Get reliable rangeland science

SoilWeb Apps provide a variety of map-based tools that can access USDA-NRCSS detailed soil survey data (SSURGO) for most of the United States.

Web Soil Survey (WSS) provides soil data and information produced by the National Cooperative Soil Survey. It is operated by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and provides access to the largest natural resource information system in the world. The WSS provides detailed information about soil data and links to ecological site descriptions. The web-based interactive tool allows users to delineate an region of interest (ROI) and find a wealth of relevant edaphic and ecological data related to this ROI.

The Land Potential Knowledge System (LandPKS) tools allow users to learn about the land and produce site-specific data at any specific location in the world. The mobile app can help users understand the land's potential based on soil type, topography, and climate. The LandPKS tool can help users understand how much water and carbon the land can store, how much it can produce, and whether it can support a particular type of habitat – in order to make decisions about what to use it for, how to manage it, and what degraded land to prioritize for restoration.

The Climate Smart Restoration Tool (CSRT) is a collaboration between the US Forest Service, Oregon State University, Bureau of Land Management and the Conservation Biology Institute. The CSRT was developed to provide information on seed collection and transfer of native plants. It maps current and future seed transfer limits for plant species with or without genetic information using climate data generating from ClimateNA.The CSRT uses genecological functions to map seed transfer limits of select species. The number of species with genetic information will evolve in time as more genetic data becomes available.

EcoRestore is a one stop shop for all things ecological restoration in Arizona. It includes a quiz-based decision support too to help select appropriate species based on location, soil, ecology, and land management. This decision suport tool addresses the need for practitioners and any level of expertise and land type/size to investigate potential species for restoration based on site characteristics and management goals, and generates a list of candidate species.

The Rangeland Analysis Platform (RAP) is an innovative online tool that quickly visualizes and analyzes vegetation data for the United States. RAP can display continuous vegetation cover where users can see abundance and distribution of perennial or annual herbaceous, shrubs, trees, and bare ground; annual aboveground biomass to see plant production quantities and changes over time; and 16-day aboveground biomass to see how biomass has changed in the current growing season. To generate this information, RAP combines sstatellite imagery with thousands of on-the-ground vegetation measurements. More information about RAP here: https://support.rangelands.app/article/46-new-to-rap-start-here-landing See CCAST Case Study about the use of the Rangeland Analysis Platform here: https://arcg.is/1zaaz81 and webinar about the project here: https://youtu.be/nIGerxDY4ms?t=974

Grass-Cast indicates for ranchers and other grassland managers whether plant productivity (in pounds per acre) is likely to be above-normal, near-normal, or below-normal in the upcoming growing season relative to the 30+ year history of their local area (individual 6-mile x 6-mile grid cells). Grass-Cast bases this estimate on climate data including daily weather, evapotranspiration, NDVI (a remotely sensed greenness index), and above-ground net primary productivity (ANPP, a measure of peak plant biomass). Grass-Cast does not differentiate between forage and non-forgae plants, or take into account local details about soil, land use, and other factors managers need to assess to get an accurate picture of potential productivity on a pasture-scale. Details of the Grass-Cast model are published in journal articles, which are listed on the Grass-Cast website (https://grasscast.unl.edu/) under the “FAQ” tab.Tutorials for Grass Cast are available here: https://drought.unl.edu/Education/Tutorials/Grass-Cast.aspx See CCAST Case Study about the use of Grass Cast here: https://arcg.is/1zaaz81 and webinar about the project here: https://youtu.be/nIGerxDY4ms?t=974

Fuelcast is a map-based resource that leverages Google Earth Engine and Tensorflow to process near real-time weather and remote sensing data, providing in season forecast estimates of the magnitude and timing of annual production and fuel across coterminous U.S. rangelands. Users can access several cutting-edge information products, with detailed reports in development. The tool provides free, near real-time information to rangeland managers, fire specialists, and producers to act on in a timely manner. See CCAST Case Study about the use of Grass Cast here: https://arcg.is/1zaaz81 and webinar about the project here: https://youtu.be/nIGerxDY4ms?t=974

The Fire Effects Information System (FEIS) is an online collection of peer-reviewed syntheses on fire effects and fire regimes in the United States designed to meet the needs of resource managers & specialists. Search for Species Reviews, Fire Regimes, or Fire Studies. Species Reviews that include information about plant and animal species' biology, habitats, regeneration or reproductive processes, relationships with fire, and management considerations. Fire Regime publications include information about how often and how severely fires burned in specific ecosystems. Fire Studies are summaries of one or more fire research publications. FEIS also contains information about invasive species, has species distribution maps, and contains syntheses for the Southwest region.

The National Fire Situational Awareness map contains relevant information about current fires including fire outlines, size, perimiter and more that is updated frequently.