2007 Annual Report 1a.Objectives (from AD-416) Carry out cooperative rangeland research primarily addressing vegetation change induced by management practices and associated livestock responses to these changes on the Pawnee National Grasslands and adjacent rangelands. 1b.Approach (from AD-416) The Crow Valley Livestock Cooperative, Inc., (CVLCI) has the capacity to furnish each year at the times requested for each grazing season, the number of each class, sex, and weight of beef cattle needed for cooperative investigations involving grazing animals on the Central Plains Experimental Range (CPER). This organization has cooperatively participated in rangeland research at the CPER for the past 65 years. Cattle furnished by CVLCI will graze on experimental pastures in the manner and amounts deemed necessary for research purposes, including overgrazing a certain part of the rangeland, or application of other stress treatments, for comparison with other treatments. 3.Progress Report This report serves to document research conducted under a Non-Funded Cooperative Agreement between ARS and the Crow Valley Livestock Cooperative, Inc. Additional details of research can be found in the report for the parent CRIS 5409-22630-002-00D Rangeland ecosystems: characterization, management and monitoring. The objective of this cooperative work is to carry out cooperative rangeland research primarily addressing vegetation change induced by management practices and associated livestock responses to these changes on the Pawnee National Grasslands and adjacent rangelands. In FY 2007, Crow Valley Livestock Cooperative, Inc. provided approximately 3,735 animal unit months of grazing livestock for several research projects on the Central Plains Experimental Range of the Pawnee National Grasslands. All livestock weights obtained while the livestock were on the Central Plains Experimental Range were provided to the Crow Valley Livestock Cooperative, Inc., and experimental data from projects associated with these livestock was summarized and presented at monthly meetings as well as the Annual Meeting of the Crow Valley Livestock Cooperative, Inc. Livestock provided by Crow Valley Livestock Cooperative, Inc. facilitates our meeting of sub-objectives 1.1 and 1.2 of the parent in-house project. To ensure accountability in the mutual expectations of this collaboration, ADODR meets on a monthly basis with the Board of Directors of the Crow Valley Livestock Cooperative, Inc., to discuss research findings. In addition, ADODR presents a summary of the research highlights to the entire membership of the Crow Valley Livestock Cooperative, Inc., at their annual meeting in January.