Assessing the impacts of conservation practices on rangeland health and ecosystem services
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This document summarizes a research study assessing the impacts of brush management and prescribed grazing practices on rangeland health and ecosystem services in the Rio Puerco Watershed in New Mexico. The study uses a Before-After-Control-Impact experimental design to compare plant and soil communities, erosion risk, and hydrology between areas where woody species were treated with herbicide and untreated control areas. One year after treatment, results showed a decrease in shrub cover and increase in bunchgrasses in treated areas, along with less herbaceous biomass and more bare soil connectivity. Preliminary hydrologic modeling suggested little difference in runoff or soil loss between treated and untreated areas. The study aims to continue monitoring changes and use spatial
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Assessing the impacts of conservation practices on rangeland health and ecosystem services
- 1. PARSLEY, SAGE, ROSEMARY, AND…TEBUTHIURON Assessing the Impacts of Conservation Practices on Rangeland Health and Ecosystem Services in the Rio Puerco Watershed Jeremy W. Schallner, Amy C. Ganguli, Richard Strait, Nicole Pietrasiak
- 2. The Problem Cobb photo, ca. 1900 • Rangeland Degradation • Legacy of Overutilization • Deterioration of Key Ecosystem Services
- 3. Research Location • Rio Puerco Watershed • Southwest of Cuba, New Mexico • Introduction of Grazing Animals • Intense Stocking and Utilization
- 4. Conservation Practices • Prescribed Grazing and Brush Control • BLM and Private Lands • Goals • Reduce Erosion • Increase Herbaceous Cover
- 5. Rio Puerco Land Treatment Legacy • 1 million acres ~30% of the BLM land treated • Chemical (14.4%) • Mechanical (12.3%) • Prescribed Fire (3%) (Pilliod et al. 2017)
- 6. Current Management • Prescribed Grazing • Conservative, Seasonal Stocking • Herbicide Application • Tebuthiuron-Targets Woody Species • Aerial Application over Large Areas
- 7. Previous Research in the Area • Highly Focused • Herbicide Efficacy • Sediment Loads • Gaps in Agency Monitoring • Many Questions Remain
- 8. Research Questions • How does brush management affect the local plant and soil biological communities? • Do the changes in these communities impact erosion risk and the local hydrology of the system? • Do any of these related changes influence the system hydrology at the watershed level?
- 10. Experimental Design • BACI Design • Before, After, Control, Impact • Two Treated Areas • Tebuthiuron Applied in October 2016 0.5 lb. A.I. per acre • Two Control Areas • Interaction Between Treatment and Time
- 12. Project Methodology • Plant and Soil Biological Community Monitoring • Line-Point Intercept • Canopy Gaps • Basal Gaps • Belt Transect • Biomass Clipping • LandPKS • GrassSnap Photo Monitoring • Rangeland Health Assessments
- 13. LandPKS Characterization Unit Soil Profile AWC (cm) Minimum Maximum MP 5.24 ± 0.65 2.03 7.36 VW 4.86 ± 0.14 3.73 5.09 JP 5.51 ± 0.33 4.86 6.74 SP 6.69 ± 1.06 3.87 8.54 Soil Profile AWC=cm of plant available water within top 50 cm of soil
- 14. Project Methodology R. D. Stewart et al., 2015 • Runoff Plot Monitoring • “UBeTube” Installation • Weather Monitoring Stations • Soil Moisture Measurements • Funding from NMWRRI •RHEM Simulations for Site-Specific Hydrologic Dynamics
- 15. Initial Results: One Year Post-Treatment • Overall Cover Unchanged • Functional Group Proportions Different • Decrease in Shrubs • Increase in Bunchgrasses • Less Herbaceous Biomass within Treated Areas • More Connectivity of Bare Areas on Treated Sites
- 16. -15% -10% -5% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% Treated Control Treated Control Basal Canopy Change in Cover Gaps from 2016 to 2017 P=0.03 NS
- 18. Western Regional Climate Center, wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/cliMAIN.pl?nm9031 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 Precipitation(mm) Cumulative Monthly Precipitation, Torreon Navajo Mission, NM 2016 2017 2018 Average
- 19. “UBeTube” Monitoring Site AWC = 2.03 cm
- 20. -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 Treated Control Treated Control Annual Runoff (mm/year) Soil Loss (tonne/ha/year) Difference in RHEM Simulation Outputs from 2016 to 2017 NSNS
- 21. Next Steps: Spatial Modeling
- 24. Acknowledgments • USDA-NRCS • NMWRRI • NMSU Agricultural Experiment Station • BLM • Dr. Amy Ganguli • Dr. Nicole Pietrasiak • Dr. Kurt Young • Richard Strait • Megan Stovall • Michael Meyers • Margaret Gannon • Kate Butterbaugh • Leeland Murray • Adam Chaney • Addison Woods • Trenda Roper • Dustin Ward • Wade Nez • Devon Fuller • Alyssa Whiteman • Michael Egan
- 25. QUESTIONS?
Editor's Notes
- Degradation led to brush encroachment in many systems, alteration of flood/fire regimes, overall decline in productivity Due to historic degradation millions spent throughout the west to restore landscapes USDA report from 2016 $6.8 million to treat 200,000 ac brush management (typically herbicide in NM) (NM only)
- Sagebrush/Grassland Ecosystem, Southern tip of the Colorado Plateau, 6000+ft elevation Long history of human occupation, Navajo and Pueblo peoples, Spanish land grants, Many different government agencies had control and implemented very different management policies throughout the depression and WWII.
- Checkerboard area, Federal-Tribal-Private-Some State land Mostly BLM control post-WWII
- Total BLM acres in the RPFO are 1,000,798. 30% of the BLM acres have been treated Chemical Treatments (14.4%) cover 1962 through 2015. Sagebrush and Salt Cedar primary focus. Prescribed Fire (3%) covers 1985 through 2016. PJ most common target. Mechanical Treatments (12.3%) cover 1957 through 2016. Sagebrush, PJ, and Native Planting most prevalent. Land Treatment Digital Library
- Elk and Mule Deer habitat, elk preferentially use P-J areas, thermal cover NRCS-2005 to 2009 $18.2 million 240,000 ha / 590,000 ac brush management
- NMSU-herbicide effectiveness and sagebrush recovery, Economics, restore New Mexico, Gellis-USGS, Transition to Research Questions
- Specify herbicide application as main practice investigated
- Multi-pronged approach using many tools that are available Objectives of this project are to develop a comprehensive monitoring program to investigate the effects of brush management on the plant and soil biological communities and the hydrology of the RPW, inform agency implementation of conservation practices for best return on investment, both ecologically and economically
- Control vs. Reference, Impact, Multivariate Analysis, Potential Ordination Techniques Used frequently in environmental impact analyses due to limited number of replications and scale of treatments
- Paired treatment and reference sites under same management, Public and Private Lands, Transition to Methods
- Line-point for community/diversity, Canopy for annual variations, basal for long-term changes, Rangeland Health Assessment and LandPKS for site characterization, Related BSC Study/Collaboration
- Used in multivariate analysis as potential covariable Soil Profile AWC-integrative variable, cm of plant available water w/n top 50 cm of soil profile
- Informs model calibration, gives an idea of runoff/sediment transfer from uplands, additional incentive for treatments, weather stations at each of the six sites, Transition to Results
- Transition to Data
- 2016-2017, Increase in cover gaps-basal, treated, All graphs show means +- Standard Error, p-values from t-test assuming unequal variance Relates to connectivity of bare areas more than actual amount of bare soil
- Visual herbaceous increase, not supported by data collected
- Torreon Navajo Mission is 18 km south of the research area, nearest WRCC COOP Station with complete data for 2016, 2017, and through June 2018 May explain some of the variation seen in plant community response, lag effect in response to dry/wet years
- One site, loose sandy soil, high intensity rainfall needed for measurable runoff
- RHEM simulation differences Year 1 to Year 2 using BCS data from detailed investigation, slight increases across all sites More important to evaluate the trend over time as we get more data from the sites in subsequent years Transition to Next Steps
- Assigned hydrologic parameters based on grid cell, spatially and temporally dynamic
- Shows surface depth
- Objectives of this project are to develop a comprehensive monitoring program to investigate the effects of this conservation practice on the plant and soil biological communities and the hydrology of the RPW, Treatment goals Watershed model developed to provide land managers with a tool for treatment site selection to maximize return on investment and minimize potential ecological/economic damage, inform development of best practices for implementation based on site potential to promote ecological stability Also could provide justification for treatments at a larger scale if impacts to water downstream are overly positive
- A lot of people made this research possible, research possible due to funding from…