scholarly journals Impacts of climate change on multiple use management of Bureau of Land Management land in the Intermountain West, USA

Ecosphere ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elaine M. Brice ◽  
Brett A. Miller ◽  
Hongchao Zhang ◽  
Kirsten Goldstein ◽  
Scott N. Zimmer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Land Management ◽  
Intermountain West ◽  
Multiple Use ◽  
Bureau Of Land Management ◽  
Multiple Use Management ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

Use of Public Rangelands in the American West

1979 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-62
Author(s):  
Thomas R. Vale
Keyword(s):  
Land Management ◽  
American West ◽  
Recent Trend ◽  
Land Policy ◽  
Multiple Use ◽  
Bureau Of Land Management ◽  
The Public ◽  
Poor Condition ◽  
Federal Land ◽  
Land Policies

The Bureau of Land Management, the land agency that administers much of the federal rangeland in the American West, has frequently been characterized as excessively responsive to the desires of ranchers, with resulting land deterioration and loss of resource values. Both the generally poor condition of the public domain, and the Bureau's attempt to maintain stocking levels while improving the range, support this characterization.Several policies and programmes over the last decade, however, suggest that the Bureau today is less strongly tied to the livestock industry, and certainly its lands are being increasingly coveted by groups other than grazers. This recent trend towards a more ‘multiple use’ agency has been strengthened by Congressional passage of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act in 1976. Whether or not diversification of land policies will continue into the future is, however, at present unclear.

scholarly journals Agreement and uncertainty among climate change impact models: A synthesis of sagebrush steppe vegetation projections

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott N. Zimmer ◽  
Guenchik J. Grosklos ◽  
Patrick Belmont ◽  
Peter B. Adler
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Land Management ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
The United States ◽  
Sagebrush Steppe ◽  
Forage Production ◽  
Bureau Of Land Management ◽  
Management Planning ◽  
High Consistency ◽  
Single Response

AbstractEcologists have built numerous models to project how climate change will impact rangeland vegetation, but these projections are difficult to validate, making their utility for land management planning unclear. In the absence of direct validation, researchers can ask whether projections from different models are consistent. High consistency across models based on different assumptions and emission scenarios would increase confidence in using projections for planning. Here, we analyzed 42 models of climate change impacts on sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt.), cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.), pinyon-juniper (Pinus L. spp. and Juniperus L. spp.), and forage production on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands in the United States Intermountain West. These models consistently projected the potential for pinyon-juniper declines and forage production increases. In contrast, cheatgrass models mainly projected no climate change impacts, while sagebrush models projected no change in most areas and declines in southern extremes. In most instances, vegetation projections from high and low emissions scenarios differed only slightly.The projected vegetation impacts have important management implications for agencies such as the BLM. Pinyon-juniper declines would reduce the need to control pinyon-juniper encroachment, and increases in forage production could benefit livestock and wildlife populations in some regions. Sagebrush conservation and restoration projects may be challenged in areas projected to experience sagebrush declines. However, projected vegetation impacts may also interact with increasing future wildfire risk in ways single-response models do not anticipate. In particular, forage production increases could increase management challenges related to fire.

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