Monitoring is a critical component of adaptive rangeland management that enables managers to learn whether objectives are being achieved and make adjustments if they are not. The “Bureau of Land Management Assessment, Inventory and Monitoring Strategy for Integrated Renewable Resources Management†(BLM AIM Strategy) provides a process for collecting high-quality information about ecosystem conditions and trends to support adaptive management. Building on a review of BLM monitoring practices, the AIM approach to monitoring features five elements: 1) a standard set of core quantitative indicators and methods, enabling easy comparison of measurements in different places and over time; 2) a defensible and statistically valid way of selecting monitoring plots that informs resource conditions at multiple scales; 3) integration with remote sensing, providing a bird's-eye view of conditions across the landscape; 4) electronic data capture and management, streamlining information access for BLM and our partners; and 5) a structured implementation process built on management questions and an understanding of ecosystems. Land managers from Arizona to Alaska have applied the AIM approach to monitoring terrestrial and aquatic resources at multiple scales using field, remote sensing, and integrated approaches. Monitoring results address land managers' diverse management questions, from sage-grouse habitat condition to wildfire impacts to restoration effectiveness. Information derived by implementing AIM is collected once but can be used many times to enhance understanding of the structure and function of BLM lands and guide adaptive management.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.