New proposed national resources inventory protocols on nonfederal rangelands

Kenneth E. Spaeth; Fred B. Pierson; Jeff E. Herrick; Patrick L. Shaver; David A. Pyke; Mike Pellant; Dennis Thompson; Bob Dayton

Excerpt

The U.S. Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS) has used resource inventories for over 65 years to assess the Nation's natural resources on nonfederal lands. Rangeland National resources Inventory (NRI) activities in NRCS have provided scientifically credible information about status, conditions, and trends on nonfederal rangelands. The inventory process has evolved in the last two decades from qualitative in the early 80s to more quantitative field methods in the 90s. Since 1995, cooperation between government agencies has resulted in new protocols for rangeland field inventory techniques giving the Nation a quantitative foundation for assessing rangeland conditions.

The new proposed NRI protocols are designed to detect long-term—years to decades—changes in the condition of rangeland ecosystems, and monitor short-term impacts, which may be of immediate concern. The new rangeland NRI protocols will provide field-based benchmarks for primary sample units and fulfill NRCS-NRI objectives (see sidebar, page 20A).

An interagency group—the USDA-NRCS, USDA-Agricultural Research Service (ARS), U.S. Department of Interior (USDI)-Bureau of Land Management (BLM), USDI-U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and the USDA-Forest Service (USFS)—worked together to develop a list of data elements that …

Footnotes

USDA-NRCS, is a rangeland hydrologist at the Northwest Watershed Research Center, Boise, Idaho Fred B. Plerson, USDA-ARS, is a research hydrologist at the Northwest Watershed Research Center, Boise, Idaho Jeff E. Herrick, USDA-ARS, is a research scientist at Jornada Experimental Range, Las Cruces, New Mexico Patrick L. Shaver, USDA-NRCS, is a rangeland management specialist at Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon David A. Pyke, USDI-USGS, is a research rangeland ecologist with the Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, Corvallis, Oregon Mike Pellant, USDI-BLM, is a rangeland ecologist in Boise, Idaho Dennis Thompson, USDA-NRCS, is a national range and grazing lands ecologists with the Ecological Conservation Sciences Division, Washington, D.C. Bob Dayton, USDA-NRCS, is an agronomist with the Resources Inventory Division at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.
Copyright 2003 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society