Dr. David Toledo serves as a Research Rangeland Management Specialist at the USDA-ARS Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory under the leadership of Dr. Matt Sanderson. David is a headquarters-funded postdoctoral researcher responsible for improving ecological indicators of rangeland and pastureland health. His work will result in an integrated grazingland health assessment tool for use in management and conservation planning. David’s previous research includes working at the USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range under the supervision of Dr. Jeff Herrick, where he worked on the development and application of indicators for monitoring soil and vegetation attributes and assessment of rangeland health. His most recent research project before re-joining USDA-ARS focused on identifying socio-economic and ecological factors affecting landowner use of different land management practices to restore degraded ecosystems. This last research project included two parts: (1) Identifying human and ecological factors that drive the use of different management practices; and (2) The development of simulation models to help guide management decisions.

Taking part in a prescribed burn organized by the Edwards Plateau Prescribed Burn Association as part of research on the human dimensions of prescribed fire in Texas.		Using the Interpreting Indicators of Rangeland Health method to evaluate impacts of linear disturbances.

Awards

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Dr. David Toledo, Research Rangeland Management Specialist, received the 2013 Texas A&M University Association of Former Students Distinguished Graduate Student Award for Excellence in Research for his “outstanding academic record and contributions in teaching and research”. The work Dr. Toledo performed that led to this award evaluated the social dimensions of using extreme fire as a rangeland restoration tool in Texas and in the Janos Biosphere Reserve in Mexico. His research filled a critical knowledge gap in effectively restoring the resilience of rangeland ecosystems.