Objective 1 Examine specific drought effects relative to livestock grazing/rest treatments and bare earth exposure. The sagebrush-steppe uplands at the O’Neal Ecological Reserve will be used as a field laboratory to investigate drought effects relative to livestock grazing. Healthy rangelands should have minimal bare earth exposure. Soil cover (vegetation, litter, etc.) cover can reduce water loss by better trapping and holding rainfall and by acting as a mulch to insulate the earth’s surface from direct solar radiation and evaporation. Soil cover can thereby lessen the effect of drought. This study will use cattle within holistic planned grazing to A) determine if planned grazing can effectively decrease bare earth exposure B) determine if soil moisture changes relative to bare earth exposure and livestock grazing, and C) examine other ecological effects of livestock grazing.

Objective 2 Forecast rangeland health/condition. Using observed/quantified changes in land cover we will forecast future changes in rangeland health. A detectable change in land cover is one where >10% of an areas shows a statistically different spectral response between two imagery dates selected using phenological synchronization techniques. In addition, rangeland health modeling techniques will be retroactively applied to older imagery to produce various “snap-shots” of rangeland health. These models will form the basis for analysis of land cover changes and predictive models of future rangeland health/condition.

Objective 3 Public Outreach. Results from this study will be freely distributed to range managers, range scientists, ranchers, and land stewards. Several venues of public outreach will be implemented throughout the course of this study and each is intended to help educate stakeholders and the general public regarding the benefits of the geotechnologies and their application for real-world problems/issues.