood-rearing habitat aid in prioritizing objectives. To apply management of mixed use by wild horses and permitted cattle, managers must work together to understand the questions: Are lentic riparian areas at risk of losing riparian functions needed to sustain forage for horses, cattle, and sage-grouse? If so, what is it about current conditions and management that puts specific areas and riparian functions at risk? Is managed grazing useful for stimulating optimum forb diversity, abundance, and phenology for sage-grouse chicks? Are grazing issues best understood through intensity, duration, or season of use? Are duration and season of recovery periods useful riparian management tools for wild and free-roaming horses? If we are to sustain lentic riparian areas for forage and habitat using adaptive management, how should they be efficiently monitored? To address these questions we assessed riparian functional conditions and adapted draft Bureau of Land Management lentic monitoring and Habitat Assessment Framework (HAF) methods to study lentic areas in priority sage-grouse habitat and herd management areas in many different allotments.� Methods emphasized the greenline (thalweg) where water flow and erosion issues are most likely. We hypothesize that allotments and herd management areas where large animal use periods in lentic riparian areas are short and varied in season, or where the amount of riparian use is only moderate will have less risk and better sage-grouse habitat.

Language
English
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Conference Name
SRM Reno, NV