About ranges

1. What is Range Management?
Rangeland
Management
By
Kanwal Nisa

2.  A professional Natural science that centres around the study
of rangelands and the "conservation and sustainable management [of
Arid-Lands] for the benefit of current societies and future generations

3. What are rangelands!
Tundra of the Arctic
Outback of Australia
African Savannah
Mongolian Plains
Sagebrush Steppe
Cerrados of Brazil
Sonoran Desert

4.  Rangelands are Diverse!
 Grasslands
 Deserts
 Shrublands
 Savannas
 Woodlands
 Open Forests
 Tundra
 Wetlands
The Challenge…

5. The Challenge…
 Many forces threaten rangeland integrity!
 Unsustainable grazing practices
 Damaging fire regimes
 Invasive plant species
 Global climate change
 Human development

6. Rangeland Management is:
 The use of rangeland resources to meet goals and desires of
humans.
 A Planning Process
 Planning examines different alternatives to see which is the
“best “ future world.
CURRENT FUTURE

7. What is “Best”
 It depends on your point of view.
 Preservationists
 Conservationists
 Utilitarianists
 Pragmatists
 Etc.

8. What is “Best”
 Preservationists - Emphasize protecting large areas of land from mining, timber, grazing
and development so they can be enjoyed by present and future generations. Founders of
the preservation movement were John Muir and Aldo Leopold.
 Conservationists - View land as a resource to be used now to enhance economic growth.
But, land must be protected from degradation by efficient management, based on scientific
principles, for sustained yield and multiple use. Early conservationists were T.R.
Roosevelt, Gifford Pinchot, and John Wesley Powell.
 Utilitarianists - View land as a substrate for saleable products. Management is based on
land manipulation and exogenous inputs (e.g., fertilizer or herbicides) are usually required
to keep production at an optimum level.

9. Rangeland Management
CURRENT FUTURE
Source of Decision?
?
?
?
?

10. Rangeland Management
CURRENT FUTURE
Source of Decision?
tradition guesses
information

11. Why do we need science?
 Mangers must integrate scientific knowledge with idea,
hunches, traditions, etc., to make wise decisions.
 To understand the physical, biological, and social processes
that affect rangelands.
 To discover principles up which to base the wise use of
rangelands.

12. Rangeland Management
CURRENT FUTURE
Impacts of Decision

14. Rangeland Management
CURRENT FUTURE
What kinds of decisions do we make?

15. Rangeland Management
CURRENT FUTURE
What kinds of decisions do we make?
•Political – laws and policies
•Economic – buy, sell,
•Direct actions

16. What is the role of education?
 Convey what is known to society
 Stop non-objective views
 Lead to wise land use discussion and support for management
actions.

17. Rangeland Management is:
 The use of rangeland resources to meet goals
and desires of humans.
 What do people want from rangelands?

18. Rangelands Resources
Forage
Recreation
Livestock Production
Open Space
Native Plants
Water
Wildlife Habitat

19. Rangeland Management is:
 The use and stewardship of rangeland
resources to meet goals and desires of
humans.
 What tools do we have for Range
Management?

20. Rangelands
Grasslands, Shrublands, Woodlands
Forces & Impacts
Ecological Services
& Resources
• forage for livestock
• wildlife habitat
• watershed management
• biodiversity conservation
• open space
• carbon sequestration

21. Rangelands
Grasslands, Shrublands, Woodlands
Forces & Impacts
Tools for Stewardship
Ecological Services
& Resources
• forage for livestock
• wildlife habitat
• watershed management
• biodiversity conservation
• open space
• carbon sequestration

22. Rangeland Management – Basic Concepts
 Rangelands are renewable resources; they can produce
on a sustained yield basis if properly managed.
 Rangeland must be managed to maintain soil and water
quality and health and basic biogeochemical cycles.
 Rangelands are managed by extensive and ecological
principles, not intensive and agronomic principles.

23. Rangeland Management – 6 Basic Concepts
 Rangelands produce a variety of products (e.g., forage,
recreation, water) therefore principles of multiple use are
important in range management.
 Many important public concerns on rangeland happen
across multiple ownerships (i.e., fire, water quality, weeds, open
space)
 You can’t please all the people all the time. What one
person wants may not meet the desires or plans of
another.

24. Principles of Rangeland Management
 Rangelands change through succession and disturbance.
All we can really do as managers is apply, control, or
respond to disturbance based on our knowledge of
succession.
 The only constant on rangeland is CHANGE. Conditions
change from place to place (spatially) and time to time
(temporally). We need to understand and accept change.
 If you do nothing the land will probably not return to some
pre-European paradise.