Where and When to Photo Monitor Rangeland Health?

Hi, and welcome to Oregon's Outback.

Today, we're going to be talking about when

and where to rangeland monitor.

This topic will highlight sustainable rangeland beef

production practices that are socially diligent,

environmentally responsible, and also economically viable.

Dustin, would you highlight when and where beef producers should

monitor their rangelands?

Sure, Sergio.

But first maybe I should just talk a little bit

about what rangeland monitoring is.

So "rangeland monitoring" refers to documenting

how conditions of your land and/or your vegetation are

changing in response to the environment and the management

that you're applying.

It involves periodically evaluating the change

in those conditions, relative to your management objectives.

And rangeland monitoring really does not

need to be complicated or time-consuming.

In fact, some monitoring tools such as periodically taking

photos in the scene in a consistent manner,

of the same location, at the same time of year,

can provide valuable information,

in order to document changes in vegetation and the land

that you're managing.

Photo points can be easily established on most rangelands.

They can help identify trends in vegetation and other resource

conditions that could be used to document changes in response

to the environment and the management

that you're applying.

They require no specialized training

and can stand alone or be supplemented with more

quantitative information.

And, perhaps most importantly, photo points

and photo monitoring can be used to determine if management

objectives are being met.

Therefore, it is important for you

to select an appropriate photo monitoring location and time

frame that will provide you information

that you can use for evaluating your management objectives.

You should choose where to focus your monitoring efforts.

Since you can't monitor what's happening on every acre of land

that you're managing, select sites

that will be representative of what

is happening on the management area, such as a pasture

or an allotment as a whole.

Repeat photo monitoring is often used to document trends

in the land and/or vegetation, so

try to pick sites that have the potential

to show change over time.

Avoid selecting sites for photo monitoring where livestock

tend to concentrate, such as around watering

locations or salting areas, or sites where cattle never

go in the pasture, such as those parts

of the pasture that aren't serviced by water

or are much less likely to be grazed because of terrain

features.

As you might imagine, photo monitoring more sites

in a pasture is better.

But be sure not to bite off more than you

can commit to accomplishing consistently over time.

In addition to selecting the location for photo monitoring,

another important consideration is deciding

when to take the photos.

This decision will depend largely on the objectives

that you have for the monitoring program.

For example, if you're monitoring a riparian area,

maybe you want to take photos of the area

immediately before grazing, immediately after grazing,

and again at the end of the growing season, every year,

to determine the amount of regrowth that

occurred in riparian plants.

Or perhaps you're monitoring in upland pasture

and you're interested in documenting longer-term trends

in the vegetation, for which you might want to take photos

of the site every other year, or maybe

even less frequently, again, depending on your objectives.

In either case, it's important to be as consistent

as possible with the time of year you take the photos.

Now, every year is a little bit different,

so I don't necessarily like to key

in on a calendar date as much the stage of growth

of the vegetation that I'm monitoring.

For example, a good time to conduct photo monitoring

for trend on a sagebrush-bunchgrass rangeland

is when the bunchgrasses are done growing for the year

and have seeded out.

Now, no worries, however, if your timing is a little bit

off in a given year.

You'll still have the photos, and they'll still provide you

with valuable documentation of how the rangeland might

be changing over time.

Now, photo monitoring can be an extremely useful tool

in your rangeland management program.

Just remember the location and time frame for monitoring

are key factors to consider when beginning your monitoring

efforts.

With this understanding, you'll be

ready to establish an effective photo-monitoring

program on the land you manage that you

can use to support and document your rangeland management

decisions.

If you have any questions about where to monitor your range

and when to monitor your range, contact

your local rangeland extension agent,

and they'll be able to help you out.

Until then, we'll see you out on the range.