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 Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is tasked to manage their landscapes for multiple use.  In the Western United States, where many counties are predominately comprised of public lands, the use of these lands is critical to local economies. Changes in land management in response to climate change could have sizable impacts on rural economies across the West, however vulnerability assessments typically focus only on ecological systems. This project uses a cross-scale and mixed-methods approach to understand social vulnerability of land-based livelihoods, predominately ranching and recreation businesses that depend on BLM lands, through a spatial indicators approach, two local case studies, and a grey literature review. A review of BLM planning documents showed relatively minor incorporation of climate change into current planning documents, and even less consideration of how BLM responses to climate change could impact permittees. Our spatial indicators approach provided a statewide view of baseline vulnerabilities, relative dependence on BLM lands, and different types of dependencies across the state. Two case studies, comprised of interviews and document review, assisted to deepen this broad assessment and contextualize it. The resulting information suggests common permittee desires including greater flexibility, timelier range improvements, and better access to scientific information. By layering these analyses, we are able to get a more complete picture of how the BLM is currently integrating climate change into planning, which areas of Colorado are most dependent on BLM lands (and for which activities) and how decision-making in the context of climate change might impact BLM permittees.  

COORDINATING A NATIONAL RANGELAND MONITORING TRAINING PROGRAM: SUCCESSES AND LESSONS LEARNED. Baili M. Foster*¹, Sarah McCord², Emily Kachergis³; ¹Bureau of Land Management, Lakewood, CO, ²USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range, Las Cruces, NM, ³BLM, Denver, CO

One of the best ways to ensure quality of information gathered in a rangeland monitoring program is through a strong and uniform set of trainings. Curriculum development and delivery of monitoring trainings poses unique challenges that are not seen in academic settings. Participants come from a range of educational and experience backgrounds. Additionally, participants may only have the period of the training to receive the necessary instruction before fully implementing the protocol as part of their job duties. Consequently, careful consideration for content delivery and hands on learning activities is critical for active learning. We present the lessons learned from the Bureau of Land Management’s Assessment Inventory and Monitoring (AIM) training program with the partnership of USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range. The successes and lessons were developed from web-based and in-person trainings targeting BLM staff, seasonal staff, non-profit organizations, and academic partners for topics relating to data collection, analysis, database use and more. Consideration was given to the identification and education of both the target audience and the potential non-target audiences while taking into account the unique needs of adult learners. The AIM program has formatted training curriculum that addresses the needs of spatial, auditory, linguistic and kinesthetic learners. Challenges that impact training quality such as inconsistency in staff availability, a seasonal workforce, timing of data needs, phenology, and funding were also factored into the development of the training program. The importance of forming a training cadre and what factors should be assessed in this process has been an additional consideration. The final portion of the process was to review the most effective methods for assessing success. The training program of AIM is continually evolving, building on the success and lessons learned of the past to provide high quality information for rangeland management

SITUATION ASSESSMENTS: BRIDGING THEORY AND PRACTICE IN CONFLICT RESOLUTION AND COLLABORATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING. Laura Van Riper*; Bureau of Land Management - National Riparian Service Team, Prineville, OR

ABSTRACT

Some of the most controversial and politicized debates in the United States today concern the appropriate management of natural resources. Many of these issues are characterized by high levels of scientific and regulatory complexity, limited information for understanding the issues, and diverse and often competing values. Furthermore, they are interdependent problems that cannot be solved in relative isolation from one another; and they have a range of alternative solutions, each with different implications for people and resources. Some scholars refer to these issues as ‘wicked problems,’ and stress the need for ongoing dialogue and deliberation between scientific/regulatory experts and stakeholders in successful resolution.

Over time, the use of conflict resolution and consensus-based facilitation to foster collaborative problem-solving has become more common place in the natural resource arena. These types of approaches are grounded in the belief that if you bring the right people together, in constructive ways and with good information, they will develop reciprocal understanding, shared knowledge and mutual trust/accord and ultimately produce better decisions (more informed, effective, sustainable and accepted).

Organizing and launching a collaborative process can be a daunting task, especially when there are many parties involved. The person convening the process must first determine what possibilities exist to handle the issue in a collaborative manner. This requires conveners know who the parties are, understand their perspectives, gauge whether they are willing to ‘come to the table,’ and design a process that best meets the situation at hand. The likelihood of implementing a successful collaborative process largely depends on these early decisions.

EXPLAINING DIFFERENT LAND USE TRAJECTORIES IN THE CHIHUAHUA-NEW MEXICO BORDERLANDS. Tracy Hruska*; University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA

Conversion of rangeland to housing and irrigated crops continues to be a concern in the Southwest. This study was devoted to understanding dramatic differences in land use/land cover in the US-Mexico border region along northwestern Chihuahua and the Bootheel of New Mexico. While southwestern New Mexico has remained overwhelmingly devoted to raising cattle on native range, northwestern Chihuahua has undergone steady conversion of range to irrigated crops over the last several decades. Given that the two sides of the border share the same ecology – that of mixed Chihuahuan Desert grasslands and shrublands, why has land use varied so dramatically in recent decades? This question was answered primarily through extensive interviews with residents of Janos municipality, Chihuahua, and Hidalgo County, New Mexico. Land conversion in Janos has been driven by the conjuncture of three quite separate factors: a national land reform that fractured large ranches into smaller ones intermixed with newly-created agrarian communities; an influx of ethnolinguistically distinct farmers – Mennonites – with a strong cultural value for farming; and a system of groundwater regulation that does little to regulate groundwater. With none of these factors present in Hidalgo County, the region also retains relatively low land values and a strong cultural value for ranching. The future of Janos now depends on the (largely unknown) profundity of its isolated aquifer, while the Bootheel will be shaped by other factors. 

ARAB SPRING EFFECT ON LAND USE/COVER CHANGE OF JORDANIAN LANDS
. Mohammed N. Sawalhah*, Salman D. Al-Kofahi; Assistant Professor, Zarqa, Jordan

ABSTRACT

The influence of population growth and refugees settlements on land use change in Jordan has been assessed by using Geographic Information System and ENVI-supervised classification technique. Eleven Landsat 8 OLI Images (cloud free) were used to classify the whole Jordanian area. Maximum likelihood classification was applied to estimate rangeland, vegetation, urban, water and forest percentages for the period (2013-2015). After that, Landsat images were used also to classify the two major Municipalities lands in Jordan (Amman and Irbid) into urban, agricultural and undeveloped lands to investigate the spatial and temporal urban expansion on the agricultural lands for the period 2003-2015. During the first study, change detection technique was performed on both 2013 and 2015 images. Change detection analysis using remotely-sensed data revealed a marked expansion of urban area and a reduction in rangeland percentage especially, in north-western Jordan. Across the study period (2013-2015), Jordanian rangelands percentage decreased by 10.4%, forests by 0.4% and water by 0.5%. Meanwhile, urban area increased by 10.8% and agricultural lands by 0.5%. During the second study; across the study period (2003-2015), agricultural lands decreased by 13% and 10% and urban area increased by 16% and 12% in Amman and Irbid respectively. We attributed this change mainly to refugees settlement rather than to normal population growth rate. This settlement process increased the demand for food and water and accelerated the desertification process in Jordanian rangelands, especially those in the north-western part. Overall, We suggest initiating rigorous urban settlement and land conservation control programs to mitigate land degradation in Jordanian rangelands and agricultural lands. 

HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF THE SPOTTED HYENA IN ETHIOPIA . D. Layne Coppock*¹, Julie K. Young¹, Gidey Yirga², Marcus Baynes-Rock³; ¹Utah State University, Logan, UT, ²Mekelle University, Mekelle, Ethiopia, ³University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN

ABSTRACT

The spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) is the second-largest mammalian carnivore in sub-Saharan Africa.  This species has historically played an important role as scavenger and predator in wildland ecosystems, but as native habitats and prey have disappeared alongside steady encroachment of humanity, hyenas have adapted to a variety of human-dominated settings to find suitable den sites and food resources.  This includes shifts to preying on livestock and livestock carrion in pastoral areas and rummaging in refuse of growing cities and towns.  Ethiopia is an excellent example of this dynamic. And in some extreme cases where hyenas and people have shared resources for long periods of time, there is evidence from the literature that the hyena-human interaction can develop into a form of mutualism.  As part of a pilot assessment of hyena-human interactions in Ethiopia, we wanted to gain insights into hyena-human linkages concerning household economics, culture, and health.  We held focus groups and key informant interviews that incorporated feedback from 170 citizens residing in three distinct parts of the country: Mekelle, Harar, and Arba Minch.  Participants represented a wide array of religious, economic, and educational backgrounds and lived as urbanites or rural dwellers.  Results suggest that the hyena-human dynamic is highly variable across these locations.  While all participants recognized the importance of hyenas as scavengers to maintain a clean environment, there was pronounced variation in cultural perspectives—for example, while the people of Harar revere hyenas in spiritual terms, in Arba Minch they are regarded as nuisance animals. While hyenas are universally respected as a formidable predator, reports of livestock depredation and attacks on humans were few. This is despite that in Harar and Mekelle hyenas and humans co-occur at high densities and frequently encounter each other.  We conclude by exploring the implications of these findings for hyena management in Ethiopia.

SOCIAL AND LEGAL OBSTACLES TO PRESCRIBED FIRE USE ON PRIVATE LAND IN SOUTHERN GREAT PLAINS. J. Kelly Hoffman*¹, Thomas McDaniel¹, Lars Coleman¹, R. Patrick Bixler², Morgan Russell³, Urs P. Kreuter¹; ¹Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, ²University of Texas, Austin, TX, ³Texas A&M Agrilife Extension, San Angelo, TX

ABSTRACT

Grasslands and savannas in tropical and subtropical regions around the world are most commonly fire driven ecosystems. Prescribed fire is a powerful management tool for maintaining the integrity of rangelands and, depending on its intensity, is capable of shifting rangeland plant communities.  Despite the extensive history of prescribed fire use in the southern Great Plains of Texas and Oklahoma, this practice continues to face numerous social and legal obstacles to more widespread implementation on private land.

Past research into social obstacles points to a general reluctance by nonpractitioners to begin using fire due to the perception that deliberately igniting fire is inherently unsafe.  Others cite limited expertise and capacity as obstacles, specifically a lack of resources and personnel.   Some also point to a perceived lack of ‘ideal’ burn days throughout the year to execute multi-fire management plans.  Legal obstacles identified by past research frequently cite perceived excessive liability associated with the use of fire on private land in the event of an escaped fire.

Our research seeks to understand the extent to which these barriers as well as of other obstacles not yet noted in the literature inhibit more widespread use of prescribed fire in the southern Great Plains.  Preliminary findings indicate the influence of legal issues such as perceived liability vary greatly between geographic areas, while social issues such as capacity, expertise, and perceived ideal burn days are cited by a broad cross-section of practitioners and nonpractitioners alike.  Additionally, there seems to exist a lack of consensus as to what constitutes a legal burn during periods of high wildfire threat and county- or state-wide burn bans.

LITIGATION BETWEEN WESTERN WATERSHEDS PROJECT AND FEDERAL LAND MANAGEMENT AGENCIES

Lawsuits initiated by environmental groups that oppose grazing on public lands can be problematic for federal agencies. Information on lawsuits between federal land management agencies (Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Forest Service and Fish and Wildlife Service) and environmental groups is usually found only in law review, court documents and popular articles. This study summarized 15 years of litigation between the environmental group, Western Watersheds Project (WWP) and federal land management agencies. The results show that the number of appeals brought by WWP against federal agencies has not increased in recent years. In general, the BLM prevailed over WWP in most disputes heard in administrative court. Most of the court cases brought by WWP in Federal District Court concerned either management of specific grazing allotments or the Endangered Species Act (ESA). In 44% of district court cases, the agency prevailed or the case was dismissed, 30% were settled, in 10% of cases the decision was mixed, and in 16% WWP prevailed. WWP collected about 5.7 million dollars in attorney’s fees and court costs. Fees were paid by the ESA’s citizen suit provision or by the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA). EAJA fees are paid from the agencies’ budget. Usually, permittees did not lose their grazing rights nor were their grazing rights directly affected as a result of litigation unless their livestock operation was located in Idaho.

LONG-TERM VEGETATION, HYDROLOGY, AND EROSION RESPONSES TO TREE REMOVAL BY PRESCRIBED FIRE, CUTTING, AND MASTICATION IN SAGEBRUSH STEPPE.

Land managers across the western US are faced with selecting and applying effective tree-removal treatments on sagebrush rangelands, but current understanding regarding long-term ecohydrologic responses to tree removal remains inadequate.  This study used vegetation measures, rainfall simulations, and overland flow experiments to evaluate the impact of prescribed fire, tree cutting, and shredding tree-removal treatments on vegetation and hydrology and erosion processes at two sites 9 yr after tree removal.  All treatments were effective at recruiting sagebrush steppe vegetation, but burning also increased cheatgrass cover in isolated patches around burned trees.  High rates of runoff and erosion were reduced by tree removal treatments at one site, but were minimally altered at a second more degraded site.  Collectively, the study demonstrates that prescribed fire and mechanical tree-removal treatments can effectively re-establish sagebrush steppe vegetation attributes and improve hydrologic function, but also show that hydrologic recovery can require more than 9 yr on more degraded sites as vegetation increases over time.    

ECOYDROLOGIC CONNECTIONS IN WESTERN JUNIPER SYSTEMS. Carlos G. Ochoa*¹, Phil Caruso¹, Tim Deboodt², Grace Ray³; ¹Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, ²Oregon State University, Prineville, OR, ³Turner Enterprises, Inc., Bozeman, MT

Objectives of this study conducted in a western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis) dominated system of central Oregon were to: (1) evaluate tree canopy cover effects on effective precipitation and soil moisture recharge; and (2) assess surface water and groundwater connections in treated (juniper removed) and untreated watersheds. Detailed measurements of precipitation, tree canopy cover, and soil moisture were used to evaluate juniper interception and seasonal soil moisture fluctuations. Ephemeral stream runoff, springflow, and groundwater level data were used to characterize transient hydrologic connections within and out of the two watersheds. Results show that tree canopy cover was 29% at a watershed bottom location and 26% at an upstream hillslope location. On average, canopy interception was 44% at the bottom location and 36% at the hillslope location. In general, lower soil moisture values were obtained in the under-canopy locations when compared to the inter-canopy.

THE FATE OF SALT AFFECTED RANGELAND SOILS AND SURFACE WATER QUALITY USING RAINFALL SIMULATION. Awadis Arslan*¹, Sayjro K. Nouwakpo², Mark A. Weltz³, Colleen Green⁴, Kenneth McGwire⁵; ¹University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV, ²University of Nevada - Reno, Reno, NV, ³USDA ARS, Reno, NV, ⁴Bureau of Land Management, Denver, CO, ⁵Desert Research Institute, Reno, NV

Runoff on saline range soils is associated with transport of salts dissolved from the soil to the lowlands and surface waters causing water quality deterioration. In an attempt to quantify the amounts of salts leaving the soil profile, rainfall simulation experiments were conducted on saline sodic soils in the Upper Colorado River Basin. Four rainfall intensities on plots 2 m wide by 6 m long under dry soil moisture conditions was applied over a range of canopy cover and slopes in order to determine the effect of canopy cover and slope on the amount of salts transported with runoff. Three replications of each rainfall intensity was applied for a total of 12 plots. A plot was only evaluated under a specific rainfall intensity to avoid confounding effects of associated with multiple rainfall events and trying to associate salt movement into and through the soil profile from applied rainfall events. In this study, total salt balance was partitioned between that on the soil exchange sites and the soluble fraction in the saturated extract of surface soils. Salts were also quantified in the dissolved fraction in the runoff to calculate a total salt balance for the site. Canopy cover, slope and other experimental conditions influenced the salt partitioning processes via hydrology, erosion and soil property interactions. Results from this study will improve existing model such as Rangeland Hydrology and Erosion Model (RHEM) and others for predicting the possible deterioration of surface water quality as a result of rainfall on saline soils and suggest management practices of such soils in order to reduce their negative effect on surface water.

PROCESS-BASED MODELING OF UPLAND EROSION AND SALT LOAD IN THE UPPER COLORADO RIVER BASIN. Sayjro K. Nouwakpo*¹, Mark A. Weltz², Colleen Green³, Kenneth McGwire⁴, Awadis Arslan⁵; ¹University of Nevada - Reno, Reno, NV, ²USDA ARS, Reno, NV, ³Bureau of Land Management, Denver, CO, ⁴Desert Research Institute, Reno, NV, ⁵University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV

ABSTRACT

The Colorado River is a vital resource in the United States and Mexico but is susceptible to detrimental salinity levels with salinity-related damages estimated at $385 million per year.  Over 55% of sediment and salts entering the Colorado River is of natural origin with a significant contribution from accelerated soil erosion on federal rangelands. This suggests a significant potential to reduce dissolved-solids loading to the Colorado River through land and water-management activities on rangelands. In this study, we aim to develop parameter estimation equations that are valid on saline rangeland sites for use in the Rangeland Hydrology and Erosion Model (RHEM). ). Data from rainfall simulation experiments were used to develop these predictive equations. Along with traditional soil erosion measurement data, information on soil salinity and sodicity represented by Electrical Conductivity EC and Sodium Adsorption Ratio (SAR) were included in the parameter estimation equations to improve runoff and erosion modeling in salt-affected conditions. Runoff and soil loss prediction performances were assessed with the Nash-Sutcliff Efficiency (NSE), the coefficient of determination (R2) and the percent bias (PBIAS). These new developments will provide a physically-based modeling scheme to land managers for predicting rainfall-driven soil and salt load to surface waters of the Upper Colorado River Basin.

SPATIAL ASSESSMENT OF SALINE SOIL EROSION CONTRIBUTION TO UPPER COLORADO RIVER WATERSHED SALT LOAD. Travis W. Nauman*, Christopher Ely, Michael C. Duniway; US Geological Survey, Moab, UT