
The
Chihuahuan Desert Knows No BordersBy Don Comis February 6, 2001The U.S. Department of Agriculture and
Mexicos counterpart, El Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales,
Agrícolas y Pecuarias (INIFAP), are working together to
monitor and protect the long-term environmental health of their shared desert
landscapes. The first of four workshops on rangeland monitoring is being held this week
February 5-9, in the northern Chihuahuan Desert, at USDAs Agricultural
Research Service Jornada Experimental
Range in Las Cruces, N.M. Two of the workshops will be taught in English by
ARS scientists in the United States and two will be taught in Mexico in
Spanish, together with INIFAP scientists. The
U.S. Bureau of Land Management(BLM) is funding the workshop series, which will be held over the next year. ARS scientist Jeffrey E. Herrick and colleagues developed rangeland
assessment and monitoring techniques over the past several years, in
cooperation with Mexican scientists, BLM, the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, USDAs
Natural Resources Conservation Service(NRCS), and the U.S. Geological Survey--with
input from ranchers, the Nature
Conservancy and other environmental organizations and
New Mexico State University.
Assessment techniques are used to determine current rangeland conditions, while
monitoring techniques reveal changes in land quality over time. These techniques have been compiled in two manuals: Interpreting
Indicators of Rangeland Health and Monitoring Manual for Grassland,
Shrubland and Savanna Ecosystems. The assessment guide is now available from BLM and online at the NRCS
Grazing Lands
Technology Institutes web site at: http://www.ftw.nrcs.usda.gov/glti/pubs.html The monitoring manual is being considered for later publication in Spanish
as well as English. Both the books and the workshops are intended for land managers,
environmentalists, and others concerned about the status of our nations
rangelands. ARS scientists in Arizona, Colorado
and Oregon contributed to the effort. ARS is USDAs principal scientific
research agency. Scientific contact: Jeffrey E. Herrick, ARS Jornada Experimental
Range, Las Cruces, N.M., phone (505) 646-4842, fax (806) 356-5750,
[email protected]. U.S. Department of Agriculture |