Location: Range Management Research
Project Number: 3050-21600-001-119-I
Project Type: Interagency Reimbursable Agreement
Start Date: Jun 16, 2025
End Date: May 20, 2030
Objective:
The Rangeland Analysis Platform (RAP) is a remote-sensing based data product that empowers landowners and resource managers to track vegetation through time, equipping people with the information they need to improve America’s grazing lands. RAP provides rangeland vegetation cover and production data served up in an easy-to-use web application, but the data are also available through Google Earth Engine and FTP sites. RAP allows rangeland practitioners to evaluate vegetation through space and time and at a variety of spatial scales (30 m to CONUS). RAP is a rangeland management and monitoring tool intended to be used alongside local data and knowledge to develop sustainable rangeland management strategies and implement climate smart practices. RAP helps users analyze the outcomes of land management actions and plan for future actions, such as evaluating the impacts of drought on perennial forage on both seasonal and yearly scales, identifying where to implement future restoration treatments, or evaluating the effectiveness of restoration treatments. RAP is currently maintained and operated by the USDA Agricultural Research Service, Jornada Experimental Range in collaboration with Partnerships in Data Innovation.
Approach:
RAP is actively used in BLM NEPA analyses and in planning efforts. It is important that RAP data and web tools remain available for use by BLM staff to support decision making. In FY25, ARS RAP work will expand datasets previously produced for 1986-2024 to:
1. Produce RAP 10 m and 30 m cover and production models for the calendar year 2025 (16-day intervals for the production data, annually for the cover data).
2. Make RAP 1986-2025 data accessible to BLM users through web apps (rangelands.app), Google Earth Engine assets, and direct file download.
3. Work in collaboration with BLM state, NOC, and program staff to support BLM users of RAP.
4. Develop guidance on the use of fractional cover products in analysis.
5. Develop and strengthen interagency partnerships with BLM, NRCS, USFWS, USFS, and more to support the use of fractional cover in land management.