New book on rangeland monitoring and assessment soon to be available.
This book will be a valuable reference for anyone who manages or is interested in rangelands.

GUIDE TO RANGELAND MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT
Basic Concepts for Collecting, Interpreting and Use of Rangeland Data for Management Planning and Decisions

Fragmented land ownership in Arizona, and most western states, creates a problem because different land managers use different monitoring and assessment approaches, techniques, and terminology. This complicates coordinate management across ownership lines because one management unit (for example a ranch) could have up to 4 sets of procedures in use.

In 2005 the Arizona Grazing Lands Conservation Association (AGLCA) was formed and its’ initial goal was to develop a set of coordinated monitoring and assessment principles based Arizona specifically, using the latest most reliable science. The members of AGLCA are Arizona Cattlegrower’s Association, Arizona Section of Society for Range Management, and the Arizona Association of Conservation Districts (AACD). The University of Arizona, Natural Resource Conservation Service, Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Arizona State Land Department are affiliated members. The first project was a paper describing principles and concepts of measuring and interpreting utilization on rangelands, with authors from all the participating agencies and published by the University of Arizona.

AGLCA then began work on a guidebook on important basic concepts and approaches to collecting and interpreting inventory and montoring data. The book is not intended to be a “how to” manual, since there are a number of good references that outline the details of various monitoring procedures. Rather, this guidebook is aimed at building a better understanding of how to make decisions about why monitoring is done, what to monitor, where to monitor, and when to monitor. It also emphasizes the value and limitations of different kinds of monitoring data and techniques that affect the interpretation of results for management situations, and often are the cause of disagreement and conflict. The guidebook emphasizes routine monitoring of rangeland for common land management objectives. It does not specifically address procedures for research or very narrowly oriented studies. Most of the concepts presented are applicable to riparian as well as upland situations.

This guidebook will be a valuable reference for anyone who has an interest in management of rangelands, including ranchers, small landowners, environmental groups, range consultants, and employees of government land management agencies. Those with range ecology training will find an up to date review of basic concepts; those without such training will find a valuable source of needed information. The book is organized to allow the reader to access the information without reading the entire book, and is extensively cross-referenced and documented. The authors are all range professionals with long experience in monitoring and managing southwestern rangelands and represent a variety of agencies and organizations.

Authors: Dr. Lamar Smith (Uof A retired); Dr. George Ruyle (U of A); Dr. Walt Meyer (Rancher); Judith Dyess (Forest Service); Steve Barker (NRCS); Dan Bell (Rancher); Doc Lane (Arizona Cattlegrower’s); Jim Maynard (Range Consultant); Steve Cassady (NRCS); Dave Stewart (Forest Service); Bill Coulloudon (BLM); Stephen Williams (Az Land Dept)

The development and publication of this book is hightly dependent upon donations from interested stakeholders. If you wish to donate to this effort please send checks for non-profit tax deductible donations to:

ACIREF
Arizona Cattle Industry Research and Education Foundation
1401 24th Street, Suite 4
Phoenix, AZ 85008