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This Technical Reference contains the rangeland inventory and monitoring techniques
historically used in the Bureau since the formation of the Grazing Service; It does not
include local or regional techniques. Where manuals could not be located, the best available
documentation was used.
Every effort has been made to accurately transcribe the original manuals. Editing was limit­
ed to the introductory Editor's Notes in Sections I - XII and XVII - XTX to preserve the
original wording intact. However, Sections XIII - XVI were rewritten for clarity, since
there was no need to be concerned about preserving an original manuscript.
This technical reference is designed to be a reference document. It is not intended as an
endorsement of these methods as Bureau-approved procedures.
Many existing case files (allotment and operatorfiles) and district files contain resource
information gathered using procedures that are no longer approved methods. Some of this
data is still being used to determine the grazing preference on public land and the carrying
capacity on nonfederal lands. The procedures employed by some of these methods are now
obscure. Since this resource information is still being used, this document will help to
explain how the data was collected. It also provides instructions on how to collect data for
future comparison.
Historical inventory and monitoring data are often useful for making long-term analyses of
trends and ecological change. Although some historical techniques may be considered to be
technically inadequate, the data may still be useful in making general interpretations.
Knowledge of the intent or purpose of historical methods aids in understanding why previous
range managers managed the range the way they did, and in determining if certain reports,
e.g., range condition, can be compared to the concepts and reports used today.
It is very important for future reference that any old monitoring and inventory data not be
disposed of.
If a description in this document does not accurately portray a historical technique, com­
ments and supporting documentation should be sent to the National Applied Resource
Sciences Center (RS-140).

source: introduction