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ARS Home » Plains Area » Las Cruces, New Mexico » Range Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #399397
Research Project: Science and Technologies for the Sustainable Management of Western Rangeland Systems

Location: Range Management Research

Title: Patterns and trends of BLM natural resources: 10 years of BLM AIM data in action

Author
item LAURENCE-TRAYNOR, ALEX - New Mexico State University
item KACHERGIS, EMILY - Bureau Of Land Management
item GREEN, ADAM - Bureau Of Land Management
item McCord, Sarah
item REYNOLDS, LINDSAY - Bureau Of Land Management
item CAPPUCCIO, NICOLE - Bureau Of Land Management
item WHITTINGTON, RUTH - University Of Toledo
item REDECKER, NATHAN - Bureau Of Land Management
item ALEXANDER, PATRICK - Bureau Of Land Management
item Stauffer, Nelson
item SAVAGE, SHANNON - Bureau Of Land Management

Submitted to: Society for Range Management Meeting Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/6/2022
Publication Date: 2/10/2022
Citation: Laurence-Traynor, A., Kachergis, E., Green, A., McCord, S.E., Reynolds, L., Cappuccio, N., Whittington, R., Redecker, N., Alexander, P., Stauffer, N.G., Savage, S. 2022. Patterns and trends of BLM natural resources: 10 years of BLM AIM data in action. Society for Range Management Meeting Abstracts. Abstract.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: State-and-transition models (STMs) describe persistent plant communities and ecological conditions that are possible (the ‘state’) within a given abiotic setting. The drivers or actions that can cause shifts between states (the ‘transitions’) and are widely used to guide and inform resource conservation decisions. Data-driven STMs have been developed for some lands, but these efforts typically involve intensive field sampling campaigns that are difficult to expand to regional or national scales due to time and resource requirements. Here, we leverage newly available predictive maps of Ecological Site Groups in the Upper Colorado River Basin in the southwestern US and large field-based vegetation and soil cover monitoring databases (collected by the Bureau of Land Management, Natural Resources Conservation Service [NRCS], and National Park Service) in a repeatable workflow for developing data-driven STMs. We then used information from associated NRCS Ecological Site Description (ESD) STMs, process-based soil erosion models, remotely sensed productivity, and other available spatial information (fire, grazing, and land treatments) to provide further context and descriptions of the data-driven states, including likely drivers of transitions. Results suggest that ~39% of the monitoring data are in alternative stable states with reduced ecosystem services. Common drivers of state transitions or restoration identified is ESDs include livestock management, fire, land treatments, and drought. States characterized by perennial grass loss were associated with higher soil erosion risk and reduced richness. Areas subject to wildfire and open to livestock grazing had greater proportion of plots in invaded states and fewer in perennial grassland states, supporting drivers identified in ES STMs. The workflow described here can serve as template for development, documenting, and mapping ecological dynamics at regional scales, which we foresee as critical information for meeting land conservation and climate change mitigation priorities.