Research Project: Adaptive Capacity and Ecosystem Service Provisioning on Intermountain Range Sheep Systems Under a Changing Climate

Location: Range Sheep Production Efficiency Research

2025 Annual Report

Objectives
Objective 1: Determine the interactive influences of land use, management strategies, and climate on the ability of rangelands to provide multiple ecosystem services. Sub-objective 1.A: Quantify long-term (since 1959/1960) effects of grazing and grazing removal on the composition of four plant community types in high elevation rangelands, accounting for site characteristics and climate variability. Sub-objective 1.B: Quantify the effects of livestock grazing and grazing removal on the ecosystems services provided by montane meadows along an elevation gradient (~2200-2800m), accounting for climate and static site properties. Objective 2: Develop and evaluate methods for co-produced, social-ecological research for agroecological landscapes. Sub-objective 2A: Co-produce a method for collaborative adaptive management with stakeholders to address management for multiple ecosystem services.

Approach
This project fills critical research gaps to support rangeland production and conservation goals in the upper Intermountain West through the development of: 1) science-based management frameworks assessing the effects of grazing and climate on rangeland ecosystem services; and 2) effective science co-production methods for living rangeland laboratories. Rangelands are the dominant land use in the western US. These lands support rural economies, food and fiber systems, and other ecosystem services, including biodiversity. However, rangelands are threatened by climate change, ecological uncertainty, and land use change. Furthermore, diverse stakeholder groups have historically experienced social conflict over goals for livestock grazing and conservation, particularly on public rangelands. Ranching and conservation partners have called on the ARS Range Sheep Production Efficiency Research (RSPER) Unit to “redesign” our rangeland research approach to be inclusive of biodiversity and livelihood goals (i.e., to include multiple ecosystem services), an immediate research need for public lands management nation-wide. The NP 215 project takes on that challenge with a social-ecological approach. The first objective seeks to determine the interactive influences of land use, management strategies, and climate on the ability of rangelands to provide multiple ecosystem services. Under this objective, scientists will quantify long-term (since 1959/1960) effects of grazing and grazing removal on the composition of four plant community types in high elevation rangelands, accounting for site characteristics and climate variability. Scientists will also quantify the effects of livestock grazing and grazing removal on the ecosystem services provided by montane meadows along an elevation gradient (~2200-2800m), accounting for climate and static site properties. The second objective seeks to develop and evaluate methods for co-produced, social-ecological research for agroecological landscapes. Scientists will co-produce method for collaborative adaptive management with stakeholders to address management for multiple ecosystem services. A multi-year collaborative project draws from participatory research methods, which are concerned with engaging the public in science directly. In this case, the collaborative effort will use an adaptive management approach with multiple groups of people to engage and build upon multiple knowledges and perspectives in knowledge generation for increased adaptive capacity.

Progress Report
This report documents FY 2025 progress for project 2020-22620-023-000D, “Adaptive Capacity and Ecosystem Service Provisioning on Intermountain Range Sheep Systems Under a Changing Climate”, which began in March 2024. In support of Objective 1, ARS researchers in Dubois, Idaho, initiated a large-scale ecological field survey of historical monitoring areas and a new landscape-scale grazing experiment on active grazing allotments in high elevation areas. These efforts will provide data managers need to understand how land use, management strategies, and environmental conditions shape how rangelands provide multiple ecosystem services to society. For Sub-objective 1.A, researchers made progress by submitting for peer-review a modern statistical analysis of historic plant community trends between 1959-1994 from the U.S. Sheep Experiment Station Summer Range. ARS also made progress toward quantifying these ecosystem services by re-sampling 35 of the historic monitoring plots. ARS researchers catalogued forage resources, vegetative and habitat conditions, and forage quality, and documented wildlife occupancy and herbivory using a state-of-the-art camera trap monitoring grid. For Sub-objective 1.B, researchers established a new grazing experiment on an active high-elevation grazing area and initiated a sampling protocol to quantify ecosystem services such as forage and habitat resources, biodiversity, and soil health. Using these data, ARS researchers will now model the variation of ecosystem service delivery over time, space, and grazing intensities in range sheep systems. For Objective 2, ARS researchers in Dubois, Idaho, engaged over 40 members of ranching, public land agency, and non-profit stakeholder groups directly in the development of an active living laboratory at the location. Researchers held two in-person collaborative meetings, and completed data collection and analysis for a systematic stakeholder assessment. These efforts produced: 1) new information on ARS stakeholders’ goals for social-ecological research in agroecological landscapes, which prioritize profitability, biodiversity conservation, and healthy food systems; and 2) a novel method for stakeholder engagement in applied agricultural research. This information will be used to develop a collaborative adaptive management experiment at the ARS Dubois location, and to inform the efforts of other ARS locations, universities, and land management agencies to more directly address on-the-ground stakeholder needs for rural prosperity and rangeland health.

Accomplishments

Review Publications
Fernandez-Gimenez, M.E., Wilmer, H.N. 2024. Towards a theory of pastoralist and rancher identity: Insights for understanding livestock systems in transformation. Agriculture and Human Values. 42:845-862. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-024-10641-9.
Wilmer, H.N., Wilbur, R., Scasta, J.D., Levy, M., Hillis, V., Newman, G., Pellatz, D., Porensky, L.M. 2025. When working together goes against common sense: A framework to bridge conservation and agricultural perspectives in participatory working lands research. Ecology and Society. 30(2). Article 21. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-16092-300221.
Donaldson, E., Wilmer, H.N., Knapp, C., Derner, J.D. 2024. Understanding how ranchers adaptively manage for drought in northeastern Colorado. Rangeland Ecology and Management. 98:83-93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rama.2024.08.026.
Burns, A., Wilmer, H.N., Miller, R.S., Clark, P., Taylor, J.B. 2025. Precision animal husbandry: Using artificial intelligence for camera traps to optimize animal production and management decision support systems. Animal Frontiers. 14(6):68-71. https://doi.org/10.1093/af/vfae026.
Spiess, J.W., McGranahan, D.A., Hovick, T.J., Berti, M., Gasch, C.K., Geaumont, B.A. 2025. Patch-burn grazing increased structural heterogeneity in southwestern North Dakota rangelands. Applied Vegetation Science. 28(1). Article e70016. https://doi.org/10.1111/avsc.70016.
Wilmer, H.N., Spiess, J.W., Clark, P., Anderson, M., Burns, A., Crootof, A., Fanok, L., Hruska, T., Mincher, B., Miller, R.S., Munger, W.W., Posbergh, C.J., Wilson, C.S., Winford, E., Windh, J., Strong, N.K., Eve, M.D., Taylor, J.B. 2025. Collaborative adaptive management in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem: A rangeland living laboratory at the US Sheep Experiment Station. Sustainability. 17(7). Article 3086. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17073086.
Wilson, C.S., Taylor, J.B., Spiess, J.W., Wilmer, H.N. 2025. Comparison of the flocking behavior of Katahdin and Rambouillet sheep breeds in an extensive range environment using GPS technology. Animal Biotelemetry. 13. Article 7. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40317-025-00404-6.
Friedrichsen, C.N., Wilmer, H.N., Hammond Wagner, C.R., Delong, A. 2025. Soil health and community well-being: A case study of social sustainability indicators, relational values and intangible benefits. Journal of Environmental Quality. Article e70049. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeq2.70049.
Meadow, A., Wilmer, H.N., Ferguson, D. 2025. Expanding research ethics for inclusive and transdisciplinary research. In: Lave, R., Lane, S., editors. The Field Guide to Mixing Social and Biophysical Methods in Environmental Research. Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers. p. 59-86. https://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0418.05.
Chamberlain, J., Honor, R.D., Malcolm, K., Mahony, S.P., Bellmore, R.J., Reeves, M.C., Wilmer, H.N., Gutgesell, M.K., Sill, L.A. 2024. Provisioning food and medicine from public forests in the United States. Forests, Trees and People. 19. Article 100738. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tfp.2024.100738.
Wilson, C.S., Taylor, J.B., Mousel, M.R., White, S.N., Piel, L.M., Wilmer, H.N., Murdoch, B.M. 2024. Genetic parameters for Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae nasal DNA copy number provide progress to promote domestic and bighorn sheep coexistence on public lands. Small Ruminant Research. 240. Article 107382. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smallrumres.2024.107382.
Augustine, D.J., Derner, J.D., Porensky, L.M., Hoover, D.L., Ritten, J.P., Kearney, S.P., Ma, L., Peck, D.E., Wilmer, H.N. 2024. The LTAR common experiment at the Central Plains Experimental Range: Collaborative adaptive rangeland management. Journal of Environmental Quality. 53(6):904-912. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeq2.20599.