SUSTAINABILITY RESEARCH

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SUSTAINABILITY RESEARCH FOR RANGELANDS John E.
Mitchell Rocky Mountain Research Station
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Previous national assessments used range
condition as the sole measure of rangeland health
or sustainability.

In the 48 states, only 46 percent of the
rangelands are in fair or good condition. Note
Other categories are poor and very poor.
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Range condition BLM lands Excellent 4 Good 30
Fair 41 Poor 18 Forest Service
lands PNC 15 Late seral 31 Mid-seral 38 Ear
ly seral 15 Non-federal lands Excellent 4 Goo
d 31 Fair 47 Poor 17
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2000 Assessment On NFS lands
Meeting FPMO 48 Moving towards
FPMO 39 Neither meeting nor Moving towards
FPMO 13
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HIERARCHY THEORY Hierarchies are ordered systems
of constraint. Any level in a hierarchy must
communicate with lower levels in order to
constrain it. Levels of ecosystems Pedon,
site, landscape, watershed, physiographic region,
biome, nation, biosphere. Attributes Scale --
grain and extent Grain Threshold for smallest
attribute captured. Extent Upper threshold of
an observation protocol. A tradeoff exists
between grain and scale.
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• FREQUENCY OF BEHAVIOR
• - Systems have particular characteristic
  frequencies.
• - Monitoring must accommodate frequency of a
  systems scale.

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.
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1991 Ecological Society of America Sustainable
Biosphere Initiative

• Focuses on role of ecology in wise management of
  Earths resources.
• Calls for increases in fundamental research in
  three areas
• -Global change
• Biological diversity
• Sustainability of ecological systems
• At broadest scale Effects of land use patterns
• Feedbacks between ecosystem atmospheric
  processes

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FORUM SCIENCE AND SUSTAINABILITY Ecological
Applications Vol. 3 No. 4 Pages 545-589 1993
-Based upon paper in Science on resource
exploitation. Ludwig et al. 26017, 36.
1993. -Sustainability is a vague and elusive
notion. -Ultimate goal Leave to the future the
option or capacity to be as well off as we
are. -Sustainability requires attention to the
linkages among physical, biological, and
socioeconomic systems, and to the interface
between science and policy.
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HIGH-PRIORITY RESEARCH FOR HEALTHY ECOSYSTEMS AND
PEOPLE 1993 Symposium Research Affairs
Committee, SRM

• RESEARCH GOALS FOR
• 21st CENTURY
• - Provide water for multiple uses.
• - Develop environmentally-compatible,
• efficient livestock management systems.
• - Maintain and enhance riparian systems.
• - Develop vegetation management schemes
• that ensure ecosystem integrity
• - Provide wildlife habitat for a wide array
• of native species.
• - Understand the needs and direction of
• society in relation to rangelands.

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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. Ecological sites Site
conservation thresholds Site Conservation
rating sustainable and unsustainable Desired
plant community
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FORUM ECONOMIC GROWTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL
QUALITY Ecological Applications Vol. 6 No. 1
Pages 1-32 1996
Based upon a paper in Science on economic growth
and environment. Arrow et al. 268520-521.
1995. -Relationship between economic growth and
environmental quality? -Ecosystems limited in
capacity to absorb disturbance. Signals may not
allow anticipation of irreversible
changes. -Basic ecosystem services are not
substitutable Clean air, pure water, decompose
wastes, recovering from disturbance, CO2
balance. -Indices must be intuitively obvious and
fit needs of decision-makers.
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SRR Validates/develops indicators and measurement
protocols.
NRI / FIA / etc. Rangeland monitoring systems
incorporate new protocols.
no
yes
NATL ASSESSMENTS Monitors trends of SRR
indicators.
Are the indicators valid and useful?
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RMRS STUDY Assessed 67 Montreal Process
indicators. ? Applicability
to rangelands ? Which ones are
important ? Availability of data and monitoring
capability ? Needed research
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• SOME COMMON DENOMINATORS
• The concept of sustainability is not concise, but
  is important. There is agreement that it
  involves physical, biological, and
  socio-economic-political systems.

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• SOME COMMON DENOMINATORS
• The concept of sustainability is not concise, but
  is important. There is agreement that it
  involves physical, biological, and
  socio-economic-political systems.
• No Dow Jones of sustainable development or
  sustainability exists. Quantitative ecological
  and economic models are not adequate to address
  any measure of overall sustainability.

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• SOME COMMON DENOMINATORS
• The concept of sustainability is not concise, but
  is important. There is agreement that it
  involves physical, biological, and
  socio-economic-political systems.
• No Dow Jones of sustainable development or
  sustainability exists. Quantitative ecological
  and economic models are not adequate to address
  any measure of overall sustainability.
• Sustainability indicators are hierarchical
  because the systems they monitor are subject to
  the principles of hierarchy theory.