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UTILIZING DISTURBANCE RESPONSE GROUPS AND STATE-AND-TRANSITION MODELS IN GRAZING PERMIT RENEWALS
Author
Ryan, Maria M.
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
2018
Body

The BLM has been utilizing Ecological Site Descriptions (ESD) to monitor grazing allotments for decades. The recent update of the ESDs in Nevada that include the new State-and-Transition Models (STM) are particularly well developed and accurate in describing eastern Great Basin ecological site dynamics. The BLM is using the new ESDs with STMs on grazing allotments to set objectives and determine if they are being met. �Standard BLM protocols to measure community function include the Assessment, Inventory and Monitoring (AIM) protocols and others to understand current states and phases of the major ecological sites with an allotment. STMs in Nevada are sufficiently detailed so that they provide the ability to determine if the proposed grazing action under a 10 year permit renewal will continue to meet or make progress toward meeting objectives. BLM grazing allotments in eastern Nevada are large (generally > 15,000 acres) and when combined with other allotments for the grazing permit renewal, analysis using ecological sites can be too small-scale. Smaller allotments can use ESDs where larger allotments or groups of allotments require a large-scale tool for analysis. Disturbance Response Groups (DRG) can be used on very large grazing allotments or groups of allotments, as DRGs combine ecological sites that respond similarly to disturbance and are more appropriate for large-scale analysis. The current ESDs and DRGs provide an increased level of information to better inform land management decisions that link community function, ecological resilience and resistance to invasive species.

Language
English
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Conference Name
SRM Reno, NV
Collection
SRM Annual Meeting Abstracts