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

The ecologically rich strategic location of savanna grasslands of Cameroon within Sub Saharan Africa, endows it with immense rangeland resources and fertile agropastoral landscape. Principally this study aims at portraying the ethnic diversity and related socioeconomic and cultural challenges towards securing sustainability and resilience in rangeland resource management among pastoralist and indigenous peoples tenure systems. Over time immemorial, rangelands and grazing activities such as transhumance have remained the major practice in the savanna grasslands of Cameroon as any part of in sub Saharan Africa. The evaluation of sociocultural, economic, environmental, and ecological challenges towards securing sustainability and resilience in rangeland resource management among pastoralist and indigenous peoples tenure systems are very significant on governance and decision-making processes.  We also look at the implications of transhumance on wetlands ecosystem and habitat following intensive and unsustainable seasonal pastoralism in a mixed farming area. Culturally, the indigenes have learnt and are fully involved in cattle rearing which was formally a Fulani ethnic group practice. The latter became sedentary and have also learnt to devote themselves to agriculture. And so, we can go a long way to suggest that securing pastoralism, land rights and building participatory approaches such as Community based management systems (CBMS) for sustainable rangeland management can be the way forward. In Cameroon, rangelands are considered as no man’s land and classified as state lands that are formally recognized as communal lands meant for 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. Problems of tenure security and grazing rights are amongst the leading problems faced by pastoralists such as undefined boundaries, unsecure pastoral tenure, land grabbing, trespassing, land use conflicts (farmer-grazier conflicts), and recently challenges of weed management.

INTRO TO AIM: A CORE APPROACH TO MONITORING FOR MANY USES. Melissa D. Dickard, Emily Kachergis*; BLM, Denver, CO

The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring (AIM) program was created to provide consistent, high quality information to support management and decision-making across the agency. Information empowers land managers to use public rangeland resources sustainably.  Importantly, AIM data also facilitates working with stakeholders by establishing a common language for understanding resource condition. The AIM approach consists of five core principles informed by lessons learned from past monitoring efforts. These are: core indicators with standard data collection methods; electronic data capture and management; appropriate sample designs; structured implementation; and integration with remote sensing. The AIM principles provide a consistent framework and tools for field offices, state offices, and the Washington office to collect information to support decision-making. 

INFORMING THE CONDITION OF BLM NATURAL RESOURCES: FROM PERMITTED USES TO NATIONAL LEVEL REPORTING

Under the Federal Land Policy Management Act, BLM is to manage the National System of Public Lands for multiple use and sustained yield. Sustained yield is to be assessed through periodic and systematic inventory of renewable resource condition and trend. The BLM’s Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring Strategy (AIM) is being implemented to provide the Bureau with high quality monitoring data to inform decisions from the scale of permitted uses, to resource management plan effectiveness, and on up to national scale reporting. In this talk, we will present how implementation of the AIM principles (e.g., use of consistent indicators, sampling methods and statistically appropriate sample designs) is allowing the BLM to meet its multi-scale data needs. Specifically, we will show case how individual field offices are using AIM monitoring to set potential natural conditions, from which restoration and reclamation effectiveness efforts are being assessed, and resource management plans are being modified or developed. The use of a single monitoring strategy to meet multiple information needs maximizes the return on monitoring investments through creating efficiencies in terms of training, data storage, and analytical resources.     

DEFENSIBLE DATA: MAKING GRAZING MANAGEMENT DECISIONS IN THE 21ST CENTURY. Daniel Zvirzdin*; Bureau of Land Management, Elko, NV

Since in the late 20th century, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has struggled to make grazing management decisions in a timely manner. This has hampered the BLMs ability to fulfill its mission: to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. Although BLM regulations and federal laws and policies guiding grazing management have remained largely constant since the turn of the century, steady litigation has progressively slowed the grazing decision process. One liability common to many cases is the quality of BLM monitoring data. In an effort to improve data quality and make better informed decisions, the BLM adopted the Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring (AIM) program. In the last five years, the AIM program has been a primary driver in improving the defensibility of the data the BLM collects. Perhaps as important as this direct effect, the fundamental changes AIM brought to the BLM monitoring program have given specialists within the BLM the perspective necessary to identify and address other weaknesses in the grazing decision process. 

EVALUATING POST-FIRE RESTORATION TREATMENT EFFECTIVENESS WITH AIM. Andrew C. Johnson*; Bureau of Land Management, Susanville, CA

As the size and severity of wildfires across the Western United States has increased, the cost and magnitude of post-fire restoration efforts has increased as well. The Department of the Interior (DOI) spends roughly 2% of its Wildland Fire Management budget on Burned Area Rehabilitation (BAR). Although implementation of post-fire restoration treatments is expensive and labor intensive, the tracking of post-fire restoration treatment effectiveness has been sparse and disjointed across the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The BLM’s Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring (AIM) program offers a standardized framework to implement, monitor and track treatment effectiveness; inform adaptive management; and direct local management decisions.  The BLM California’s Eagle Lake Field Office used AIM to assess the success and failure of restoration treatments following the 2012 Rush Fire. The Rush Fire burned 315,557 acres, roughly one third of the public land managed by the Eagle Lake Field Office. In the winter of 2012, the Eagle Lake Field Office aerially seeded 24,000 acres by helicopter and drill seeded 3,000 acres with a rangeland-drill. In 2013, the Eagle Lake Field Office began monitoring the aerial broadcast and rangeland-drill seeding sites using AIM. In the Eagle Lake Field Office, AIM has provided a standardized framework to evaluate treatment effectiveness with quantitative benchmarks and in the context of broader landscape condition. By using realistic and applicable quantitative benchmarks, the Eagle Lake Field Office assessed the success of treatments and altered future management practices to incorporate lessons learned. This approach represents a framework for the structured and standardized implementation and evaluation of post-fire restoration treatments within the BLM. 

USING MULTIPLE LINES OF EVIDENCE TO INFORM GRAZING MANAGEMENT
. Cassie Mellon*¹, Scott W. Miller², Justin Jimenez¹, Robin Jones³; ¹Bureau of Land Management, Salt Lake City, UT, ²Bureau of Land Management, Denver, CO, ³National Aquatic Monitoring Center, Logan, UT

ABSTRACT

The Salt Lake Field Office of the BLM is working to change grazing management on multiple allotments in Rich County, Utah. The area provides habitat for sensitive species including Bonneville cutthroat trout and greater sage-grouse. To conduct a Rangeland Health Assessment in support of a grazing use authorization, we gathered all available data. We included field data collected over a 7-year period at a mix of random and targeted locations on streams within the allotments. From these data, we derived several indicators of instream and riparian habitat condition. The resulting assessment was based on data from eight sites

A FRAMEWORK FOR NEPA ANALYSES USING AIM DATA. Joel Humphries*¹, Ben Billings², Zoe Davidson³; ¹BLM, Lakewood, CO, ²BLM, Monte Vista, CO, ³BLM, Sante Fe, NM

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring (AIM) data provides new opportunities to augment information used in National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analyses to determine if land health standards are achieved to provide information for grazing permit renewals. We outline a framework of how to incorporate AIM data into NEPA Affected Environment and Impact Analysis sections using current AIM data analysis tools.  First, we discuss how synopses of AIM data like Environmental Site Summaries or frequency distributions describe baseline conditions in the Affected Environment section of NEPA, with examples from the San Luis Valley Field Office in CO.  Implementing the framework begins when an interdisciplinary team (IDT) establishes quantifiable benchmarks, ideally identified in current Resource Management Plan or Land Health Standards. Ecological site descriptions, policy, reference networks, and scientific literature can also inform benchmarks. AIM data within the analysis area are then evaluated against these benchmarks to determine if the monitoring and management objectives are met. In conjunction with AIM data analysis, the IDT determines additional lines of evidence as needed for the NEPA impact analyses. As appropriate, additional AIM data at random or  targeted locations, use-based data, remote sensing data, and wildlife data are all considered in this multiple lines of evidence analysis to help in determining the land management decision. Second, we discuss how AIM data can be used in the Impact Analysis section to report on what resources are meeting, or not meeting land health standards or other  appropriate quantifiable management objectives.  By providing additional site and landscape scale information, AIM data can be used to improve NEPA analyses using quantitative data and provide better information to land managers.

APPLICATION OF ASSESSMENT, INVENTORY, AND MONITORING DATA TO A GREATER SAGE-GROUSE HABITAT ASSESSMENT IN OREGON. Molly Anthony*, Christopher Domschke, Glenn Frederick, Robert Pattison; Bureau of Land Management, Portland, OR

ABSTRACT

In 2015, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) committed to conducting multi-scale habitat assessments for Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) across BLM managed lands in the west.  The first full implementation of this policy was conducted in 2017 by the Lakeview Field Office for the Beatys Butte area in south-central Oregon and north-central Nevada.  This Sage-Grouse Habitat Assessment Framework (HAF), multi-scale summary report (mid-, fine-, and site-scale) informs the Rangeland Health Assessment associated with the livestock grazing permit renewal for allotments within the fine-scale area.  The site-scale analysis evaluated sage-grouse seasonal habitat conditions using indicators derived from vegetation data collected in 2016 following Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring (AIM) protocols.  AIM points used in this analysis came from the Lakeview Field Office sample design with intensification in Sagebrush Focal Areas, and in the allotment where the permit renewal was occurring.  The indicator values were used to determine site-scale suitability ratings for each plot. Core AIM indicators and supplementary indicators from the Oregon Greater Sage-Grouse Approved Resource Management Plan Amendment contributed to the suitability rating.  The site-scale habitat suitability determinations were then used to estimate the proportion of suitable, marginal, and unsuitable area in sage-grouse seasonal use areas within the Oregon portion of the fine-scale boundary. Mid- and fine-scale analyses evaluated Greater sage-grouse habitat conditions at the regional and sub-regional scale.  The estimated proportion of sage-grouse breeding, summer and winter habitat within the fine-scale analysis area that was suitable was 74.1%, 88.1%, and 93.9% respectively.  The fine-scale area was determined to be suitable, because anthropogenic disturbance is low and availability of habitat does not limit dispersal potential between seasonal use areas.  The mid-scale area was also determined to be suitable, primarily due to the composition of large occupied and contiguous patches of sagebrush, and sagebrush associated vegetation, land cover. 

MULTI-SCALE WIND EROSION MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT FOR US RANGELANDS
. Nicholas Webb*; USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range, Las Cruces, NM

ABSTRACT

Wind erosion is a major resource concern for rangeland managers. Although wind erosion is a naturally occurring process in many drylands, land use activities, and land management in particular, can accelerate wind-driven soil loss – impacting ecosystem dynamics and agricultural production, air quality, human health, biogeochemical cycles, and climate. Wind erosion has large variability in space and time, and as a consequence is difficult to monitor effectively in ways that can support its management. Existing US air quality monitoring programs provide indicators of wind erosion intensity (e.g., particulate matter [PM] concentrations) and associated benchmarks (e.g., Clean Air Act) are regulated federally but provide no information about which landscapes are eroding, but how much, or when. Standardized rangeland monitoring programs like the BLM’s Assessment, Inventory and Monitoring (AIM) Strategy and the NRCS’s National Resources Inventory (NRI) collect information about soil properties (texture) and vegetation (foliar cover, canopy gap size, height) that, coupled with remote sensing products and numerical models, can be used to estimate wind erosion and dust emission rates across spatial scales to better inform management. Here I present an overview of the National Wind Erosion Research Network and ongoing efforts to develop decision-support tools that connect existing soil, vegetation and air quality monitoring programs to provide information to federal agencies and the public about wind erosion rates. I demonstrate how core indicators used in the AIM and NRI monitoring programs can be integrated to assess dust emission rates; enabling air quality, human health and ecosystem impacts of dust to be linked to changes in range condition and benchmarks for rangeland management. I then describe how AIM and NRI data can be used to interpret remote sensing-driven model estimates of wind erosion and understand interactions with land use and management activities across ecological sites.

PRIORITIZATION OF RESTORATION ACTIONS WITH MULTI-SCALE INFORMATION: AN ESCALANTE RIVER WATERSHED CASE STUDY

Numerous datasets are available to public land management agencies for prioritizing aquatic restoration efforts, but their use has been limited by inadequate data access and/or a lack of guidance of how to integrate the data into a decision support framework.  The objective of this work was to use the Escalante River Watershed (ERW) in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument as a case study to show how public land managers can use multi-scaled information to prioritize restoration and conservation actions.   The Colorado Plateau Rapid Ecoregional Assessment (REA) estimated ecosystem intactness at the subwatershed scale, as well as anthropogenic drivers for observed departures.   Aquatic Assessment Inventory and Monitoring (AIM) was then used to characterize drivers of aquatic condition at specific locations within these subwatersheds.  This case study provided insights about the limitations of the scale of data in land management assessments.  The REA data can show drivers of aquatic intactness (e.g., hydrologic alteration and habitat quality) at the subwatershed level, but cannot be used to determine causes of departures from reference conditions at specific locations within a subwatershed and therefore aid in deciding what restoration actions are appropriate at the project scale.  Aquatic AIM data can help to identify physical, biological, and chemical conditions at specific locations and provides some insight into the cause of departure from reference conditions so that land managers can prioritize restoration and conservation projects.  Local knowledge from resource specialists and data gathered from watershed partner groups was also important for determining causes of departure.  This study was an important first-step in developing guidance for assessing aquatic condition using multi-scaled data and for setting up a functional decision support framework that will aid public land managers in aquatic restoration project prioritization.  Decision support tools will be developed that show how to incorporate these data into management decisions.

ASSESSING VEGETATION CHANGE THROUGH TIME: BRIDGING SVIM AND AIM THROUGH LANDSAT

Rangeland environments in the Great Basin are undergoing changes associated with invasive species, altered fire regimes, climate shifts and other disturbances. Some changes are expressed as state transitions in vegetation, whereas others are more subtle trends in cover. These changes have important ecological and economic implications and understanding the drivers of change has become an important area of research. We used thousands of historic (1977–1982; Soil Vegetation Inventory Method) and recent (2011–2016; Assessment Inventory and Monitoring) field plot data collected by the Bureau of Land Management to determine the amount of environmental change occurring on rangelands in the Great Basin and assess what factors are having the most influence on these trends. We combined discrete field sampling data with spatially-continuous annual data from Landsat satellite imagery (1984–2016) to map and quantify vegetation and exposed soil changes in grasslands and shrublands. Preliminary results suggest that some areas of the Great Basin are changing more than others and much of this change can be attributed to wildfire. Results also suggest that some areas have remained relatively stable through time. Areas of vegetation stability could be used as reference areas to better evaluate future changes in vegetation and soil. 

APPLYING AIM TO ASSES RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLAN EFFECTIVENESS IN THE RAWLINS FIELD OFFICE. Brad Tribby*, Cheryl l. Newberry; BLM, Rawlins, WY

The Rawlins Field Office (RFO) is located in southcentral Wyoming and encompasses 3.5 million surface acres of BLM land often within a mixed landownership pattern. The RFO includes over 400 miles of perennial stream systems managed for multiple use.  Predominant land uses in the area include energy development, cattle grazing and wildlife. The RFO Resource Management Plan (RMP) was signed in 2008, however no standardized monitoring programs existed for the field office. In 2016, the RFO determined that BLM’s Assessment, Inventory and Monitoring (AIM) program would be a useful tool for RMP effectiveness evaluations.  The AIM program was chosen because it provides a standardized process for BLM to collect quantitative information on the status, condition, trend, amount, location and spatial pattern of resources on the nation’s public lands.  In two years the RFO has sampled 172 upland sites and 84 riparian sites. Examples of Resource Management Plan effectiveness in the upland sites is grouping the sagebrush habitat plots into Special Focus Areas, Priority and General Habitat Management Areas for Greater Sage-Grouse and evaluating habitat quality.  The aquatic sites are being grouped by stream type and being evaluated for overall habitat quality and land health standard attainment. 

IDENTIFYING PRIORITY STRESSORS AND MAKING CAUSAL DETERMINATIONS: COLLABORATIVE MONITORING WITH AIM

. Jerrad Goodell*¹, Scott W. Miller², Justin Jimenez³, Robin Jones⁴; ¹Bureau of Land Management, Vernal, UT, ²Bureau of Land Management, Denver, CO, ³Bureau of Land Management, Salt Lake City, UT, ⁴National Aquatic Monitoring Center, Logan, UT

ABSTRACT

Aquatic Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring (AIM) data collected by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) suggested that perennial streams in Carbon and Emery counties of Utah exhibit increased nutrient loading and conductivity levels. Observed values exceeded state water quality standards and therefore did not meet BLM land health standards. However, water quality field data collection was limited to one-time grab samples collected in the summer during low flows, potentially leading to elevated concentrations. Based on aquatic AIM data, the BLM Green River District in 2017 coordinated with the Utah Division of Water Quality to collect monthly water samples within in Carbon and Emery counties to further address potential water quality exceedances following state guidelines. The goals of this monitoring were to determine 1) what is the spatial and temporal extent of water quality impairments, and 2) which land uses and ownership are most strongly associated with changes in water quality. The selection of sample locations was informed by Colorado Plateau Rapid Ecoregional Assessment modeling efforts that associated potential water quality exceedances with land uses such as agricultural activity, hydrologic alteration and oil and gas development. We will assess the attainment of state water quality standards using the temporally intensive sampling data and relate spatial patterns to both land use activities and ownership such as the percent agriculture cover, amount of irrigation return flows, density of oil and gas wells and urban area upstream of the sampling points.

SCIENCE BASED MANAGEMENT: USING THE BLM’S AIM STRATEGY TO MONITOR FUELS AND VEGETATION MANAGEMENT PROJECTS
. Casey P. Addy*; Bureau of Land Management, Salt Lake City, UT