1. RESEARCH ON SUSTAINABLE RANGELAND MANAGEMENT

2. Research Needs in the 21 st Century 1.Does the indicator assess the criterion? 2.At what scales are the indicator valid? 3.How do we come up with thresholds? 4.How to we integrate the criteria?

4. Maintenance and Enhancement of Multiple Economic and Social Benefits to Current and Future Generations Community-level indicators that might be relevant to sustainability: Value produced by agriculture and recreation as percent of total economy. Land tenure, land use, ownership patterns by size class Population pyramid and population change

5. Grain = Resolving power of data. Grain determines smallest entities that can be found in data. Extent = highest level that can be accessed. If size of entity is larger than data (spatial, temporal), then associated attributes cannot be observed. Scale in Ecological Observations

6. The larger the system, the longer the cycle time of unperturbed behavior. From top to bottom of a hierarchy, there is a continuum of natural frequencies. FREQUENCY OF BEHAVIOR -Systems have particular characteristic frequencies. -Monitoring must accommodate frequency of a systems scale.

7. Research on Benefits to Management in the Field An issue of scale and interactions among indicators Fire Invasive species Drought Exurban development

8. Thresholds

9. Thresholds related to Sustainability Biodiversity Ecosystem resilience Biodiversity Productive capacity Fragmentation Biodiversity Invasive species Biodiversity & Productive capacity Soil coverErosion

10. Evaluating Rangeland Sustainability SRM Task Group on Unity and Concepts in Terms Rangelands 17(3):85-92 1995 Focused on the site level; i.e. rangeland condition and trend. Soil is the basic resource. Sought unity in terminology and methodology. Site conservation thresholds Site Conservation rating: sustainable and unsustainable

11. Sustainability as Expressed by Forms of Capital Capital has investment value Sustainability attained when combination of investments provide for future needs of society. Human capital: Resources of individuals Social capital: Resources of communities Natural capital: Resources from nature. Financial capital: Resources measured in dollars.

12. SRR Validates/develops indicators and measurement protocols. NRI / FIA / etc. Rangeland monitoring systems incorporate new protocols. NATL ASSESSMENTS Monitors trends of SRR indicators. Are the indicators valid and useful? no yes 1 2 3