Source: UNIV OF IDAHO submitted to NRP
SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, AND ECOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS OF GRAZING UTILIZATION AND TIMING ON RIPARIAN HABITAT IN THE INTERMOUNTAIN WEST
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
ACTIVE
Funding Source
AFRI COMPETITIVE GRANT
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1021142
Grant No.
2020-67020-31340
Cumulative Award Amt.
$495,000.00
Proposal No.
2018-06883
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
May 1, 2020
Project End Date
Apr 30, 2026
Grant Year
2020
Program Code
[A1401]- Foundational Program: Soil Health
Recipient Organization
UNIV OF IDAHO
875 PERIMETER DRIVE
MOSCOW,ID 83844-9803
Performing Department
Nancy M. Cummings REEC
Non Technical Summary
Environmental pressures alter ecological, economic, and sociological goods and services produced by ecosystems. Often, management of environmental pressures requires making trade-offs between ecosystem services provided. The diversity of user groups within ecosystems, particularly on public lands, often results in varied perception of the intended outcomes of management decisions and stakeholder groups being impacted in diverse ways. Grazing by livestock in arid and semi-arid rangelands is an environmental pressure that can potentially influence ecosystem functioning and service production, including availability of forage and water, presence of biodiversity, and resilience to other environmental pressures, such as invasive species (Stella and Bendix 2019). The ecological consequences that specific grazing management practices can impose also have socio-economic implications, as many rural communities in the western U.S. are agricultural or resource-based. Although the intent of rangeland management is to simultaneously create ecological, economic, and social benefits often management practices are enacted without complete understanding the multi-faceted implications.Our long-term goal is to inform rangeland management policy to enhance ecological and socio- economic productivity of rangelands in the western U.S. by identifying and assessing the ecological, economic, and social trade-offs and synergies created by grazing management of riparian systems. We will focus on riparian systems within semi-arid rangelands in southern Idaho and western Wyoming, where ongoing research by our team and stakeholder relationships are well-established. Rangelands in this region face many ecological, economic, and social pressures, including livestock grazing, drought, invasive species, climate change impacts, and competing stakeholder interests.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
1210330107060%
1210330301020%
1210330308020%
Knowledge Area
121 - Management of Range Resources;

Subject Of Investigation
0330 - Wetland and riparian systems;

Field Of Science
1070 - Ecology; 3010 - Economics; 3080 - Sociology;
Goals / Objectives
Our multidisciplinary research project will identify trade-offs and synergies among ecosystem services of ecological, economic, and social value created by grazing management in riparian systems. We will evaluate whether altered timing or intensity of use by livestock produces different trade-offs or synergies among any ecosystem services relative to complete removal of grazing within riparian systems, and relative to control sites that experience no recent change in management. Our research will address the following objectives:Identify the historical ecological trends and outcomes for ecosystem services resulting from changes in grazing management practices that were intended to support and improve riparian habitat.Estimate the economic impacts of grazing management on livestock producers and determine how incentives created by grazing management impact environmental pressures resulting from ranch production decisions.Determine the ecological, economic, and social well-being trade-offs of grazing management of riparian systems as perceived by key stakeholder groups.
Project Methods
Objective 1. Identify the historical ecological trends and outcomes for ecosystem services resulting from changes in grazing management that were intended to support and improve riparian systems.Grazing allotments (n ≥ 20) in southern Idaho and western Wyoming managed by Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will be selected for evaluation of riparian condition. Grazing permits associated with selected pastures will have been altered in response to declining condition of riparian systems within at least the previous 5-18 years (i.e., 2002 - 2015) and will include the following scenarios: a reduction in allotted AUMs in a pasture (RED; n ≥ 5); a change made to the allotted season of use from July or August grazing to June grazing (SEAS; n ≥ 5); or suspension/non-use of grazing in the pasture (NO; n ≥ 5). Additionally, pastures that have grazed the same number of AUMs and during the same season of use since approximately 2002 will serve as the control (CON; n ≥ 5). To be selected, the pastures must meet the following criteria: 1) if grazed, permitted grazing must occur between June 1 and August 31, 2) have three or more historical datasets evaluating riparian condition (see methods below), 3) have records of actual annual AUMs and actual dates grazed, and 4) have a designated monitoring area (DMA) on a stream that is ≤10 m wide (USDOI 1997). Sampling will be stratified by field office if possible, or minimally by Major Land Resource Area (MLRA), to account for expected spatial variation in responses to grazing.Responses of riparian systems to grazing management will be evaluated through vegetation monitoring, which will be compared with historical data associated with each DMA.We will also evaluate the historical and current trends in the distribution and extent of riparian areas in our selected allotments through time by using existing vegetation occurrence data and high resolution imagery for Idaho and Wyoming byquantifyingtheextent and distribution of riparian areas during 2002-2020 and comparisons across years will be during 2004- 2020 to assess baseline conditions before changes to grazing management.Objective 2: Estimate the economic impacts of grazing management on livestock producers and determine how incentives created by grazing management impact environmental pressures resulting from ranch production decisions.?An economic evaluation of the impacts of grazing management will estimate the economic outcomes for a key group of stakeholders and inform production practices to minimize any negative impacts of imposed grazing policy. In addition, the analysis will identify if grazing management intended to improve riparian system condition on public lands creates incentives for overutilization of private lands, or even negate the intentions of conservation efforts.We will use a multi-period linear programming (MLP) model to estimate optimal production decisions and long-run economic outcomes for a representative ranch.Objective 3: Determine the ecological, economic, and social well-being trade-offs of grazing management of riparian systems as perceived by key stakeholder groups.To fully understand the social and cultural ecosystem service trade-offs created by grazing management, we will conduct semi-structured qualitative interviews to assess the perspectives and knowledge claims of multiple stakeholder groups (Creswell 2011). The project will engage multiple rangeland user groups (including agency managers, landowners, livestock producers, interest group representatives, and community leaders & planners) to respond to questions about rangeland riparian systems: i) how are riparian systems perceived as valuable (what ecosystem services do they produce)?; ii) how does grazing management impact the production of specific ecosystem services (increase, decrease, and by what magnitude)?; and, iii) which grazing management scenarios are most effective in improving riparian systems?

Progress 05/01/23 to 04/30/24

Outputs
Target Audience: The target audience for this project are stakeholders with involvement in public land management, such as policy makers, landowners, management agencies and conservation groups. The key indicator of success will be how these stakeholders, especially rangeland managers and livestock producers, use the results in land management. Additionally, we will share results through scientific journals aimed at peers. Peer groups include rangeland ecologists, wildlife biologists, animal scientists, economists, and sociologists.? Changes/Problems: During this reporting period, we have attempted to hire another PhD student towork on the ecological component of the project with no success. We have been in discussions about how to best streamline the data collection and analyses to complete the project, and will search again for a suitable student to work on the project. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? To-date, our project has provided us the opportunity to mentor two PhD students and one Master's student. In addition to taking relevant courses, these students researched relevant literature, developed detailed protocols for data collection. The two PhD students were working on the ecolocial activities of this project. Unfortunately, the first PhD student had to leave the program for health reasons in 2022. The second PhD student was hired fall 2022, but subsequently took a position elsewhere and left the program in April 2023. We are actively seeking another person to fill the ecological position. Dr. Lee'sMaster's student completed their degree through working onthe economic components of this project. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? At this time, we do not have results to share. We continue to reach out to communities of interest to gain input to make this project as relevant to stakeholders as possible. Additionally, pilot interviews with multiple producers were completed to test the sociological interview guide. This pilot test was informative for refining the interview guide and also gave the team stakeholder insight at a deeper level for other project components. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Although our search for a student has proved difficult, prior to the next reporting period, we willhire another student to work on the ecological portion of the project. Once hired, the person working on the ecological portion of this project will have opportunities over the coming field seasons to hire field technicians (undergraduate students), from which they can gain valuable training in field sampling techniques and data management and organization. Additionally, historical aerial imagery will be collected and analyzed for selected sites. The research group will develop novel techniques to combine remote sensing observations with ranch-level economic simulation models. Focus groups, interviews and surveys for the economic and sociological components of the project will continue to support the ecological field data collection. Students on this project be given opportunities to develop their presentation and speaking, scientific writing and design, and project leadership skills.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Ecological activities: Between January 2021 and April 2024, we worked with Bureau of Land Management field offices in Idaho, Wyoming, and Oregon to identify sites for data collection based on our criteria, including current ecological conditions, historical management and availability of historic field data. Most of the study sites have been preliminarily selected and some site visits have been completed for on-the-ground validation. Economic activities: We utilized Landsat-based plant productivity estimates in riparian areas to create a time-series dataset of forage production, which is input into an economic model that simulates optimal production decisions for a 300-head cattle ranch facing environmental and economic constraints to determine how grazing in riparian habitats changes production decisions at the ranch level. We parameterized the economic model to represent a 300-head cow-calf livestock operation within the study area using regional prices and production costs. Annual forage productivity estimates (AUMs/acre) for grazed summer forage is input into the model as a constraint. The numerical linear programming model optimizes the mix of production inputs (hay acreage harvested, supplemental feed purchased, grazing utilization) annually and reports net revenues that collectively inform how a producer can optimally respond to forage constraints and the economic impacts (ranch profitability) of those production constraints. Sociological activites: We evaluated the sampling scale for multiple project geographies to launch qualitative interview data collection; performed revision and team review of draft interview guide, including stakeholder input on key themes and approaches for data collection emphasis areas; ran a pilot test of interview guide with multiple producers in face-to-face interview settings; and completed preliminary cleaning and coding of pilot interview data. More recently, we conducted supplemental social science interviews within the study area, identified preliminary coding for qualitative interview analyses, and initiated contacts for coordination on social science interviews.

Publications


    Progress 05/01/22 to 04/30/23

    Outputs
    Target Audience:The target audience for this project are stakeholders with involvement in public land management, such as policy makers, landowners, management agencies and conservation groups. The key indicator of success will be how these stakeholders, especially rangeland managers and livestock producers, use the results in land management. Additionally, we will share results through scientific journals aimed at peers. Peer groups include rangeland ecologists, wildlife biologists, animal scientists, economists, and sociologists. Changes/Problems:During this reporting period, thePhD student working on the ecological component of the projectaccepted another position and left the project. Due to the change in personnel for a second time, the team is actively seeking to hireanother person for the ecological portion of the work.We have been in discussions about how to best streamline the data collection and analyses to complete the project on schedule. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?To-date, our project has provided us the opportunity to mentor two PhD students and one Master's student. In addition to taking relevant courses, these studentsresearched relevant literature, developed detailed protocols for data collection. The two PhD students were working on the ecolocial activities of this project. Unfortunately, the first PhD student had to leave the program for health reasons in 2022. The second PhD student was hired fall 2022, but subsequently took a position elsewhere and left the program in April 2023. We are actively seeking another person to fill the ecological position.Dr. Lee has hired aMaster's student, who is actively working on their program with the economic componentsof this project. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?At this time, we do not have results to share. We continue to reach out to communities of interest to gain input to make this project as relevant to stakeholders as possible. Additionally, pilot interviews with multiple producers were completed to test the sociological interview guide. This pilot test was informative for refining the interview guide and also gave the team stakeholder insight at a deeper level for other project components. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Prior to the next reporting period, collection of field data will be underway. Once hired, the person working on the ecological portion of thisproject will have opportunities over the coming field seasons to hire field technicians (undergraduate students), from which they can gain valuable training in field sampling techniques and data management and organization. Additionally, historical aerial imagery will be collected and analyzed for selected sites. The research group will develop novel techniques to combine remote sensing observations with ranch-level economic simulation models. Focus groups, interviews and surveys for the economic and sociological components of the project will continue with the Master's student who was hired in 2022.Students on this projectbe given opportunities to develop his presentation and speaking, scientific writing and design, and projectleadership skills.?

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? Ecological activities: Between January 2021 and April2023, we have been working with Bureau of Land Management field offices in Idaho, Wyoming, and Oregon to identify sites for data collection based on our criteria, including current ecological conditions, historical management and availability of historic field data. Most of the study sites have been preliminarily selected and some site visits have been completed for on-the-ground validation. Economic activities: We utilized Landsat-based plant productivity estimates in riparian areas to create a time-series dataset of forage production, which is input into an economic model that simulates optimal production decisions for a 300-head cattle ranch facing environmental and economic constraints to determine how grazing in riparian habitats changes production decisions at the ranch level. We parameterized the economic model to represent a 300-head cow-calf livestock operation within the study area using regional prices and production costs. Annual forage productivity estimates (AUMs/acre) for grazed summer forage is input into the model as a constraint. The numerical linear programming model optimizes the mix of production inputs (hay acreage harvested, supplemental feed purchased, grazing utilization) annually and reports net revenues that collectively inform how a producer can optimally respond to forage constraints and the economic impacts (ranch profitability) of those production constraints. Sociological activites: We evaluated the sampling scale for multiple project geographies to launch qualitative interview data collection; performed revision and team review of draft interview guide, including stakeholder input on key themes and approaches for data collection emphasis areas; ran a pilot test of interview guide with multiple producers in face-to-face interview settings; and completed preliminary cleaning and coding of pilot interview data. More recently, we conducted supplemental social science interviews within the study area, identified preliminary coding for qualitative interview analyses, and initiated contacts for coordination on social science interviews.

    Publications


      Progress 05/01/21 to 04/30/22

      Outputs
      Target Audience: The target audience for this project are stakeholders with involvement in public land management, such as policy makers, landowners,management agencies and conservation groups. The key indicator of success will be how these stakeholders, especially rangeland managersand livestock producers, use the results in land management. Additionally, we will share resultsthrough scientific journals aimed at peers. Peer groups include rangeland ecologists, wildlife biologists, animal scientists, economists, and sociologists. Changes/Problems: During this reporting period, our PhD student left the projectdue to health concerns. We have hireda new PhD student to continue the work that was started by the previous student. He will begin working on research activities and coursework beginning in August 2022.However, due to the chance in personnel, we will begin ecological field data collection in 2023. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? To-date, our project has provided us the opportunity to mentor a PhD student. This student began his PhD program at the University of Idaho in January 2021. In addition to taking relevant courses, he has researched relevant literature, developed detailed protocols for site selection and field data collection, and worked with faculty and outside agencies on siteselection related to this project. Unfortunately, this student was unable to continue working on this projectdue to health concerns;however, we have found a replacement student, who will begin coursework and research related activities in August 2022. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? At this time, we do not have results to share. We have, however, reached out to communities of interest to gain input to make this project as relevant to stakeholders as possible. Additionally, pilot interviews with multiple producers were completed to test the sociological interview guide. This pilot test was informative for refiningthe interview guide and also gave the team stakeholder insight at a deeper level for other project components. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Prior to the next reporting period, sites selection will be finalized and collection of field data will be underway. The PhD student on this project will have opportunities over the coming field seasons to hire field technicians (undergraduate students), from which they can gain valuable training in field sampling techniques and data management and organization. The PhD student will also be given opportunities to develop his presentation and speaking, scientific writing and design, and project leadership skills. Additionally, historical aerial imagery will be collected and analyzed for selected sites. The research group will developnovel techniques to combine remote sensing observations with ranch-level economic simulation models.Focus groups, interviews and surveys for the economic and sociologicalcomponents of the project will continue and we will begin our search for a Master's student for the economic portion of the study will begin in late 2022.

      Impacts
      What was accomplished under these goals? Ecological activities:Since January 2021, we have been working with Bureau of Land Management field offices in Idaho and Wyoming to identify sites for data collection based on our criteria, including current ecological conditions, historical management and availability of historic field data. Study sites have been preliminarily selected and site visits have been scheduled for fall 2022 for on-the-ground validation. Economic activities: We utilized Landsat-based plant productivity estimates in riparian areas to create a time-series dataset of forage production, which is input into an economic model that simulates optimal production decisions for a 300-head cattle ranch facing environmental and economic constraints to determine how grazing in riparian habitats changes production decisions at the ranch level.We parameterized the economic model to represent a 300-head cow-calf livestock operation within the study area using regional prices and production costs. Annual forage productivity estimates (AUMs/acre) for grazed summer forage is input into the model as a constraint. The numerical linear programming model optimizes the mix of production inputs (hay acreage harvested, supplemental feed purchased, grazing utilization) annually and reports net revenues that collectively inform how a producer can optimally respond to forage constraints and the economic impacts (ranch profitability) of those production constraints. Sociological activites: Weevaluated thesampling scale for multiple project geographies to launch qualitative interview data collection;performedrevision and team review of draft interview guide, including stakeholder input on key themes and approaches for data collection emphasis areas; ran apilot test of interview guide with multiple producers in face-to-face interview settings; and completedpreliminary cleaning and coding of pilot interview data.

      Publications


        Progress 05/01/20 to 04/30/21

        Outputs
        Target Audience:The target audience for this project are stakeholders with involvement in public land management, such as policy makers, landowners, management agencies and conservation groups. The key indicator of success will be how these stakeholders, especially rangeland managers and livestock producers, use the results in land management. Additionally, we will share results through scientific journals aimed at peers. Peer groups include rangeland ecologists, wildlife biologists, animal scientists, economists, and sociologists. Changes/Problems:There have been two challenges associated with this project during this reporting period. First, Covid-19 set us back by approximately 8 months on being able to select a PhD student to work on this project, both due to less than ideal number of quality candidates applying and challenges within the University for hiring. Once a PhD student was hired in January 2021, the timeline between starting and being ready for field sampling was much shorter than planned. Additionally, the drought in summer 2021 in the study areahas been severe, which would likely confound any field data that we collect. As a result of these challenges, we plan to begin field sampling in 2022, while still carrying forward all of the other goals of our proposal as expected. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?To-date, our project has provided us the opportunity to mentor a PhD student. This student began his PhD program at the University of Idaho in January 2021. In addition to taking relevant courses, he has researched relevant literature,developed detailed protocols for site selection and field data collection, and worked with faculty and outside agencies on site selectionrelated to this project. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?At this time, we do not have results to share. We have, however, reached out to communities of interest to gaininput to make this project asrelevant to stakeholders as possible. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Prior to the next reporting period, sites selection will be finalizedand collection offield data will be underway. The PhD student on this project will have opportunities over the coming field seasons to hire field technicians (undergraduate students), from which they can gain valuable training in field sampling techniques and data management and organization. The PhD student will also be given opportunities to develop his presentation and speaking, scientific writing and design, and project leadership skills. Additionally, historical aerial imagery will be collected and analyzed for selected sites. Focus groups, interviews and surveys for the socioeconomiccomponentsof the project will begin and we will begin oursearch for a Master's student for the economic portion of the study will begin in 2022.

        Impacts
        What was accomplished under these goals? In 2020, we began searching for a PhD student to work on the ecological components of this project. Due to hiring challenges related toCovid-19, it took us unitl late in 2020 to obtain enough quality candidates to make a decision.In January 2021, a PhD student was selected and hired to work on this project. Since January 2021,we have been working with Bureau of Land Management field offices in Idaho and Wyoming to identify sites for data collection based on our criteria, including current ecological conditions, historical management and availability of historic field data. Additionally, to determine the economic impacts of grazing practices implemented in our trials, we have developed linear programming framework of ranch-level decision making. The framework was adapted from the ranch-level multiperiod linear programming model detailed most recently in Tanaka et al. (2018) that simulates optimal (revenue maximizing) decisions such as herd size, short-term borrowing, capital investments, and feed sources, including forage availability. The model will simulate the impact of timing and intensity of grazing by constraining inputs to livestock production that in turn impact livestock production decisions. The model will optimize the net present value (NPV) of discounted net annual returns maximized over a planning horizon, subject to a set of environmental and other real-world constraints, which will be parameterized in the focus groups and interviews conducted in Year 2 and 3 of the project.

        Publications