Get reliable rangeland science

This report was prepares by a group of scientists with expertise in Calilfornia rangeland 
ecosystems. The group was asked to critically review the Sierra Nevada Ecosystem
Project (SNEP 1996), Forest Service Sierra Nevada Science Team (SNST 1998) report,
and other literature in order to provide an assessment of the current science base for
addressing rangeland issues in the Sierra Nevada. The Range Science Team (RST)
prepared a draft report in 5 weeks as requested, which was reviewed by scientists,
managers, users, and other interested publics. This final report adds to the literature base
provided by SNEP and incorporates many of the reviewer comments.
This report stops short of synthesizing the vast amount of peer-reviewed and gray
literature concerning the response of Sierra Nevada ecosystems in the presence of
livestock. We believe that this synthesis is the most important next step, and we are
committed to such an effort. However, we intend to enlist additional expertise to the team
and devote the time such an effort requires in order to make a credible, sound, and useful
synthesis for managers.
Our effort does point out the deficiencies in current knowledge of ecosystem response to
livestock. To paraphrase a recent article by Hamilton (1997), human understanding of a
phenomenon, such as ecosystem response to grazing, improves by building on the work of
the past. Sometimes, however, it is necessary to reevaluate the firmness of the foundation
on which we stand. The intellectual history of the interactions of grazing and ecosystem
response forms a cautionary tale where force of personalities and uncritical acceptance ofhypotheses have sometimes overshadowed data and squelched open debate so important for the progress of science. (executive summary)