Rangeland Ecology & Management

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INTEGRATING ECOLOGY INTO DYNAMIC ECONOMIC MODELS TO SUPPORT RANGELAND DECISION-MAKING
Author
Rollins, Kimberly S.
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
2015
Body

Restoration and rehabilitation of rangelands involves potentially large up-front and continuing investments of resources at landscape scales, with uncertain long term results.  Given that resources and budgets are limited, estimates of the economic costs and benefits of alternative management options – including the timing, location and sequencing of actions across a landscape – provide valuable information for achieving restoration and management goals.  A particular challenge in estimating economic benefits and costs in the context of rangeland rehabilitation, however, stems from the dynamic and stochastic elements that define the underlying ecological systems. Rehabilitation and restoration actions are often targeted at changing the dynamics of these systems so that they become more resilient to disturbances. Integrated approaches that incorporate ecological state and transition models into economic models can capture important dynamic elements and include uncertainty of whether a particular treatment will be successful, how the probability of success may vary with ecological states, timing, or other management actions, as well as other issues of concern. The goal of such integrated modeling is to provide a practical framework that allows the use of the best available science information to inform rangeland management decisions. This presentation demonstrates results from applications of integrated approaches to combine state and transition models for rangeland and other complex systems into economic models.

Language
English
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Conference Name
SRM Sacramento, CA