Working Ranch April/May 2025

pasture management

northern Great Basin, the pri mary threats are annual grass invasion, conifer encroachment, and their interaction together and with wildfire. • Understand states. Nine states represent the current vegeta tion condition in this frame work. These states are evalu ated and distinguished by key functional groups. • Choose an appropriate scale and delineate states. Mapping can be complex and subjective, no matter what classification is used. This section offers considerations for identifying an appropriate mapping scale. A decision tree and photographs help determine the state. • Assess apparent trends. An apparent trend is a snapshot estimate of a plant community’s trajectory. It is a valuable and efficient tool for determining which locations are stable and which may require intervention or additional monitoring. • Identify management actions. This section provides a few examples of how state and trend information can stream line the selection of man agement actions. Additional

publications and resources will explore more specific applica tions of this framework. Non-sagebrush ecosystem vegeta tion can be managed with a threat based approach, “but relevant ecology for those systems will be different than what is described here,” the guide states. “We designed this framework for the pasture and allotment scale, but it can be, and has been, adapted for larger areas. This framework does not exist in a vacuum and is not com prehensive to all scales.” The guide notes that threat-based land management demonstrates the value of simplified state-and-tran sition models at appropriate scales. Practical constraints, including bud gets, personnel, and time, limit the ecosystem features that can be man aged. Because the effect of primary ecological threats (like invasive annual grass and juniper expansion) is dispro portionate compared to other threats, most land managers’ goals will require addressing primary threats first. SageSHARE also recently published a document outlining the use of threat based management for riparian areas. Find it at https://sageshare.org/sam ple-page/threat-based-management for-creeks-streams-and-rivers/.

framework focuses on efficiently cate gorizing current biotic conditions and works in concert with other assess ments of abiotic properties, including resistance and resilience. Which systems work with a threat based approach? This framework is “designed for upland sagebrush eco systems in the northern Great Basin, including eastern Oregon, southwest Idaho, and northern Nevada.” The general approach presented in the guide is “relevant to a much broader geography within the sagebrush biome, but specific ecological states, threats, and vegetation dynamics would need to be adapted for differ ent areas.” An overview of the steps in implementing threat-based land management (https://extension. oregonstate.edu/catalog/pub/ pnw-722-threat-based-land-manage ment-northern-great-basin-manag ers-guide?reference=catalog) includes: • Establish your management objectives. Clearly stated objec tives are necessary to make key scale and management decisions. • Understand relevant ecology. This method uses functional groups and simplified vegetation pat terns to identify ecological states. • Understand threats. In the

ADOBE/BOB

40 I APRIL / MAY 2025 WORKING RANCH audited readers run 21 million head of beef cattle.