In 2016, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Fish and Wildlife Service, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Agricultural Research Service (ARS) proposed a pilot study, in cooperation with a BLM grazing permittee on the Lakeview District in Oregon, to explore the applicability and utility of incorporating the Oregon threats-based State and Transition Model (STM) Framework into a BLM Rangeland Health Assessment and Evaluation.� The Oregon STM Framework is comprised of threat-based ecological models and was developed over the last 5 years by the ARS and Oregon State University. These models were developed to simplify and structure conversations about the primary threats to sagebrush steppe communities and associated potential management responses, and facilitate monitoring of key habitat features at various scales of management. In a Rangeland Health Assessment, BLM gathers, synthesizes, and interprets inventory information on indicators of land health measured in designated assessment areas. Information from this assessment is evaluated along with other available data, including the Oregon STM ecological states map, and the Sage-Grouse Habitat Assessment Framework multi-scale suitability ratings to determine if the Standards and Guidelines for Rangeland Health are being attained. The objective of this pilot project was to determine the proper use of multiple sources of information and synergies among these information sources in completion of BLM�s evaluation of the Land Health Standards.� The collaborative approach to this pilot project was critical to providing a common set of tools to more easily and clearly communicate the assessments and evaluations, and application of tools with stakeholders and agency partners.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.