Uses and Guidance BLM Evaluate status of Standards for Rangeland Health Guidance provided in Washington Office Instruction Memorandum No. 2006-047 In BLM this protocol is used primarily as one of several techniques to evaluate the Standards for Rangeland Health on uplands as required by the BLM grazing regulations. The direction for the application of the protocol are found in Instruction Memorandum 2006-047 and all BLM personnel are encouraged to review this document prior to using the protocol. This IM gives the There are several uses of the protocol within NRCS. It is one of the components of the National Resource Inventory which is used to assess the condition of the Nation’s private rangelands. A number of quantitative studies are carried out in conjunction with this inventory. The protocol also helps to support conservation planning for private livestock operators in the US. The guidance on the use of the protocol are found in the NRCS’s National Range and Pasture Handbook. Consultants and other entities interested in rangeland management can use the protocol to help develop a monitoring strategy for areas of interest or concern. The protocol also serves as an excellent communication tool for use in dispute resolution. Finally, the protocol has been translated into Spanish and is being used in Mexico (need region from Jeff) to identify areas where improved management is needed and in a program called “Ejidos” which means ?? (need help from Jeff).

Uses and Guidance NRCS Component of National Resource Inventory Conservation planning Guidance in National Range and Pasture Handbook In BLM this protocol is used primarily as one of several techniques to evaluate the Standards for Rangeland Health on uplands as required by the BLM grazing regulations. The direction for the application of the protocol are found in Instruction Memorandum 2006-047 and all BLM personnel are encouraged to review this document prior to using the protocol. This IM gives the There are several uses of the protocol within NRCS. It is one of the components of the National Resource Inventory which is used to assess the condition of the Nation’s private rangelands. A number of quantitative studies are carried out in conjunction with this inventory. The protocol also helps to support conservation planning for private livestock operators in the US. The guidance on the use of the protocol are found in the NRCS’s National Range and Pasture Handbook. Consultants and other entities interested in rangeland management can use the protocol to help develop a monitoring strategy for areas of interest or concern. The protocol also serves as an excellent communication tool for use in dispute resolution. Finally, the protocol has been translated into Spanish and is being used in Mexico (need region from Jeff) to identify areas where improved management is needed and in a program called “Ejidos” which means ?? (need help from Jeff).

Uses and Guidance Consultants and others Planning for monitoring Communication tool Consultants and other entities interested in rangeland management can use the protocol to help develop a monitoring strategy for areas of interest or concern. The protocol also serves as an excellent communication tool for use in dispute resolution. Finally, the protocol has been translated into Spanish and is being used in Mexico (need region from Jeff) to identify areas where improved management is needed and in a program called “Ejidos” which means ?? (need help from Jeff).

Uses and Guidance International Mexico Mongolia Regional Planning Management plans for ranches (ejidos) Mongolia Rangeland assessments Consultants and other entities interested in rangeland management can use the protocol to help develop a monitoring strategy for areas of interest or concern. The protocol also serves as an excellent communication tool for use in dispute resolution. Finally, the protocol has been translated into Spanish and is being used in Mexico (need region from Jeff) to identify areas where improved management is needed and in a program called “Ejidos” which means ?? (need help from Jeff).

Applications IIRH Intended Uses - Page 1 Used by knowledgeable, experienced personnel Provide a preliminary evaluation of the three attributes of rangeland health Identify areas (early warning) that are potentially at risk of crossing a threshold Assist in the process of selecting monitoring sites Communication tool We strongly recommend that only individuals familiar with the use of this protocol and the area where the evaluations will be done, conduct this type of assessment. The output from this assessment protocol is a preliminary evaluation of the status of the three rangeland health attributes, soil site stability, watershed function and biotic integrity. The addition of quantitative information to supplement this preliminary evaluation is recommended if the goal is a better certainity of the results of the assessment. This protocol can assist managers to identify areas where making management changes now could reduce the chance that an undesirable threshold would be crossed in the future. Selecting monitoring sites on areas that are potentially at risk of a threshold change would provide a sensitive indication of the effectiveness of management actions to prevent this change. Perhaps the greatest utility of this protocol is to facilitate communication among all parties interested in healthy rangelands. The use of indicators that can be seen on the ground helps to facilitate informed discussions.

Applications IIRH Not to be used to - Page 1 Identify the cause(s) of resource problems Independently make grazing or other management decisions Monitor land or determine trend Independently generate national or regional assessments of rangeland health This protocol can assist in determining if there are problems relative to soil/site stability, watershed function, and biotic integrity but it does not provide information on what is causing the problems with these three rangeland health attributes. Because this protocol relies almost exclusively on qualitative information, it is not appropriate to use this information to independently make a change in management for an area. Remember the message in the previous bullet that this protocol does not establish a cause for a problem. We purposely designed this qualitative protocol to not include numerical ratings to reduce the chances that it would be used to monitor trend of the three attributes of rangeland health. We provide quantitative measures of most of the 17 indicators and the three rangeland health attributes that are appropriate tools to use to monitor trend. There are several national efforts to report on the status and condition of US rangelands. This protocol is not recommended to be used as a stand alone tool to generate national reports. However, it can be used in conjunction with quantitative techniques to provide broad assessments of land condition over regional or national landscapes. The NRCS’s National Resource Inventory uses this approach.