Rebroadcast of Society for Range Management Presentations with the BLM
The follow is a BLM Daily article by Kathryn Dyer, Nevada BLM Range Lead and National Outcome-Based Grazing Lead
Did you miss last month’s Society for Range Management (SRM) conference in Denver? It was a good one but you’re in luck because the BLM has teamed up with Partnering to Conserve Sagebrush Rangelands to record a handful of the presentations. Two full sessions were documented and are now available to rewatch.
The next generation is already at work on the PH Livestock Ranch in Wyoming. Photo courtesy of Niels Hansen.
The first session is called “Addressing Flexibility Through Outcome-based Grazing” where I team up with my colleagues Autumn Toelle-Jackson, Assistant Field Office Manager for the Andrews Resource Area of the Burns District, Oregon BLM, and Cheryl Newberry, Range Management Specialist, Rawlins Field Office, Wyoming BLM, and Niels Hansen, permittee in the Rawlins Office. The BLM initiated the Outcome Based Grazing Authorization (OBGA) demonstration projects in September 2017. The OBGA effort is intended to support enhanced collaboration and partnerships for managing livestock based on conservation performance and ecological outcomes rather than prescriptive terms and conditions. This is expected to result in cooperative improvement, management and/or protection of public lands within the project areas as well as creating or continuing achievement or attainment of positive economic and social outcomes.
In this symposium you’ll hear an overview of the OBGA initiative and the variety of projects involved. Autumn and Cheryl discuss the enrolled ranches in their districts, specifically focusing on innovative monitoring and successful approaches to collaboration they’ve experienced. They also talk about some innovative new techniques being used to compliment other ‘agency’ monitoring efforts that support management decision making. You can learn more about outcome-based grazing as well as our collaboration with Partnering to Conserve Sagebrush Rangelands here.
The Roaring Spring Ranch in Oregon is a large and diverse operation that is participating in OBGA to help establish flexibility when implementing a holistic management plan across a distinctly varied landscape. Photo courtesy of Andrew Shields.
The second recorded session from SRM is called “Shared Monitoring, Shared Stewardship” and was led by Emily Kachergis, Ecologist/Terrestrial AIM Lead for the BLM, and Sarah McCord, Ecologist with USDA-Agricultural Research Service. Note that this was an Ignite session series, so each talk is in a short format intended to inspire a conversational and storytelling experience, and to challenge presenters to communicate key ideas succinctly.
This session showcased partnerships where folks are working towards shared land management goals and using standard monitoring methodologies to measure their progress. The presentations spanned the variety of land uses in the western U.S., including livestock grazing, land treatment effectiveness, wildlife habitat management, and energy development and reclamation. A common theme across all of the presentations was that standardized monitoring information is transforming land stewardship. We are achieving this by creating a common language for translating diverse ideas about land conditions and changes. As Stephen Hale from the Utah Gas Corps highlighted in his presentation about reclamation monitoring, “The goal for both agency and operator is to move the site to sustainable success.” He saw standardized monitoring is a key tool to “bridge the gaps.”
Here is a full list of the Ignite presentations from the Shared Monitoring, Shared Stewardship session:
Brandon Bestelmeyer (ARS), Leticia Lister (BLM), Zoe Davidson (BLM): Big Data, Local Science: Not an Oxymoron
Tom Grant (Gunnison Conservation District), Renee Rondeau (Colorado Natural Heritage Program): Working Together to Get Work Done: Meadow and Riparian Restoration in the Gunnison Basin and Beyond
Andrew Johnson (BLM): AIM after Fire: Long-Term Monitoring of Vegetation Treatments within the 2012 Rush Fire
Steven Hale (Utah Gas Corps), Sean diStefano (ARS): Bridging the Gaps: Optimizing Monitoring Data from Oil and Gas Reclamation Reporting
Jeff Wahlert (Rancher), David Augustine (ARS): Collaborative Adaptive Rangeland Management (CARM) in Northeast Colorado
Kathryn Dyer (BLM): Addressing Flexibility through Outcome Based Grazing Authorizations
Mike Pellant (ret. BLM), Pat Clarke (ARS): The Use of Targeted Livestock Grazing to Reduce Fine Fuels: Monitoring a Multi-State Demonstration Program
Terri Schulz (TNC): Landowner monitoring and adaptive management using the phone app, LandPKS
Casey Addy (BLM), Daniel Olsen (Utah DWR): Mule Deer Migration and Habitat Selection in Utah using GPS Collar Data and Terrestrial AIM Monitoring Data
Travis Nauman (USGS), Mike Duniway (USGS): Development of Ecological Site Group Descriptions and Maps for Adaptive Land Management
The main things the managers of the Little Snake Ranch strive for is to improve the land, the health of their cattle and provide a good living for their families. OBGA is another tool in their tool box to continue doing just that. Photo courtesy of John Raftopoulos.
The managers of the Willow Ranch see themselves as partners with the BLM and that OBGA will be a beneficial program to them both. Photo courtesy of Russell Fitzwater.