SRM 2020 Annual Meeting: A New Look: Transformation and Translation

The Rangelands archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact [email protected] for further information

Plant Community Composition after 75 Yr of Sustained Grazing Intensity Treatments in Shortgrass Steppe

Plant community responses to livestock grazing lack conformity across studies, even those conducted within similar ecosystems. Variability in outcomes can often be traced back to short-termor mid-termweather patterns, differences in grazing timing or intensity, or interactive effects of management and weather. Long-term experimental data are needed to determine howgrazing intensity affects plant community composition in semiarid ecosystems where precipitation is low and highly variable. However, long-term grazing intensity experiments, particularly experiments with more than two grazing intensity treatment levels, are quite rare. We capitalized on one of the longest-term grazing studies, with 75 yr of sustained stocking rate treatments (none, light, moderate, and heavy), to identify long-term effects of livestock grazing on plant community composition in shortgrass steppe. Plant community compositionwas similar betweenmoderately and heavily grazed pastures after 75 yr of continuous, season-long (May to October) grazing treatments, and heavy grazing did not extirpate cool-season perennial graminoids. These findings support the long-termsustainability of livestock grazing in the shortgrass steppe, which has high resistance to season-long heavy grazing. Conversely, ungrazed and lightly grazed pastures experienced relatively large shifts in plant community composition, especially in the past 25 yr. Light or no grazing was associated with increased abundance of cool-season perennial graminoids, as well as several weedy and invasive species. Moreover, across most grazing treatments, several aspects of plant community composition have been shifting directionally during the past 25 yr, which recent experiments in this grassland suggest may be a response to increasing atmospheric (CO2). The shortgrass steppe is not only tolerant of fairly high grazing intensities but also likely requires some level of grazing to resist invasion byweedy annuals and to maintain cover of blue grama, a highly drought-tolerant species. © Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of The Society for Range Management.The Rangeland Ecology & Management archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact [email protected] for further information

Economic Impacts of Increasing Seasonal Precipitation Variation on Southeast Wyoming Cow-Calf Enterprises

Knowledge regarding the economic impacts of predicted increases in seasonal precipitation variability on cowcalf enterprises, through influences of precipitation on both forage and cattle productivity, is needed by land managers for developing risk management strategies. Here we use existing forage production and cattle performance data from the northern mixed-grass prairie, coupled with spring precipitation and economic data, in a ranch-level mathematical programming model. We estimate economic impacts across a 35-yr planning period with 100 iterations of different price cycles including five levels of increasing spring precipitation variation (10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, and 50% increases), examining the impact of resulting forage production and calf gain. Annual expected profit variability increases largely due to the increase in herd number variability rather than variability in calf gains. Overall, as seasonal precipitation variation increases, higher annual expected profit variability results in greater risk of negative returns from cattle. An important implication from our results is that the positive benefits of wet years do not overcome the negative impacts of the dry years given relationships among precipitation, forage production, and calf gains used in ourmodel. Results indicate greater profitability in generally maintaining lower herd numbers as seasonal precipitation becomes more variable. The results also illustrate the need for producers to diversify their operation and/or income sources if they are to cope with increased precipitation variability even if mean annual precipitation remains constant. © 2016 The Society for Range Management. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.The Rangeland Ecology & Management archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact [email protected] for further information

Importance of early season conditions and grazing on carbon dioxide fluxes in Colorado shortgrass steppe

Understanding the influence of grazing management and environmental drivers on net ecosystem exchange of CO2 (NEE) is essential for optimizing carbon (C) uptake in rangelands. Herein, using 15 treatment-years (two 3-yr experiments, one with three grazing treatments, the other two) and Bowen ratio flux towers, we evaluated the influence of grazing intensity, soil water content (SWC), and plant cover (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, or NDVI) on NEE in Colorado shortgrass steppe. Among several soil water and plant cover traits evaluated over 6-yr, early season (April, DOY 91-120) SWC and early season (DOY 130) NDVI weremost highly correlated with NEE (-0.96 and-0.98, respectively) during the second quarter (April to June) of the year and also over the entire growing season (April to September;-0.97 and-0.96). Due to the strong effect of early-season SWC, an average of 166 gm-2 CO2 were lost in 2 yr with dry spring weather, compared with an average annual uptake of 218 g m-2 CO2 in 4 yr with more abundant early-season precipitation and plant cover. Grazing effects on NEE were also apparent. In one experiment, moderate grazing resulted in annual CO2 uptake of 267 g m-2 CO2 over 3 yr compared with essentially zero NEE in heavily grazed pasture. However, that treatment difference in annual NEEwas only half that experienced between dry and wet years. Similar trends were observed in a second experiment, although results were insignificant. Results suggest that the recommended moderate grazing intensity for the Colorado shortgrass steppe is near optimal for CO2 uptake under season-long continuous grazing, with annual climatic variability sometimes being more influential. To enhance C sequestration in the western Great Plains of North America, grazing management strategies should emphasize flexible and adaptive practices that consider early-season SWC and promote vegetation cover during the key early spring growth period. © Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of The Society for Range Management.The Rangeland Ecology & Management archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact [email protected] for further information

Establishment and Trends in Persistence of Selected Perennial Cool-Season Grasses in Western United States

Restoring western US rangelands from a site dominated by invasive annuals, such as cheatgrass and medusahead, to a diverse, healthy, perennial plant − dominated ecosystem can be difficult with native grasses. This study describes the establishment and trends in persistence (plant/m2) of native grass cultivars and germplasm compared with typically used crested and Siberian wheatgrasses at four locations in Idaho (one), Wyoming (one), and Utah (two) that range in mean average annual precipitation (MAP) from 290 to 415 mm. Sites were cultivated and fallowed 1 yr before planting using two glyphosate applications to control weeds. We monitored seedling establishment of 10 perennial cool-season grass species and plant persistence over 5 yr. Precipitation during the seeding year varied with the Utah sites locations reviving below MAP (4% and 14%), while the Wyoming and Idaho sites received above MAP at 8% and 26%, respectively. Across these four sites, native grass seedling establishment of bottlebrush squirreltail (29 ± 0.08 [standard error] seedling/m2), bluebunch (28 ± 0.05), slender (30 ± 0.05), and Snake River wheatgrasses (28 ± 0.08) was similar to “Vavilov II” Siberian wheatgrass (36 ± 3.20). By yr 5, western, Snake River, and thickspike wheatgrasses were the only native grasses to have plant densities similar to Vavilov II (37 ± 0.29) Siberian and “Hycrest II” (36 ± 0.29) crested wheatgrasses. On sites receiving between 290 and 415 mm MAP, our data suggest that native grasses are able to establish but in general lack the ability to persist except for western, Snake River, and thickspike wheatgrasses, which had plant densities similar to crested and Siberian wheatgrasses after 5 yr.The Rangeland Ecology & Management archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact [email protected] for further information

Collaborative Adaptive Rangeland Management Fosters Management-Science Partnerships

Rangelands of the western Great Plains of North America are complex social-ecological systems where management objectives for livestock production, grassland bird conservation, and vegetation structure and composition converge. The Collaborative Adaptive Rangeland Management (CARM) experiment is a 10-year collaborative adaptive management (CAM) project initiated in 2012 that is aimed at fostering science-management partnerships and data-driven rangeland management through a participatory, multistakeholder approach. This study evaluates the decision-making process that emerged from the first 4 yr of CARM. Our objectives were to 1) document how diverse stakeholder experiences, epistemologies, and resulting knowledge contributed to the CARM project, 2) evaluate how coproduced knowledge informed management decision making through three grazing seasons, and 3) explore the implications of participation in the CARM project for rangeland stakeholders. We evaluated management decision making as representatives from government agencies and conservation nongovernmental organizations, ranchers, and interdisciplinary researchers worked within the CARM experiment to 1) prioritize desired ecosystem services; 2) determine objectives; 3) set stocking rates, criteria for livestock movement among pastures, and vegetation treatments; and 4) select monitoring techniques that would inform decision making. For this paper, we analyzed meeting transcripts, interviews, and focus group data related to stakeholder group decision making. We find two key lessons from the CARM project. First, the CAM process makes visible, but does not reconcile differences between, stakeholder experiences and ways of knowing about complex rangeland systems. Second, social learning in CAM is contingent on the development of trust among stakeholder and researcher groups. We suggest future CAM efforts should 1) make direct efforts to share and acknowledge managers’ different rangeland management experiences, epistemologies, and knowledge and 2) involve long-term research commitment in time and funding to social, as well as experimental, processes that promote trust building among stakeholders and researchers over time.The Rangeland Ecology & Management archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact [email protected] for further information

Corrigendum to Temperature and Precipitation Affect Steer Weight Gains Differentially by Stocking Rate in Northern Mixed-Grass Prairie (Rangeland Ecology & Management (2013) 66 (438-444))

The Rangeland Ecology & Management archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact [email protected] for further information

Ecological Sites: Can they be Managed to Promote Livestock Production?

We assessed diet quality and livestock weight gains for shortgrass steppe pastures dominated by Loamy Plains or Sandy Plains ecological sites. When growing season precipitation is “normal,” livestock gains are higher on Sandy Plains ecological sites, and diet quality is not limiting livestock production. Conversely, when growing season precipitation declines by ≥ 20%, digestible organic matter, but not crude protein, influences livestock gains. These negative effects on livestock gains are more pronounced for the Loamy Plains ecological site. Pastures with multiple ecological sites may provide range managers greater forage diversity for livestock and higher livestock gains during dry growing seasons.The Rangelands archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact [email protected] for further information

Diverse Management Strategies Produce Similar Ecological Outcomes on Ranches in Western Great Plains: Social-Ecological Assessment

Experiments investigating grazing systems have often excluded ranch-scale decision making, which has limited our understanding of the processes and consequences of adaptive management. We conducted interviews and vegetation monitoring on 17 ranches in eastern Colorado and eastern Wyoming to investigate rancher decision-making processes and the associated ecological consequences. Management variables investigated were grazing strategy, grazing intensity, planning style, and operation type. Ecological attributes included the relative abundance of plant functional groups and categories of ground cover. We examined the environmental and management correlates of plant species and functional group composition using nonmetric multidimensional scaling and linear mixed models. After accounting for environmental variation across the study region, species composition did not differ between grazing management strategy and planning style. Operation type was significantly correlated with plant community composition. Integrated cow-calf plus yearling operations had greater annual and less key perennial cool-season grass species cover relative to cow-calf − only operations. Integrated cow-calf plus yearling ranches were able to more rapidly restock following drought compared with cow-calf operations. Differences in types of livestock operations contributed to variability in plant species composition across the landscape that may support diverse native faunal species in these rangeland ecosystems. Three broad themes emerged from the interviews: 1) long-term goals, 2) flexibility, and 3) adaptive learning. Stocking-rate decisions appear to be slow, path-dependent choices that are shaped by broader social, economic, and political dynamics. Ranchers described having greater flexibility in altering grazing strategies than ranch-level, long-term, annual stocking rates. These results reflect the complexity of the social-ecological systems ranchers navigate in their adaptive decision-making processes. Ranch decision-making process diversity within these environments precludes development of a single “best” strategy to manage livestock grazing.The Rangeland Ecology & Management archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact [email protected] for further information

Soil Health as a Transformational Change Agent for US Grazing Lands Management

There is rapidly growing national interest in grazing lands’ soil health, which has been motivated by the current soil health renaissance in cropland agriculture. In contrast to intensively managed croplands, soil health for grazing lands, especially rangelands, is tempered by limited scientific evidence clearly illustrating positive feedbacks between soil health and grazing land resilience, or sustainability. Opportunities exist for improving soil health on grazing lands with intensively managed plant communities (e.g., pasture systems) and formerly cultivated or degraded lands. Therefore, the goal of this paper is to provide direction and recommendations for incorporating soil health into grazing management considerations on grazing lands. We argue that the current soil health renaissance should not focus on improvement of soil health on grazing lands where potential is limited but rather forward science-based management for improving grazing lands’ resilience to environmental change via 1) refocusing grazing management on fundamental ecological processes (water and nutrient cycling and energy flow) rather than maximum short-term profit or livestock production; 2) emphasizing goal-based management with adaptive decision making informed by specific objectives incorporating maintenance of soil health at a minimum and directly relevant monitoring attributes; 3) advancing holistic and integrated approaches for soil health that highlight social-ecological-economic interdependencies of these systems, with particular emphasis on human dimensions; 4) building cross-institutional partnerships on grazing lands’ soil health to enhance technical capacities of students, land managers, and natural resource professionals; and 5) creating a cross-region, living laboratory network of case studies involving producers using soil health as part of their grazing land management. Collectively, these efforts could foster transformational changes by strengthening the link between natural resources stewardship and sustainable grazing lands management through management-science partnerships in a social-ecological systems framework.The Rangeland Ecology & Management archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact [email protected] for further information