Rangeland Assessment and Monitoring Methods Guide

All Rangeland Assessment & Monitoring Methods Guide Topics

The current focus is on upland shrub steppe vegetation and topics include grazing management, vegetation mapping, weeds, juniper encroachment, seral stage and condition, and some limited treatment of wildlife habitat concerns. In the future we hope to expand the system to consider more topics and attributes of rangeland management. We welcome your feedback on important topics and questions to add to the system. If you would like to help us expand the scope of the methods guide and suggest additional questions, click here.

Browse topics by subject

• Ecological sites
• Energy development
• Fire
• Grazing management
• Land status or condition
• Rare or invasive species
• Recreation and transportation
• Response to management or disturbance
• Vegetation type
• Wildlife habitat

• Ecological sites (back to top)
  • Ecological site presence or distribution
• Energy development (back to top)
  • Presence of a species (including invasive species)
  • Cover of a species (including invasive species)
  • Density of a species (including invasive species)
  • Soil erosion due to wind or water
  • Impacts on soil properties like compaction or structure
  • Fragmentation or rangelands
  • Rangeland condition measured against a reference state
• Fire (back to top)
  • Severity of a burn
  • Abundance of fuels
  • Fire risk
  • Detecting burned areas
• Grazing management (back to top)
  • Level of utilization
  • Forage production
  • Impacts on soil properties like compaction or structure
  • Cover of bare ground
  • Changes in species composition or diversity
• Land status or condition (back to top)
  • Condition measured against a reference state
  • Seral stage or departure from a reference state
  • Vegetation or land-cover classification for mapping
  • Distribution of individuals among age classes
  • Change in bare ground cover
  • Change in soil erosion due to wind or water
  • Change in other soil properties
• Rare or invasive species (back to top)
  • Cover of rare or invasive species
  • Density of rare or invasive species
  • Status or change in population or patch size
  • Potential habitat for rare or invasive species
  • Distribution of rare or invasive species
• Recreation and transportation (back to top)
  • Presence of off-road vehicle use
  • Presence of a species (including invasive species)
  • Population size of a species (including invasive species)
  • Cover of a species (including invasive species)
  • Density of a species (including invasive species)
  • Soil erosion due to wind or water
• Response to management or disturbance (back to top)
  • Change in cover of a species
  • Change in density of a species
  • Change in population number
  • Change in species composition or diversity
  • Change in species distribution
  • Change in age-class distribution of a species
  • Change in biomass or production
  • Change in bare ground cover
  • Change in soil erosion due to wind or water
  • Change in other soil properties
• Vegetation type (back to top)
  • Condition measured against a reference state
  • Seral stage or departure from a reference state
  • Vegetation or land-cover classification for mapping
  • Distribution of individuals among age classes
  • Change in bare ground cover
  • Change in soil erosion due to wind or water
  • Change in other soil properties
• Wildlife habitat (back to top)
  • Distribution of habitat for a species
  • Habitat quality or condition
  • Vertical Structure
  • Habitat connectivity or fragmentation