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: The cold winter rangelands of the Aral Sea basin are among the world's biodiversity hotspots, providing unique habitats, breeding grounds, migration corridors, and flyways for rare and endangered species of plants, animals, and birds. Situated along the historic "Silk Road," the Central Asian Cold Desert Rangelands (CACDR) are also the origin of many cultivated crops, including wheat, rye, barley, legumes, roots, tubers, and fruit trees. However, the increasing frequency of droughts due to climate and human affected change s is expected to exacerbate and further reduce the productivity of already degraded rangelands. Additionally, soil salinization, one of the major issues affecting agriculture, significantly decreases vegetation cover, botanical diversity, and the palatability of key species. This study introduces a novel assessment of isotope screening for salinity and drought tolerance in key C3 and C4 halophytes. These halophytes, cultivated on various arid and semi-arid rangelands, are evaluated based on their life forms, root depths, and biomass yield production. The Circular Halophytic Mixed Farming (CHMF) system is explored as a strategy to improve the productivity of rangelands impacted by