Track 2-02: Assessment of Grassland Condition, Stability and Sustainability

Description

According to pasture law in Kyrgistan, pasture management is executed by local communities. The aim of Community Pasture Management Plans is to decrease risks of reducing pasture quality and to raise pasture resource use sustainability. One of the important parts of a pasture management plan is pasture health assessment. The objective of our work was to develop a rapid and simple technique to assess pasture health for community members and other land managers who live or work on pastures. This tool is the result of a collaborative effort of scientists from different countries. This technique utilizes 6 indicators, which are easy to measure, of plant community and important natural processes and functions. They are described in Field Worksheet for Grasslands which was produced in the period of our activity. A pasture condition assessment provides a snapshot in time of management impacts on a particular site. Pasture condition monitoring can alert livestock producers to manage issues and problems and introduce management changes. The outputs of this assessment evaluate the attributes of rangeland health at the ecological site or its equivalent level. This protocol provides managers with a starting point to better describe and ultimately manage rangeland.

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A Technique to Evaluate Rangeland Health

According to pasture law in Kyrgistan, pasture management is executed by local communities. The aim of Community Pasture Management Plans is to decrease risks of reducing pasture quality and to raise pasture resource use sustainability. One of the important parts of a pasture management plan is pasture health assessment. The objective of our work was to develop a rapid and simple technique to assess pasture health for community members and other land managers who live or work on pastures. This tool is the result of a collaborative effort of scientists from different countries. This technique utilizes 6 indicators, which are easy to measure, of plant community and important natural processes and functions. They are described in Field Worksheet for Grasslands which was produced in the period of our activity. A pasture condition assessment provides a snapshot in time of management impacts on a particular site. Pasture condition monitoring can alert livestock producers to manage issues and problems and introduce management changes. The outputs of this assessment evaluate the attributes of rangeland health at the ecological site or its equivalent level. This protocol provides managers with a starting point to better describe and ultimately manage rangeland.