Rangeland Health Assessments: Bringing it All Together
Rangeland Health Assessments: Bringing it All Together
So far we’ve broken down each portion of the rangeland assessment and now for the final step, we take all the information we’ve collected in the field and give it a score based on our findings. Each section is weighted and scored differently and the highest score achievable is 100/100. Once again, it is important to remember that score is considered a snapshot of that day and range health is constantly changing throughout the growing and grazing season.
For the vegetation section, we look at the plant communities and vegetation layers preset on the rangeland. This is previously discussed more in depth in the July Blog Post. The plant community is scored out 40 points in total and points are lost if the plant community begins to show alterations from the reference plant community.
Vegetation layers portion are worth 10 total points and when we use the reference term “considerably reduced’, it implies that the vegetation layer is reduced by more than 50% of the reference plant community. We also need to be aware of natural disturbances such insect damage, drought or fire that may cause missing layers in the plant community as well. Having a discussion with the landowners regarding the history and recent use of the land can be vital when scoring these sections.
For invasive and noxious weeds, we score two different aspects of them, the presence of them and the density distribution. This is important for future assessments when we are following up with landowners because if we do notice invasive weeds and the landowners are willing to implement measure for control and reduction of spread, we can use the first assessment as a benchmark for progress in the project. Both segments are scored out of a total of 5 points each.
After we finish looking at the vegetation, we move onto the Hydrologic and Soil Function scoring. First, we start with erosion. Like discussed in the August blog post, we must take into account what amount of erosion may be acceptable for that site and if erosion is present, is it naturally occurring or management caused? Once again, getting a thorough history of the land and its use, can give us insight to why we are seeing certain conditions on the land.
We also score out of 5 points, the amount of bare soil present and if that is what is to expected for this specific site. Ideally, we have little to no bare soil but some sites like sand and badlands are more prone to bare soil. We can do a quick calculation to determine if bare soil is management caused or naturally occurring by taking the observed bare soil and minus the expected bare soil for that site to determine how much of it is management caused.
Litter is one factor that is consistently changing throughout the grazing season and it is important to keep in mind that the rangeland health assessment are a snapshot of that day. We would like to see litter amounts fairly uniform across the entire site and again, it is entirely dependent on what ecosite we are evaluating. This section is scored out of 25 because litter is crucial for soil protection long term. Check out our entire blog post on litter here.
We can now add up each section for a total score out of 100. If the score falls from 100 to 75 points, that rangeland is considered healthy, if it is 50 to 74 then it is healthy with problems and anywhere under 50 points is considered unhealthy. Even if your rangeland scored healthy, it is important to make a plan to do your best to maintain or improve that score. If your rangeland scored healthy with problems or unhealthy, the SSGF can help to develop a plan to increase range health through various management techniques. This can include resting for longer, moving salt and mineral to change up grazing distribution, developing water in less utilized areas or cross fencing to protect sensitive areas.
Regardless of the score, range health is constantly changing and assessments are one of the many tools a landowner can use to see where they are at and make a plan moving forward. SSGF programming is designed to be non-prescriptive and easily applicable for the landowners and we value discussion with the landowners to find the solution or technique that works best for their operation. For more information about rangeland health documents and guides, visit Saskatchewan’s Prairie Conservation Action Plan website where they have numerous landowner resources including the latest version of the rangeland health assessment book.
Author: Mindy Hockley-Anderson