Extension Focus On Effects Of Drought On Rangeland

Author : Grace Woodmansee
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (825 download)

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Download or read book Learning Through Experience written by Grace Woodmansee and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drought is a fundamental driver of virtually all global landscapes and plays an important role in shaping how rangeland systems function. However, drought is also one of the most complex and destructive natural hazards for land managers to cope with and adapt to given the inherently variable spatial and temporal impacts of drought. Rangelands will continue to be challenged by the interacting effects of drought and climate change, as rising temperatures and greater precipitation variability exacerbate existing drought patterns. California's historic drought (2012-2016) serves as an important case study of how severe, multi-year drought impacts rangeland ecosystems and the communities that rely on them. Driven by remarkably arid conditions in 2014, the 2012-2015 drought period is considered the worst drought California has experienced in 1200 years according to paleoclimate reconstructions and hydrological modeling. These unprecedented conditions severely restricted the functioning and productivity of rangeland ecosystems throughout the state, which are almost entirely dependent on seasonal precipitation to support a variety of ecosystem services including forage for wildlife and domestic livestock. Ranchers are among the first to experience the social, economic, and environmental impacts of drought, which positions them to play an important role in co-developing management and policy guidance for building rangeland and ranching resilience to drought for the benefit of both their livelihoods and society. California's historic drought presents an opportunity to use lessons learned from on-the-ground managers to develop future adaptation and mitigation strategies for management and policy decision-making. Chapter One focuses on the experiences of ranchers who managed through California's historic drought (2012-2016). We conducted semi-structured interviews with 48 rangeland livestock producers in 2016 to examine on-ranch drought impacts, the use and effectiveness of drought management practices, and the effectiveness of multi-species grazing as a proactive management strategy. Regardless of operation structure or management planning, all interviewees reported that they were unprepared to cope with the unprecedented conditions brought about by the 2012-2015 drought period. During the drought, the most common impacts were reduced forage production (97.9% of interviewed ranchers) and increased expenses (89.6%); the two most commonly used drought management practices were purchasing feed (83.0%) and applying for government assistance (70.8%). Drought protection was driven by drought response strategies rather than drought preparation strategies. Multi-species grazing was the least used proactive drought management practice, but was the highest ranked proactive practice based on perceived effectiveness by interviewed ranchers. Multi-species grazers (MSGs) significantly differed from single-species grazers (SSGs) in adoption of several reactive drought management strategies, indicating that multi-species grazers have increased overall flexibility for managing through drought. As the unprecedented severity and duration of California's historic drought are predicted to become more common, strategies that were ranked as highly effective by interviewed ranchers may offer the greatest potential for mitigating future drought impacts. Chapter two focuses on comparing pre-and-post drought management perspectives. We opportunistically examined how California's historic, state-wide drought conditions shaped on-ranch drought impacts and management strategies via two separate research efforts: the California Rangeland Decision-Making Survey deployed in 2011 and a series of semi-structured interviews conducted during California's historic drought in 2016. Decreases in forage availability and profit were consistently reported as the most severe drought impacts across the survey and interview research efforts. Management practices adopted by ranchers in 2011 and 2016 were very similar- proactive practices focused on conserving forage and maintaining flexibility, while reactive practices focused on balancing forage supply and demand during drought years. We observed an increase in proactive practice adoption between 2011 and 2016 that may indicate that underlying drought conditions leading into 2012 were a catalyst for proactive drought planning (64% (n= 443) of ranchers reported using at least one proactive practice in 2011 whereas 98% (n= 48) reported using at least one proactive practice in 2016). It appears that managing through the historic drought changed the management perspective of ranchers; 74% (n= 443) of survey respondents in 2011 believed that future drought would impact their operations "as severely" or "worse" than past droughts, while 58% (n=47) of interviewed ranchers in 2016 believed that future drought would impact their operations 'less severely than the last (2012-2016) drought'. It is difficult to draw a single conclusion about what may be driving this change, particularly since increased perception of threat can be both a motivator and a deterrent for forward planning. Our results indicate that increasing management flexibility with a diversity of both proactive and reactive drought management strategies will continue to be a critical component of building ranch resilience, particularly during multi-year droughts. In addition, supporting a "drought planning mentality" and self-efficacy through research and outreach efforts may be the next step in developing effective mitigation strategies and enhancing ranch resilience to drought.