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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Tucson, Arizona » SWRC » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #97282
Title: RANGELAND HEALTH: NEW RESEARCH AND IMPROVED TECHNOLOGY 1240

Author
item FOX, H - NRCS
item Kidwell, Mary
item Weltz, Mark
item Lane, Leonard

Submitted to: Soil and Water Conservation Society Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/13/1998
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Agricultural Research Service (ARS) in Arizona are working together to improve management of rangeland through new research and improved technology. ARS has been developing decision support models that will help NRCS evaluate a complex array of natural resource concerns and alternative solutions to solving problems while also considering economic, social and other values. NRCS looks at soil, water, air, plant, animal, and human (SWAPA+H) values when providing conservation planning assistance. New concepts in range management, such as rangeland health and the state and transition model will become the focus of research to begin incorporating rangeland health into SWAPA+H. With the help of ARS, NRCS hopes to develop better information on how conservation practices affect resource concerns on rangeland. This will be done through research on the Santa Rita Experimental Range, Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed, and Audubon Research Ranch, Arizona; Jornada Experimental Range, Alamagordo Creek Watershed, New Mexico; Fort Carson Army Base, Ft. Collins, Colorado; and La Campana Experimental Ranch, Chihuahua, Mexico. The components of rangeland health will be examined to determine how to best measure and evaluate ecosystem functions. Over the next several years, ARS will implement long term research on soil stability and watershed function.