Proceedings brand creation for a prescribed fire culture – utilizing key social media parameters. Lars Coleman*1, J. Kelly Hoffman1, Thomas McDaniel1, R. Patrick Bixler2, Urs P. Kreuter1, Morgan Russell3

Native plants and seeds are increasingly sought after by federal, state, and private land managers in Nevada and on rangelands throughout the intermountain west. Native plant materials are believed to increase the likelihood that restoration and post-fire rehabilitation projects will be successful at restoring desired ecological function. We will examine the demand for native plant materials in Nevada for the 10-year period 2005-2014 and identify challenges to the development of a robust native seed industry in Nevada related to the level and variability of demand.

NATIVE GRASS SPECIES AND SOURCE IDENTIFIED GENETICS. Matthew Benson*; BFI Native Seeds, Moses Lake, WA

ABSTRACT

“Better Seed Through Genetic Preservation,” has been the motto for our firm from the start. We have Shifted our focus from an agronomic paradigm to an ecological one which has created success on a scale in restoration projects never experienced. Grasping the difference in purpose and genetics between agronomic and ecological concepts is critical for the producer. End-users and producers should have a unified communication chain rather than a disintermediated commodity production process because separating production from the restoration project will not work. The final pieces of the complex puzzle of ecological restoration, now, must find market functions that can support the technical weight of an ecological system approach - not yield per acre, not largest restoration site size, but sustainable and robust plant communities into the future.

SUSTAINABLE LIVESTOCK GRAZING ON PUBLIC RANGELANDS – WHY NOT? Kenneth W. Tate*¹, Kristin M. Oles², Dave A. Weixelman³, Leslie Roche⁴; ¹University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, ²University of California Davis, Davis, CA, ³US Forest Service, Nevada City, CA, ⁴University of California, Davis, CA

ABSTRACT

In the western U.S., millions of hectares of perennial grasslands, shrublands, and forestlands are held in the public domain and managed by state and federal agencies for multiple land uses, including livestock grazing. Society has strong contemporary expectations for stewardship of public rangelands to balance agricultural goals with social, cultural, and conservation goals in a changing environment. Since the mid-20th century, public grazing lands policy and management paradigms have moved to increasingly integrate agricultural and conservation goals. While there is clear evidence that livestock can be managed to conserve and enhance ecosystem services in grazed landscapes, there is also clear evidence that unmanaged, excessive grazing can degrade ecosystems and associated goods and services. Modern conservation management strategies (e.g., adoption of annual grazing standards or disturbance limits) have been implemented to better balance conservation and livestock production objectives. During the period 2000-2015, livestock animal unit months on federal lands has been reduced by 15% on average across the 11 western states, with extremes of 67% and 36% in Wyoming and California respectively. We propose that to achieve balance between agricultural and conservation goals, public lands grazing strategies must (1) establish and co-value measurable production and conservation objectives; (2) have real-time management action triggers to safeguard ecosystem services; and (3) be adaptive to accommodate spatially and temporally variable, site-specific conditions.

WHO'S RANCHING ON PUBLIC LANDS? THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF PUBLIC LAND RANCHERS . Bree N. Lind*¹, John Tanaka², Kristie Maczko²; ¹Y2 Consultants, Jackson, WY, ²University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY

ABSTRACT

Reliable information documenting characteristics of public land ranchers is needed to help land managers and policy makers understand ranchers’ economic and social validity, the diversity of operations, and the contributions to local communities. A survey was administered to gather these data. Data were collected at both the national and Wyoming levels.

Cluster analysis was used to determine different rancher groups in both studies and the groups were then compared to one another. Rancher attributes gathered from survey responses were used as factors in determining the different cluster groups. These attributes included: values, debt-asset, ranch labor, ranch income, business organization, number of livestock, education, and community involvement. In the national study six distinct rancher groups were found. They included the small operation rancher, the sheep rancher, the family cattle rancher, the corporate rancher, the diversified agriculture rancher, and the cattle and sheep rancher. In the Wyoming study, four distinct rancher groups were found. These rancher groups were the small cow-calf rancher, the sheep rancher, the yearling rancher, and the large cow-calf rancher. It was found that ranchers are diverse and can be classified into different groups based on the information collected.  Different groups respond differently to federal lands grazing policies. This information should be considered when making policy or land management changes.
 

RANCHER PERCEPTIONS OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES FROM INTERMOUNTAIN WEST RANGELANDS

Rangelands managed for livestock grazing are expected to provide additional ecosystem services to the public. Ranchers with public land permits are required to consider resources other than forage in their management; often they also do so on their own properties. We studied how ranchers perceive the ecosystem services on lands they manage. Semi-structured interviews conducted in the tri-state region of Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming yielded three principal motivations driving management choices: livestock production, heritage and legacy preservation, and control of one’s own destiny. In addition a list of 19 ecosystem services was derived from discussions with interviewees. These themes and services were then used to guide development of a mail survey administered to a sample of 1,000 Bureau of Land Management permittees whose livestock graze on lands located across the Great Basin. Responses were obtained from 44% of ranchers receiving the survey. Results supported the importance of the three principal management motivations. Forage production, family legacy, and sustainable flows of clean water were the services rated most important. More than 90% of respondents also indicated that demonstrating good stewardship to the public or other ranchers was one of their management objectives. Contrary to previous studies, there was no clear preference for provisioning ecosystem services over other types (regulating, supporting, cultural). Ranchers tended to reporting managing for a larger suite of ecosystem services if they rely upon relatively large information networks for management information, depend upon their livestock operation for more than half of household income, and maintain a herd larger than 300 head. Overall, ranchers are aware of how their operations can affect or enhance ecosystem services, and will manage in ways that can support other services if forage production is not threatened. However, ability to manage for other services is constrained by factors inherent to the ranching operation.

LIVESTOCK GRAZING AND WATER QUALITY ON PUBLIC GRAZING LANDS - IMPLICATIONS FOR HUMAN AND ECOLOGICAL HEALTH.

There continues to be great concern that microbial pollution by grazing livestock degrades water quality on multiple-use rangelands, threatening human and ecological health.  Given the importance of clean water on these shared landscapes and the impending changes to federal and state recreational water quality standards, there has been growing stakeholder interest in research on relationships between microbial water quality and common resource use activities on public lands. Fecal indicator bacteria (FIB), such as Escherichia coli (E. coli) and fecal coliform, are commonly used as indicators of microbial water quality and risk to human health. We will discuss several recent studies that quantified FIB concentrations in watersheds containing U.S. Forest Service public lands grazing allotments throughout the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges in California. Results of these studies were used to characterize FIB concentrations throughout multiple-use watersheds and to assess the compatibility of current land uses with state and federal water quality standards. Examined primary land uses included livestock grazing, recreation, and rural residential areas. Sampling took place during the summer grazing-recreation season to capture the peak period of human and livestock interaction. Samples from stream sites throughout each watershed were collected regularly over the sampling periods and were processed according to established protocols. Results from these studies indicate that well-managed livestock grazing, recreation, and clean water can be compatible goals on National Forest grazing allotments.

GRAZING FOR FUEL AND FIRE MANAGEMENT ON PUBLIC LANDS.
. Kirk W. Davies*; USDA - Agricultural Research Service, Burns, OR

ABSTRACT

Large, frequent wildfires are becoming more common in the Intermountain West.  Exotic annual grass dominance is a serious threat across the sagebrush ecosystem, particularly in hotter and drier plant communities.  Clearly, fuel management is needed, but sagebrush rangelands are expansive.  Grazing by domestic livestock is likely the only treatment than can feasibly be applied across such large landscapes.  Well-managed grazing reduces fine fuel loads and continuity, increases fuel moisture, and decreases fuel heights.  Grazing alterations to fuel reduced the likelihood of initial ignition and fire spread.  These changes to fuel characteristics also reduced fire behavior, temperature, and duration of elevated temperature.  This resulted in reduced fire severity, in particular, less mortality of perennial vegetation.  Subsequently, grazing decreased the risk of post-fire exotic annual grass dominance compared to ungrazed areas.  These results demonstrate that grazing can be a valuable tool for fuel and fire management in rangelands.        

LARGE UNGULATE HERBIVORY ON RANGELANDS OF THE INTERMOUNTAIN WEST

Large ungulate grazing is one of the most ubiquitous uses of rangelands in North America. Specifically, livestock grazing occurs across most public rangelands in the Western US.  Federal rangeland managers are tasked with managing livestock grazing and balancing livestock and wildlife uses through proper grazing management. Quantifying and managing the impacts of ungulate herbivory on western landscapes can be a multi-faceted challenge.  In the Western US unique challenges arise because wildlife are owned by states and habitats are largely managed by federal land management agencies. While federal land managers are not responsible directly for the wildlife they do have to manage for both wildlife habitats and livestock production.  By analyzing data collected from a series of large livestock and wildlife exclosures we will outline individual and combined impacts of cattle and wild ungulate grazing on structure and composition of sagebrush dominated communities, including how soil properties moderate wild ungulate-driven changes to sagebrush stand structure. Our results will help managers untangle the complex ungulate foraging interactions.

CHALLENGES TOWARDS GOVERNANCE AND DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES IN EMPOWERING AND SECURING SUSTAINABLE USE OF RANGELAND RESOURCES AND MANAGEMENT IN CAMEROON

In Cameroon, efforts towards governance and decision-making processes to ensure security of access to rangeland resources generally lack action to improve tenure, resource security and improvement of rangeland management. Rangelands occupy about 20 % of surface area in Cameroon; provide critical habitat to many animal and plant species; offer many vital goods and services to society and are home to pastoralists, agro-pastoralists, crop farmers, fishermen, and hunter-gatherers, who for centuries co-existed peacefully. Efforts to improve tenure and resource security, and rangeland management have involved and targeted different stakeholders and have employed different strategies to do so. In recent years this harmony is being threatened by changing land use patterns, poor land use planning and poor recognition of ownership rights. There have also been a number of valuable initiatives, processes, mechanisms and/or practices from which important lessons can be learnt to guide further developments. Despite efforts by state and non-state actors to improve pastoral tenure security little has been achieved because of poor coordination among actors and a complete absence of opportunities to document and or showcase these good initiatives. Generally, traditional pastoralist such as the Mbororo Fulani pastoralists are marginalized from development processes and most are uneducated having poor access to public services. However, cultural development associations have been working to improve the status and livelihoods of the natives. Capacity building of paralegals and community volunteers have been one of the cornerstones of these programs. Trainings have been supported in basic legal procedures, advocacy, and counselling, conflict resolution and human rights. This study, supported by the ILC Rangelands Initiative, sought to identify, review and analyze the different initiatives that are contributing/have contributed in making rangelands more secure.

CHALLENGES TOWARDS RESOLVING LAND USERS CONFLICT AMONG PASTORALISM AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ TENURE SYSTEMS IN RANGELAND. Bongadzem C. Sushuu*¹, Stephen K. Ndzeidze², Elhaj Jaji M. Gidado³, Richard A. Mbih⁴, Harry M. Wirngo¹; ¹University of Yaounde 1, Yaounde, Cameroon, ²Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, ³Secretary General - Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries, Yaounde, Cameroon, ⁴Assistant Professor, University Park, PA

ABSTRACT

In Cameroon rangelands are often characterized by a wide range of phenomena and activities that lead to conflicts and ecological change. Resolving land users conflict among pastoralism and indigenous peoples’ tenure systems in rangeland have remain one of the major preoccupation of among farmers and grazier in Cameroon. Uncontrolled livestock movements are the major cause of overgrazing, declining ecosystem productivity, widespread and dangerous agro-pastoral conflicts. Pastoralists are capable managers of rangeland resources, because they understand the physical environment and challenges towards indigenous tenures systems, rights and access to communal pastureland. Increasing population densities compunds conflict between user groups of agro-pastoral landscape. Though today Farmer-grazier conflicts and pressure have increasingly been challenged by new conflicts such as increasing population and changing landuse patterns, pastoralist and indigenous people are still able to deal with these problems through the traditional authority. However, if given the right support and access to opportunities like dialogue platforms can improve conflict management among pastoralism and indigenous peoples’ tenure systems in rangeland. These platforms show how local methods of conflict resolution can be built on to provide a greater opportunity for rangeland users to continue to contribute to even control, decision-making processes. In Cameroon, there exist functioning customary conflict resolution mechanisms, however, the state has developed its own mechanism for resolving conflicts that are less embeded in local institutions. Pastoralist-farmer alliances has been developed to facilitate resolution of land use and resulting conflicts with support from NGOs. Resolving conflicts also requires working at different levels, as part of a coordinated strategy of engagement. Some issues need to be resolved at local levels and others at national or even international levels. For example, resource and landuse conflicts at the local level in northern Cameroon are being aggravated influx of thousands of refugees from Central Africa Republic and Nigeria.

EMPOWERING AND SECURING PASTORALISM, LAND RIGHTS AND BUILDING PARTICIPATORY APPROACHES (CBMS) FOR SUSTAINABLE RANGELAND MANAGEMENT. Harry M. Wirngo*¹, Stephen K. Ndzeidze², Elhaj Jaji M. Gidado³, Richard A. Mbih⁴, Bongadzem C. Sushuu¹; ¹University of Yaounde 1, Yaounde, Cameroon, ²Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, ³Secretary General - MINEPIA - Cameroon, Yaounde, Cameroon, ⁴Assistant Professor, University Park, PA

Rangelands remain one of the socio-economic and ecological backbone and major land use type of Cameroon. It sustains varied livestock on diverse ecosystems ranging from wet meadows, inland valleys to upland plateaus. Empowering and securing pastoralism, land rights and building participatory approaches for sustainable Rangeland management is very important for rangelands in Cameroon. Rangelands and good number agropastoral areas are considered as no man’s land and classified as state lands that are formally recognized as communal lands meant for use by all and to which different individuals, groups or communities attribute variable more or less appreciative perceptions. Pastoralism is dominated by open free ranging with uncontrolled movement with degradation continuously being noticed. Undefined boundaries, unsecure pastoral tenure, land grabbing, trespassing, farmer-grazier conflicts, degradation, poor range products and more recently challenges of weed management, climate variability and range improvement are current management problems. The elaboration of a pastoral code due to the evidence based-advocacy in the local graziers in the area can be a way of transforming local actions to policy reforms. This can be a major step in ensuring pastoral tenure security. This base will enable communities to act. Rangeland management, land use planning, restoration of degraded lands, weed management or in summary local resource governance can therefore be pursued with a solid base. The existing social disposition in terms of institutions is the grouping of graziers in grazing zones called ardorates with the leader being the Ardo, a Fulani spiritual leader for they essentially dominate grazing in the area. It is this evidence based local communal organization that can reach out to resource users, coordinate behavior and negotiate change and improvement with development agencies. Community based management systems (CBMS) can be created on this existing base of institutional frameworks existing in the area with a delimitation of grazing zones.

EMPOWERING WOMEN AMONG THE FULANI PEOPLE THROUGH COMMUNITY BASED MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS OF MULTIPLE-USE OF RANGELAND RESOURCES

The empowering of women through development agencies and community based management systems (CBMS) for sustainable use of multiple rangeland resources among the Fulani people is increasingly becoming a focal point of women right in Cameroon. The Fulani pastoralists of the Western Highlands of Cameroon are a sub-group of the Fulbe, a wider pastoral group whose members are dispersed across Sub-Saharan Africa. They migrated and settled in the Western Highlands of Cameroon in the early periods of the 20th century at different times and migratory waves. Since their arrival in the region, they have experienced different stages of settlement transformation due to the changing socio-economic and ecological conditions influencing their nomadic lifestyle. In Fulani households, women were often relegated in most agro-pastoral task, and are only involved in the milking and selling of cow-milk alongside smaller livestock and animal products like chicken and eggs, while men are responsible for doing almost all the agro-pastoral jobs, sponsoring the cultivation of both tree, cash and food crops around their settlements. Recently, Fulani women’s involvement in agricultural activities has increased as they farm and cultivate crops alongside their male counterparts at the same scale. Despite Fulani agro-pastoral interactions with their host farming and mainstream communities, their minority position in terms of population, and nomadic lifestyles has often contrasted with native cultures and state politics in the region who still perceived them as strangers. Their marginalization was the basis for the creation of Mbororo socio-cultural development association (MBOSCUDA) by Fulani youths, which encouraged the education of Fulani children and empowering women through capacity building, development agencies and CBMS for sustainable use and management of rangeland resources. Such CBMS approaches have facilitated cross-cultural integration and empowerment of Fulani women through complementarities and mutual co-existence over shared landuse resources, and promoting Fulani economic diversification in the region.

FORMULATING AND SECURING SUSTAINABLE RANGELAND/WATERSHED AGROFORESTRY THROUGH COMMUNITY BASED MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS (CBMS) STRATEGIES

In the savanna grasslands of Cameroon, rangeland tree-based practices are new opportunities in market oriented sustainable resource management with enhanced land stewardship for improved integrated practices such as community based management systems (CBMS). Such prospects are only noticed where there is some institutional and organizational framework and strategies for grazing and livestock management. The common pool nature of rangelands in the Western Highlands watershed pushes most pastoralists to very unsustainable practices like excessive overgrazing with no plough back efforts to improve the range. Pastoralist are very independent with no checks and security of tenure, and compounded by open range grazing system on community land, we now have the growing problem of invasive weeds. Grazing activities are dominated by the Fulani Mbororo pastoralist who arrived the western highlands of Cameroon by 1916, but the indigenous people mostly involved in agricultural activities have increasingly engaged in grazing activities. Sylvopastoralism that combines tree/shrubs with forage (hay or pasture) in livestock production is fast emerging across several grazing zones as the most reliable integrating form of management to ameliorate the persistent degradation of the rangelands management. Though without existing institutions and structures to organize and coordinate the agroforestry activities for sustainable management, there is the need for formulating and securing sustainable tree/grass planting through CBMS strategies for integrating trees in grazing management. Agroforestry is a major challenge but is crucial for future rangeland improvements. To ensure the security of livestock production systems therefore, large-scale adoption and establishment of agroforestry with multi-purpose trees that are vital for watershed ecosystem management and protection is vital. Challenges to formulating and implementing agroforestry is partly because of lacked policies to ensure afforestation of watershed grazing land. Community grazier groups can be harness into small cooperatives within which different aspects about agroforestry management can be established

CHALLENGES TOWARDS GOVERNANCE AND DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES IN EMPOWERING AND SECURING SUSTAINABLE USE OF RANGELAND RESOURCES. Stephen K. Ndzeidze*¹, Elhaj Jaji M. Gidado², Richard A. Mbih³, Bongadzem C. Sushuu⁴, Harry M. Wirngo⁴; ¹Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, ²Secretary General - MINEPIA - Cameroon, Yaounde, Cameroon, ³The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, ⁴University of Yaounde 1, Yaounde, Cameroon