ARS | Publication request: Essays of a peripheral mind: Art and science

Submitted to: Rangelands
Publication Type: Trade Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: February 1, 2007
Publication Date: February 28, 2007
Citation: Havstad, K.M. 2007. Essays of a peripheral mind: Art and science. Rangelands. 29(1):36-38.

Technical Abstract: An important new technology for management of rangelands is a state-and-transition model. This is a description of the vegetation communities that may occupy an ecological site, a kind of land with similar potential and response to management. These models, developed by people with experience and knowledge of specific ecological sites, represents what a site may have supported in the past, or possibly what a site can be managed for in the future. These models represent both the science of rangeland management and human interpretations (or artistic expressions) that are of value. Rangeland management is correctly viewed as a combination of both art in management and a science based on recorded observations.