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Rangelands are natural ecosystems where the native vegetation consists
predominantly of grasses, grass-like plants, forbs, or shrubs. Rangelands
include natural grasslands, savannas, shrublands, oak and pinyon-juniper
woodlands, many deserts, tundra, alpine communities, marshes, and wet
meadows.
It is important for land managers and
technical assistance specialists to be able to assess the status of
rangeland ecosystems in order to know where to focus management efforts.
The term Rangeland Health has become a publicly accepted term that relates
to status or rangelands. It is defined as “the degree to which
the integrity of the soil, vegetation, water, and air, as well as the
ecological processes of the rangeland ecosystem, are balanced and sustained.”
Integrity in this context means the “maintenance of the functional
attributes characteristic of a locale, including normal variability.”
In a collaborative effort, the Agricultural
Research Service (ARS), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Natural Resources
Conservation Service (NRCS) and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) have jointly
developed a system in which 17 indicators are used to gauge three attributes
of rangeland health; soil and site stability, hydrologic function and
biotic integrity.
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