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The uncontrolled livestock population growth and increasing pressure on rangeland have led to a decline in rangeland productivity and shrinking of previously underused grazing areas. These rotational grazing practices have become increasingly difficult as heavy grazing accelerates the degradation of seasonal rangeland. Therefore, there is a critical need to identify community-supported and ecologically advantageous strategies for the recovery of degraded rangeland in the steppe zone, which is home to over 60 percent of the national herds. Efforts must be multidisciplinary, considering heterogeneous ecological sites to better understand the state of rangeland and to experiment with grazing regimes suited to the specific steppe climate and soils. This study investigates the long-term (12 years) impacts of adjusted grazing pressure based on pre-study carrying capacity on the recovery of rangeland with varying degrees of degradation. The overall objective was to integrate grazing management practices informed by these findings into the rangeland management strategies of local herder organizations. Specific research goals included: 1. Determining how degraded rangeland could recover through grazing management tailored to its initial state and carrying capacity; 2. Understanding the interrelation of ecological site descriptions and the recovery class concept of degraded rangeland; 3. Determining the impact of grazing on the recovery of degraded rangeland in the steppe zone; 4. Assessing the effect of ecological potential on the restoration of degraded rangeland; 5. Developing a grazing model based on rangeland recovery and state change; 6. Piloting the optimal use of recovered rangeland at the herder community level.