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ARS Home » Plains Area » Las Cruces, New Mexico » Range Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #254089
Title: Assessing transportation infrastructure impacts on rangelands: Test of a standard rangeland assessment protocol

Author
item Duniway, Michael
item Herrick, Jeffrey - Jeff
item PYKE, DAVID - Us Geological Survey (USGS)
item Toledo, David

Submitted to: Rangeland Ecology and Management
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/24/2010
Publication Date: 9/15/2010
Citation: Duniway, M.C., Herrick, J.E., Pyke, D., Toledo, D.N. 2010. Assessing transportation infrastructure impacts on rangelands: Test of a standard rangeland assessment protocol. Rangeland Ecology and Management. 63:524-536.

Interpretive Summary: We tested the sensitivity of a qualitative assessment protocol, Interpreting Indicators of Rangeland Health (IIRH), to impacts of roads, trails, and pipelines by surveying plots at three distances from these linear disturbances. We performed tests at 16 randomly selected sites in each of 3 ecosystems (Northern High Plains, Colorado Plateau, and Chihuahuan Desert). Results indicate that the IIRH technique is sensitive to direct and indirect impacts of transportation activities. Trends in degradation detected with qualitative assessments were highly correlated with quantitative data. Qualitative and quantitative assessments employed in this study can be used to assess impacts of transportation features at the plot scale. Through integration with remote sensing technologies, these methods could also potentially be used to assess cumulative impacts of transportation networks at the landscape scale.

Technical Abstract: Linear disturbances associated with on and off-road vehicle use on rangelands has increased dramatically throughout the world in recent decades. This increase is due to a variety of factors including increased availability of all-terrain vehicles, infrastructure development (oil, gas, renewable energy, and ex-urban) and recreational activities. In addition to the direct impacts of road development, the presence and use of roads may alter resilience of adjoining areas through indirect effects such as altered site hydrologic and eolian processes, invasive seed dispersal, and sediment transport. There are few standardized methods for assessing impacts of transportation-related land-use activities on soils and vegetation on arid and semi-arid rangelands. Interpreting Indicators of Rangeland Health (IIRH) is an internationally accepted qualitative assessment that is applied widely to rangelands. We tested the sensitivity of IIRH to impacts of roads, trails, and pipelines on adjacent lands by surveying plots at three distances from these linear disturbances. We performed tests at 16 randomly selected sites in each of 3 ecosystems (Northern High Plains, Colorado Plateau, and Chihuahuan Desert) for a total of 208 evaluation plots. We also evaluated the repeatability of IIRH when applied to road-related disturbance gradients. Finally, we tested the extent to which IIRH plot attribute departure classes are correlated with trends in a suite of quantitative indicators. Results indicated that the IIRH technique is sensitive to direct and indirect impacts of transportation activities. Trends in degradation detected with qualitative assessments were highly correlated with quantitative data. Qualitative and quantitative assessments employed in this study can be used to assess impacts of transportation features at the plot scale. Through integration with remote sensing technologies, these methods could also potentially be used to assess cumulative impacts of transportation networks at the landscape scale.