Get reliable rangeland science

There is similarity among U. S. Department of Agriulture agencies with regard to the definition of rangeland in the United States. �There are subtle differences, but none of those definitions expressly exclude the mesic or semi-tropical eastern portion of the country. �The 2014 National Resources Inventory (NRI) Rangeland Resources Assessment (USDA Natural Reources Conservation Service) defines rangeland as a land cover/use category on which the climax or potential plant cover is composed principally of native grasses, grasslike plants, forbs, or shrubs suitable for grazing and browsing, and introduced forage species that are managed like rangeland. �This would include areas where introduced hardy and persistent grasses, such as crested wheatgrass, are planted and such practices as deferred grazing, burning, chaining, and rotational grazing are used, with little or no chemicals or fertilizer being applied. �Grasslands, savannas, many wetlands some deserts, and tundra are considered rangeland. �Certain communities of low forbs and shrubs, such as mesquite, chaparral, mountain shrub, and pinyon-juniper, are also included as rangeland. This definition is virtually unchanged in the NRI definitions back as far as 19987. �The definitions by NIFA (National Institute for Food and Agricculture), ARS (Agriculture Research Service), and SRM are similar, with a number of alternative examples in the latter portion of the definition. �None of the differences exclude eastern rangeland. �A number of state and regional resource documents desribe as much as seven to ten million acres across the Eastern United States as grasslands and in excess of one hundred million acres of historical savanna types that could potentially be restored to rangeland. �This paper for symposium presentation examines some of the federal significance in terms of technical and financial assistance that might be made possible with administrative recognition of these rangeland acreages by NRCS.