Rangeland Ecology & Management

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USING MULTIPLE LINES OF EVIDENCE TO INFORM GRAZING MANAGEMENT
Author
Mellon, Cassie
Miller, Scott W.
Jimenez, Justin
Jones, Robin
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
2018
Body

The Salt Lake Field Office of the BLM is working to change grazing management on multiple allotments in Rich County, Utah. The area provides habitat for sensitive species including Bonneville cutthroat trout and greater sage-grouse. To conduct a Rangeland Health Assessment in support of a grazing use authorization, we gathered all available data. We included field data collected over a 7-year period at a mix of random and targeted locations on streams within the allotments. From these data, we derived several indicators of instream and riparian habitat condition. The resulting assessment was based on data from eight sites. An interdisciplinary team made the overall determination of aquatic conditions. We analyzed the data in relation to benchmarks established for the grazing permit, ecoregion, or to meet habitat needs for Bonneville cutthroat trout. This benchmark assessment was done for multiple indicators, focusing on those that were most likely to be influenced by livestock or important to sensitive species. For example, excess fine sediment within the stream channel is known to have a negative impact on Bonneville cutthroat trout populations. Thus, we included percent fine sediment as an indicator in this assessment. We determined that percent fine sediment levels less than 23% were considered to be in good condition, 23-37% in moderate, and greater than 37% was considered degraded. For this indicator, good conditions were only found within exclosures and a mix of moderate to poor conditions were observed outside exclosures.� Overall site condition determinations were then extrapolated to all stream miles in the larger project area and the overall condition determinations were used to support the grazing use authorization. This is an example of how using quantitative data to make condition determinations will result in more defensible assessments, management decisions, and evaluations of aquatic ecosystem health.

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