Project Number: 5409-11000-003-08
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Aug 01, 2007
End Date: Jul 31, 2010

Objective:
Assess how converting Conservation Reserve Program lands to grasslands managed for domestic livestock grazing and no-till croplands effects elements of C Cycling, particularly system CO2 exchange and hydrology. This research will be conducted at the USDA-ARS Rangeland Resources Research Unit, Crops Research Lab, Ft. Collins, CO, the Dept. of Soil and Crop Sciences and the Natural Resource Ecology Lab., Colorado State University. Projects will be collaborative efforts, in which both the Cooperator and ARS co-lead in the preparation, planning, and the execution of experiments.

Approach:
Eddy-covariance towers will be operated for a final year on the Jim Curtis ranch to better evaluate inter-annual variability in grassland carbon and water dynamics in grazed and un-grazed treatments, and the change in carbon stocks, and carbon and water fluxes, during restoration of the dry-land agricultural treatment to grassland. During this project the long-term flux data base will be processed and analyzed and results will be summarized and interpreted in regard to the impacts of grazing and cropping system practices on ecosystem functioning, with an emphasis on the C Cycle. Results will be disseminated via peer-reviewed publications and meetings and through outreach effort to land owners and public land managers.