Transcript Document

Sustainable
Rangelands
Roundtable
USDA May 21, 2003
Purpose Today
Introduce the Sustainable Rangelands
Roundtable
 Present Criteria and Indicators for
Sustainable Rangelands
 Briefly Outline Future Plans
 Panel Discussion with SRR Participants
about the Roundtable and Criteria &
Indicators

USDA May 21, 2003
Sustainability is defined with
respect to people.
USDA May 21, 2003
Sustainable Development
“…development that meets the needs of
the present without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet
their own needs.”
World Commission on Environment and Development,
1987
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Sustainable Rangeland
Ecosystems
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Sustainable Productive
Capacity
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Sustainable Communities and
Economies
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Sustainable Rangelands
Encompasses environmental and social
issues, as well as economic activity.
 Ensuring human well-being while
respecting ecosystem well-being and
the environmental limits and capacities.
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USDA May 21, 2003
Sustainable Rangelands
Roundtable
A stakeholders’ process for identifying a
set of criteria and indicators (C&I) for
assessing rangeland sustainability.
The C&I describe individual elements to
determine trends in resource conditions,
management, economic benefits, and
social values derived from rangelands.
USDA May 21, 2003
Sustainable Rangelands
Roundtable
Open, positive, future-focused
 Values and respects all opinions and
contributions of participants
 The group determines the outcomes
 Facilitated and interactive
 Uses Delphi process between meetings
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New SRR Mission
The SRR will promote social, ecological,
and economic sustainability of
rangelands through the development
and widespread use of the criteria and
indicators for rangeland assessments,
and by providing a forum for dialogue
on sustainability of rangelands.
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New SRR Vision
We envision a future in which:
Rangelands in the US provide a desired mix
of economic, ecological, and social benefits to
current and future generations
There are widely accepted and used criteria
and indicators for monitoring and assessing
the economic, social, and ecological
sustainability of rangelands
.
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Benefits of the Work of SRR

Common framework for monitoring and
assessing rangelands.
National, Regional and Local utility
 Across agencies
 Across land ownership
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Expand the understanding of rangeland
sustainability.
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Status of rangeland systems over time.
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Benefits of the Work of SRR

Improved efficiencies:
Direct monitoring efforts
 Development of common data collection
techniques
 Focusing research on developing methods
to measure indicators
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SRR Time Line

Twelve Meetings:

Four meetings in 2001; five in 2002; three in 2003.
Indicators designated by Oct., 2002.
 Identify data sources and needs: May 2002
through 2004.
 Report on Rangeland Sustainability Indicators –
May 2003.
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Http://sustainablerangelands.cnr.colostate.edu
USDA May 21, 2003
SRR Criteria & Indicators

Criteria and indicators described here
represent the current development.

The indicators may be refined as the
SRR advances towards a widely
accepted set for monitoring and
assessing rangeland sustainability.
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Conservation and Maintenance of
Soil and Water Resources

Soils influence hydrologic processes by
providing the medium for the capture,
storage, and release of water.

Flow of water through rangelands influences
soil physical and biological properties.

In most rangelands, water is extremely
limiting.
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10 Indicators
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Conservation and Maintenance of Plant
and Animal Resources on Rangelands
Plant & Animal Resources “reflects the
degree to which the integrity of the soil and the
ecological processes of rangelands are
sustained”
 Biodiversity .. “variety of life and its processes”
which encompasses “the variety of living
organisms, the genetic differences among them
and the communities and ecosystems in which
they occur”
 10 Indicators
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USDA May 21, 2003
Maintenance of Productive Capacity
on Rangeland Ecosystems
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Productive capacity … provide the current
generation with a wide variety of goods
and services depending on the mix
desired by society at any particular time
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Maintenance … that future generations
will be able to obtain their desired mix...
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6 Indicators
USDA May 21, 2003
Maintenance and Enhancement of Multiple
Economic and Social Benefits to Current and
Future Generations
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Socio-economic indicators provide a
measure of societal values reflecting
allocation of scarce economic resources.
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Economic indicators complement social
measures by assessing changes
resulting from adjustments in social,
ecological, legal, and political systems.
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28 Indicators
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Legal, Institutional, and Economic
Framework for Rangeland Conservation
and Sustainable Management
Support for sustainability through legal,
institutional and economic framework
 Capacity to monitor change in
sustainable management of rangelands
 Capacity in R&D for improving
management and delivery of goods and
services
 10 Indicators
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Future Direction: Five Goals
Continue criteria and indicator
development and refinement, including
data sets
 Coordination
 Enhanced outreach
 Sustainability research
 Funding and support
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Continued Criteria and Indicator
Development and Refinement
Expand efforts to identify data sets and data
set needs for indicators.
 Issues related to data sets:
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Data base management – content, format , and
structure
Definitions of rangeland and forests
Implementation and conversion of existing data
sets
Coordination of indicators between
roundtables
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Coordination

Agreements on roles and responsibilities
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Develop & promote assessment capabilities among
wide range of users.
Workshop on data sets, sources, gaps, and
data quality.
 Build coordination with other indicator
groups.
 Local & regional dialogue with stakeholders
 Work with other roundtables
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USDA May 21, 2003
Enhanced SRR Outreach

Develop examples using Criteria and
Indicators at different scales
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Individual meetings with agency
administrators and Congressional staff
annually.
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Encourage champions
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Rangeland Sustainability
Research
Research organization have defined
program emphasizing SRR criteria and
indicators by 2008
 Identify and prioritize SRR research
needs
 Work with funding groups to implement
program changes
 Periodic reviews of research needs
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A Strategic Course for the Future
An ambitious strategy for SRR
in 2003 and beyond.
A bold course for the SRR to
achieve its mission.
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Today’s Panel
Stan Hamilton, National Association of
State Foresters
 Bill Fox, Texas A&M University
 Lori Hidinger, Ecological Society of
America
 Larry Bryant, Forest Service
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USDA May 21, 2003