Save the Date: Ecological Site Description Training Workshops

Ecological Site Description (ESD) Training Workshops

Society for Range Management (SRM) has been moving forward with the planning of additional ESD training workshops following the successful Pilot Interagency Range ESD Workshop in November 2010. We are excited to announce that three regional based efforts are currently under development.

The following information is intended to briefly update interested parties on these upcoming workshops. More information on agendas and accommodations will be forthcoming in the near future. Website information updated regularly. Registration will be on a first-come first-served basis and should be live no later than end-of-June 2011.

Please note that the workshop under planning for Reno, NV - August 2-4, 2011 - is now RESCHEDULED for June 2012.

Details for a second workshop scheduled for August 23-25, 2011 in Cheyenne WY are provided below.

Also note that a third workshop is under planning for Florida in early November 2011. 

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INTERAGENCY ECOLOGICAL SITE APPLICATIONS WORKSHOP
Cheyenne WY/Nunn CO
23-25 August 2011

• Will be held at the Shortgrass Steppe Research and Interpretation Center (SGS-RIC) in Nunn, CO on the Central Plains Experimental Range (CPER)
  (http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=zv8995dab&et=1105506999202&s=136&e=001Fp7e1oEulIXm2QZbs3YFa_o2lSiC7ETBqaufWQ8raJmKyd3pw81s5y20N7wgSEk25ypYV0P6CXxA_2mF8hy7dKHk_LCJKBn4ESBneu43aO8m6kHA9SHueVN9O7Y_x3GH) and at the High Plains Grasslands Research Station in Cheyenne, WY (http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=zv8995dab&et=1105506999202&s=136&e=001Fp7e1oEulIXm3QlPQnhFIDfZO4L1Q28r9NB_3u6xz6TPZwnQU_-n8wmO3tHyIVuJIl8bVBGEAr88g5d718f3dzZVx8ChUa6Sr7NqN6WcPqQTWghdYAs_fA==).
• Will be open for registration to anyone that is interested and will allow a maximum of 40 participants. 
• Will encompass 3 days (includes time in the field each day) with content tailored to take advantage of local conditions and issues.
• Registration:
• $150 for employees of sponsoring agencies (ARS, BLM, NRCS)
• $150 for current Society for Range Management members
• $200 for all others
  Other sponsoring agencies/groups may be added in time, so please check the ESD website for current information prior to registering. Due to the remote location of this workshop, registration will include all training materials, field trip transportation and most meals including 3 breakfasts, 2 lunches and 2 dinners.
• Will feature KEYNOTE speaker Dr. Bill Lauenroth, Univ. of Wyoming, on Great Plains Rangeland Ecosystems.
• Will discuss the importance of ESDs to agency needs and field operations. 
• Will aim to establish team-building between participants and introduce them to the local experts who will be able to assist them in the future when developing projects and working with ESDs.
• Will illustrate the current state of collaboration in ESD implementation (in that area) as well as act as a launching pad for additional collaborative efforts.
   

For registration and lodging questions, please contact:
Aleta Rudeen
SRM Director of Outreach and Leadership Development
arudeen@ranglands.org
(303) 720-2715

For all other questions, please contact:
Linda Coates-Markle
BLM Liaison to SRM
lcmarkle@rangelands.org
(303) 986-3309

Upcoming Symposium: Breaking the Current Fire Cycle, February 1-2, 2011

Guest post by Neil Rimbey, Idaho Section


The Boise District BLM Resource Advisory Council, the Society for Range Management, the Agricultural Research Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service and others are sponsoring a Symposium on February 1-2, 2011 in Boise, Idaho. “How Can Resource Management Break the Current Fire Cycle?” is designed to identify fire, fuel and vegetation management methods appropriate for conserving high value and degraded Wyoming Sagebrush steppe habitats by reducing fire frequency. The session will be highlighted by the Keynote Address by Dr. Jim Young, author of the recent book, Cheatgrass: Fire and Forage on the Range. Jim will summarize over 40 years of research on the ecology, management and control of cheatgrass. This background information will set the stage for jumping into 5 key questions:

1. Given the opportunity to develop major, strategic fire breaks, what kinds of fuel breaks would be effective and affordable to create, maintain and persist?
2. What other kinds of fuel breaks and tools can be used most effectively in areas with frequent wildfires and areas which still maintain Wyoming sagebrush stands?
3. In light of listings of threatened or endangered species in the sagebrush steppe system, is a fuel reduction program feasible and what suitability criteria, mitigation and administrative procedures will allow for its establishment?
4. How can various fuel reduction tools be coordinated across land ownerships to facilitate the next step of rangeland rehabilitation?
5. What monitoring and management protocols can be established to ensure that we achieve short-, intermediate- and long-term goals associated with fuel management, decreasing fire frequency and rangeland rehabilitation?

These questions will be explored by panels of experts and practitioners associated with each area. They will involve active audience participation through questions and dialog.

The session will be held at the Washington Group International Conference facility (800 Park Blvd.) in the heart of downtown Boise. More information is available via the following website:
http://www.blm.gov/id/st/en/res/resource_advisory/boise/boise_district_rac.html

Additional questions? Contact Neil Rimbey (208-454-6566 or nrimbey@uidaho.edu), or Ted Hoffman (208-587-6374 or brokeno@mindspring.com )

Interagency Rangeland ESD Pilot Workshop

 
The Interagency Rangeland Ecological Site Description (ESD) Pilot Workshop was held November 16 - 18, 2010 in Las Cruces, New Mexico.  The workshop was a huge success with over 85 participants and three full days of excellent presentations and valuable discussions.  The Pilot Workshop convened technical leadership from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Bureau of Land Management, and US Forest Service, and was held at the Agricultural Research Service Jornada Experimental Range.

One primary objective of this workshop was to generate interest and support for a continuing interagency collaborative approach in the employment and utility of ESDs as well as for subsequent field-level training workshops. SRM is pleased to be in a position to support these ground-breaking efforts and is committed to moving forward with end products from the Pilot Workshop and next steps.  SRM is particularly excited to be a major player in the development of subsequent field level training workshops targeted for late Spring/early Fall 2011.  These subsequent workshops are intended to embrace a much broader audience including the entire SRM membership as well as non-members. Instructors for these workshops will not be limited to federal employees, but will encompass the larger knowledge base from university scientists, private consultants and other interested parties. 

Workshop objectives were to:

1. Provide an in-depth background on the fundamentals of ecological sites and descriptions.
2. Increase the understanding of current and emerging policy and science on how to define ESD's and develop ESD projects.
3. Explore collaborative applications of ESDs to decision-making across a variety of state-level (regional) scenarios.
4. Scope preliminary plans for moving forward with agency implementation at the field level.

To meet these objectives, the Pilot Workshop included a variety of presentations on ESDs and the interagency approach to their development and use.  The middle of the workshop included an informative field tour, which was useful in linking the scientific concepts of ESDs to what ecological sites and different states might look like on the ground.  The workshop concluded with breakout sessions and an open mic session to discuss the challenges and opportunities of ESDs, and a synthesis of the workshop.

Click here to view the Pilot Workshop agenda and details.  Click here to visit the Jornada website for access to workshop presentations and materials, including PDF documents of PowerPoint presentations from the Pilot Workshop.  A special thank you to the sponsors of this Pilot Program and to all of those who were instrumental in moving this process forward.

Stay tuned for information on the subsequent training workshops.