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ARS Home » Plains Area » Fort Collins, Colorado » Center for Agricultural Resources Research » Rangeland Resources & Systems Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #316721
Title: Resource management in rangeland

Author
item BOOTH, TERRY - Retired ARS Employee
item COX, SAMUEL - Bureau Of Land Management

Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/23/2014
Publication Date: 2/1/2015
Citation: Booth, T., Cox, S.E. 2015. Resource management in rangeland. In: F.J. Pierce (Ed.), GIS applications in agriculture. Vol. 4, Conservation Planning. New York, NY: CRC Press. p. 4276.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Adequate assessments of vast expanses of rangeland—a primary prerequisite to effective conservation planning—requires landscape-scale evaluations that accurately represent the resources (e.g., soil, vegetation, wildlife, water ), the structure and function of the resource-providing systems, and the natural range of variation in measured resource-condition indicators. We discuss why conventional rangeland survey methods are inadequate for this task and how geographic information systems (GIS), ground survey data, and high-altitude and/or satellite imagery can be used with 1- to 50-mm resolution digital imagery and new software programs to make rangeland surveys more objective, repeatable, and cost effective. We then review example applications of rangeland surveys we have conducted to answer specific landscape-scale management questions. The Appendix adds to the illustrated utility of these kinds of aerial surveys with hands-on-examples of survey planning, database queries, and how to use commonly available software in data evaluation and analyses.