The Art of Range Podcast

The Western U.S. has experienced catastrophic fire frequency and extent in 2020. Matt Reeves, USFS, shares some wildfire prediction tools that may help landowners and agencies prepare in the future for both wildfire and grazing decisions that may help mitigate the effects of fire. He introduces a new monthly webinar for the growing season called “Reading the Tea Leaves”. https://www.fs.usda.gov/rmrs/events/tealeaves

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST

Fuelcast app, https://www.fuelcast.net/

Rangeland Production Monitoring Service, https://www.lankstonconsulting.com/rpms.

Wildfire Decision Support System, https://wfdss.usgs.gov/wfdss/WFDSS_Home.shtml

Transcript: https://bit.ly/33NOWNl

"We've overdone management and undervalued leadership." James Rogers is the manager of the Winecup Gamble Ranch in northeastern Nevada, one of the largest ranches in the country, spanning an area larger than Rhode Island. Tip and James discuss the history of the Winecup Gamble, pros and cons of large corporate ranches, their role in ranching and conservation communities, and unique challenges at the Winecup. James also talks about his management philosophy of taking care of people in order to get results on the land and in the commercial enterprise of cow-calf production. The conversation includes a large-scale outcomes-based grazing pilot permit with the Bureau of Land Management.

Learn more about the Winecup Gamble Ranch at https://winecupgambleranch.com/.

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TRANSCRIPT

The full transcript of this episode is available at: COMING SOON!

Restoring desirable native species and ecosystem function after wildfire is challenging and frequently unsuccessful. Land managers increasingly recognize the need to practice adaptive management of burned areas at both the project and regional scales. Acting on this recognition will require managers and scientists to develop a shared understanding of their roles and the challenges and opportunities they experience at each step in the adaptive management process. This symposium focused on how science for informing adaptive management of public lands is being co-produced by scientists and managers regarding the objectives of reducing exotic annual grasses, increasing desirable perennial plant communities, and reducing unhealthy fire frequency or fire size in sagebrush steppe. This symposium was part of the Society for Range Management's Annual Meeting in Denver in February 2020.

Laura Van Rieper, BLM Social Scientist at National Riparian Service Team, begins the symposium.

Matt Germino on post-fire rehabilitation research at 26:55.

David Pilliod on the Land Treatment Exploration Tool at 51:41.

Paul Steblein facilitating Q&A begins at 1:14:03.

Soda Fire research published by USGS is available at https://www.usgs.gov/staff-profiles/matthew-j-germino?qt-staff_profile_science_products=0#qt-staff_profile_science_products.

The Land Treatment Exploration Tool is at https://www.usgs.gov/centers/fresc/science/land-treatment-exploration-tool?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects.

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For more information on rangelands and rangeland science, visit globalrangelands.org/.

To learn more about the Society for Range Management, visit https://rangelands.org/.

Dr. Lauren Porensky is an ecologist interested in plant communities, herbivores, and spatial complexity. Her research focuses on balancing livestock production with conservation and restoration in semi-arid rangelands. Porensky got her PhD at UC Davis working on livestock management and wildlife conservation in central Kenya. She currently investigates the interactive effects of grazing, fire, prairie dogs, and variable weather on plants, livestock, and humans in the northern Great Plains.

This is a re-presentation of the plenary address Dr. Porensky delivered at the SRM annual meeting in February 2020. The accompanying PowerPoint slides are available as a PDF document at https://www.dropbox.com/s/kqkhypna7zupqtb/Porensky_plenary_handout.pdf?dl=0.

More information about Lauren's research can be found at https://www.ars.usda.gov/plains-area/fort-collins-co/center-for-agricultural-resources-research/rangeland-resources-systems-research/people/lauren-porensky/.

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Dr. Leslie Roche is a UC Cooperative Extension Specialist in Rangeland Science and Management with the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences. She earned a Ph.D. in Ecology from UC Davis, and was a USDA-NIFA Postdoctoral Fellow and Project Scientist before joining the faculty in September 2015. Her research and extension program is at the intersection of agricultural, environmental, and social issues of ranching and livestock production on California’s grazinglands. She works across diverse systems and uses interdisciplinary and collaborative approaches to evaluate adaptive decision-making and management strategies to address key challenges and connect solution-oriented research with the needs of local communities, natural resource managers, and policymakers. This is a re-presentation of the plenary address she delivered at the SRM annual meeting in February 2020.

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Stewart Breck is a research carnivore ecologist with the USDA-APHIS-WS National Wildlife Research Center and a member of the new Colorado State University Center for Human Carnivore Coexistence in Fort Collins. He has been focused on carnivore ecology and behavior and minimizing conflict between carnivores and people many years. The interview also includes Matt Barnes, a grazing consultant out of Colorado who works with the Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative and has a long history in the middle ground between ranchers and wildlife advocates.

Resources mentioned in the interview

CSU-Center for Human & Carnivore Coexistence series on wolves in Colorado:

https://sites.warnercnr.colostate.edu/centerforhumancarnivorecoexistence/projects/people-predators/

Colorado State University fact sheet, Wolves and Livestock:

https://extension.colostate.edu/topic-areas/people-predators/wolves-and-livestock-8-010/

Barnes paper on links between grazing management and preventing predation:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/290434755_Livestock_Management_for_Coexistence_with_Large_Carnivores_Healthy_Land_and_Productive_Ranches

Guidebook by Western Landowners Assn.:

https://westernlandowners.org/publication/reducing-conflict-with-grizzly-bears-wolves-and-elk/

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TRANSCRIPT

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For more information on rangelands and rangeland science, visit globalrangelands.org/

Ranching and rangelands are undergoing rapid and intertwined changes. Changes include ecological transitions due to climate and invasive species; land use transitions associated with urbanization and shifting priorities for public lands; demographic transitions reflected in the increasing average age and decreasing number of ranchers; and market transitions associated with changing consumer attitudes and globalized markets. Dr. Place discusses the importance of reconnecting consumers and food producers. Sara Place was recently a science advisor for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. This talk was recorded at the Society for Range Management annual meeting in February 2020 in a symposium titled: Strategies for sustainability transformations in western rangelands.

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For more information on rangelands and rangeland science, visit globalrangelands.org/

This is a presentation from the Society for Range Management's annual meeting in February 2020 in a symposium titled "Stakeholder Engagement to Improve Federal Rangeland Wildfire Mitigation and Response".

Rangeland wildfires have grown in size, frequency, and length of season due to factors that include increasing human use of rangelands, vegetation state change (e.g., cheatgrass invasion), drought, and climate change. Because western U.S. rangelands are largely managed by the federal government for multiple uses, and because wildfires frequently cross jurisdictional boundaries, implementing successful strategies to reduce wildfire risk and impact or to improve post-wildfire recovery is likely to require involvement by multiple actors beyond the federal rangeland management agencies. This symposium presents results of new research exploring options for engagement between land management agencies and multiple stakeholders to improve federal wildfire mitigation and response. Katherine Wollstein will present results from three BLM field offices showing how formal and informal arrangements and processes affect learning, interpretation, and subsequent implementation of management designed to reduce wildfire risk in Idaho.

Find out more about Katie Wollstein at https://www.uidaho.edu/cnr/policy-analysis-group/about/wollstein

Recent publications by Katie

--Davis, E. J., Abrams, J., & Wollstein, K. (2019). Rangeland Fire Protection Associations as disaster response organisations. Disasters. https://doi.org/10.1111/disa.12389. Available at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/disa.12389

--Abrams, J.A., K. Wollstein, and E.J. Davis. 2018. State Lines, Fire Lines, and Lines of Authority: Rangeland Fire Management and Bottom-Up Cooperative Federalism. Land Use Policy 75:252-259. Abstract at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0264837718300103

--Abrams, J.A., E.J. Davis, and K. Wollstein. 2017. Rangeland Fire Protection Associations in Great Basin Rangelands: A Model for Adaptive Community Relationships with Wildfire? Human Ecology 45(6):773-785. Abstract at https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10745-017-9945-y.

University of Idaho Policy Analysis Group publications are available at https://www.uidaho.edu/cnr/policy-analysis-group/research/publications.

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For more information on rangelands and rangeland science, visit globalrangelands.org/

When rangeland scientists question why those who manage ecosystems do not implement the information developed into action, the manager's concern is not centrally about the quality of data or information but rather the processes of knowledge production and implementation. Knowledge is a result of human reflection and experience, and it is most often found within an individual or collective routine or process that results in an increased capacity for decision-making and action to achieve some purpose. This definition stands in meaningful contrast to data, which refers to unedited descriptions or results of observations about states of past, present or future domains, or information about patterns that observers find or impose onto data that has been generated through experimentation.

Speaker is Neal Wilkins (East Foundation). https://eastfoundation.net/the-foundation/our-team/east-foundation-team/neal-wilkins-phd/

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For more information on rangelands and rangeland science, visit globalrangelands.org/

Karim-Aly Kassam is International Professor of Environmental and Indigenous Studies in the Department of Natural Resources and the American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University. His aim is to seamlessly merge research and teaching in the service of communities. His research focuses on the complex connectivity of human and environmental relations, addressing indigenous ways of knowing, food sovereignty, sustainable livelihoods, stewardship, and climate change. This research is conducted in partnership with indigenous communities such as the Standing Rock Sioux Nation (USA) and the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe (USA), as well as in the Pamir Mountains of Afghanistan and Tajikistan, the Kongur Shan Mountains of China, and the Alai Mountains of Kyrgyzstan. By investigating the relationship between biological and cultural diversity, Dr. Kassam seeks to expand the foundations of the notion of pluralism.

You can learn more about Dr. Kassam at his website, https://dnr.cals.cornell.edu/people/karim-aly-kassam/.

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For more information on rangelands and rangeland science, visit globalrangelands.org/