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ARS Home » Plains Area » Las Cruces, New Mexico » Range Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #159647
Title: REMEDIATION RESEARCH IN THE JORNADA BASIN: PAST AND FUTURE

Author
item Herrick, Jeffrey - Jeff
item Havstad, Kris
item Rango, Albert

Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/5/2005
Publication Date: 7/1/2006
Citation: Herrick, J.E., Havstad, K.M., Rango, A. 2006. Remediation research in the Jornada basin: past and future. In: Havstad, K.M., Huenneke, L.F., Schlesinger, W.H., editors. Structure and Function of a Chihuahuan Desert Ecosystem. The Jornada Basin Long-Term Ecological Research Site. Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 278-304.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Land degradation in most of the Chihuahuan Desert is characterized by a shift from grass- to shrub-dominated plant communities. Consequently, most remediation efforts are focused on grassland restoration. Early experiments and trials focused on grazing management. Beginning in the 1930's and continuing through the 1980's, various methods of shrub control were evaluated. Early investigators had an intuitive and practical understanding of the system in which they worked. They saw the individual limitations to grassland recovery and attempted to address them. In order to be more successful than they were, we must begin to work at spatial and temporal scales relevant to the processes we hope to affect and target our interventions to those locations and during those periods when the processes are most susceptible to change. We must also, as the earlier workers did, simultaneously target multiple processes with the objective of increasing the resistance and resilience of the modified ecosystems.