@proceedings {50767, title = {Rangeland research on the Jornada Experimental Range}, year = {2003}, month = {March 27-28, 200}, pages = {87-91}, address = {Farmington, NM}, abstract = {The mission of the Jornada Experimental Range is to develop new technologies for the management and remediation of desert rangelands. A few studies in progress that relate directly to this mission are summarized below. One major focus is to develop methodologies for controlling livestock distribution on rangelands. A study is in progress to evaluate the potential of virtual fencing as an alternative to conventional fencing for real-time control of animal movement. A small solar-powered unit worn by the animal uses signals from GPS satellites to determine animal location and a GIS database to define a virtual boundary. When an animal penetrates this boundary, a cue is applied to encourage the animal to move away from the virtual boundary. Preliminary data indicate this low-stress technology can be used to control animal movement. Protein supplementation during conditions of low quality forage is another practice that may be used to control animal movement. Preliminary data indicate that protein supplementation affects beef cow distribution patterns with non-supplemented animals exhibiting greater dispersal and supplemented cows remaining near supplementation areas. These studies have implications for improving forage utilization and livestock management, as well as excluding livestock from ecologically sensitive areas. A third study in progress involves quantification of carbon storage in plants and soils on arid rangelands. This research combines direct field measurement of CO2 fluxes, soil carbon analysis, and modeling. The project will examine how carbon storage might change naturally over time or be influenced by management practices. Initial results suggest rangelands may serve as a significant long-term repository for carbon when shrubs store large amounts of carbon belowground in their extensive woody root systems. Also, aerial photography is being examined as a tool to reconstruct the remediation treatment history of rangelands. Many treatments have been implemented during the last 100 years in an effort to slow shrub invasion, but over time, land management agencies have been disbanded or reorganized and paper records have been lost, resulting in poor documentation of type and extent of treatment, methods used, and evaluations of success. Nationwide aerial photography begun by USDA and other agencies as early as 1930 is a valuable source of information for establishing past management histories and vegetation response to treatments on rangelands. Treatments imposed on the Jornada during early research projects (e.g., root plowing during the 1970{\textquoteright}s, ponding dikes constructed in 1975, and manual shrub removal in 1936) are still evident in aerial photographs today. Combining aerial photography and remaining conventional records with present day field measurements greatly increases the total information available regarding the management history and most effective remediation approaches for use today.}, keywords = {cattle growers, course, livestock, rangeland, research, research notes}, url = {/files/bibliography/03-003.pdf}, author = {Richard E. Estell and D.M. Anderson and E.L. Fredrickson and Kris Havstad and K. A. Mitchell and A. Rango} } @proceedings {51066, title = {Rangeland research in the Chihuahuan Desert}, year = {2000}, month = {03/2000}, pages = {80-81}, abstract = {

The mission of the Jornada Experimental Range is to develop new technologies for the management and remediation of desert rangelands. We are developing a manual for monitoring rangeland health. Several indicators have been examined and a number of these indicators have proven useful for monitoring purposes, e.g., size of unvegetated patch, perennial grass cover rand soil surface stability. We have worked with individual ranchers in New Mexico to test these methods and have established pilot projects on state lands to demonstrate their application to management. We are also studying prescribed burning of arid rangeland as a tool to improve degraded rangelands. The fire treatment was applied to study sites in 1999 and initial responses to fire and grazing effects will be measured in 2000. We will evaluate effects of fire on ecological processes and post-fire grazing and identify post-fire guidelines for recovery of key species in grazed Chihuahuan Desert grassland. One of our major research objectives is to develop new technologies for controlling distribution of livestock grazing rangelands. Few options presently exist for monitoring animal location and controlling animal movement to a specific area at a particular time. A method and apparatus have been developed that may allow for management of grazing livestock without ground-based fencing. The device worn by an animal incorporates a global positioning system and a geographic information system database to determine and control individual animal movements. We are field testing the ability of a third generation prototype to contain an animal in an area using bilaterally applied sensory cues. This technology could allow producers to reduce management costs, improve utilization of forage and protect ecologically sensitive areas.

}, keywords = {cattle growers, Chihuahuan Desert, livestock, rangeland research, research notes}, url = {/files/bibliography/562.pdf}, author = {Richard E. Estell and D.M. Anderson and J.R. Barrow and E.L. Fredrickson and Kris Havstad and Jeffrey E. Herrick and Debra C. Peters} } @mastersthesis {51506, title = {Diurnal diet composition and behavior of cattle and sheep on Chihuahuan Desert range}, volume = {PhD}, year = {1993}, note = {Available in JER Library}, month = {1993}, pages = {162 }, school = {New Mexico State University}, type = {Dissertation }, address = {Las Cruces}, keywords = {behavior, cattle, Chihuahuan Desert, diet composition, dissertation, diurnal, research notes, sheep}, author = {J. N. Smith} } @proceedings {52184, title = {Brush control and seeding rangeland}, year = {1977}, note = {Paper also presented at Alamogordo and Capitan, NM}, month = {1977}, pages = {43-52}, abstract = {For many people, the romance of the Southwest is the favorable climate--winters are warm and dry and summers are relatively dry so the heat is rarely oppressive. For the range manager, the key word in these descriptions is "dry." Over the arid Southwest, the average annual precipitation is 8 to 12 inches. Averages, however, mean very little. Precipitation varies widely from one time to another and from one place to another, only a few miles away. Rainfall from April through September governs the growing season for range forage. West of the Sacramento Mountains about 55 percent of the average annual precipitation falls from July through September; springs are usually dry and windy. East of the Sacramento Mountains growing-season precipitation is more evenly distributed between spring and summer. The average annual evaporation from Weather Bureau pans is about 90 inches--about 10 times as much as the precipitation. The range plants, therefore, grow in brief bursts when soil moisture is available immediately after rainfall. Droughts are frequent and expected. Infrequent wet spells may bring a false sense of security, but chances are that drought, hopefully short but possibly of several years{\textquoteright} duration, will follow. Stands of perennial grasses are often severely reduced by drought. On the Jornada Experimental Range near Las Cruces, the basal cover of black grama was reduced to 42 percent of its predrought cover during the 1916-18 drought, 11 percent during the 1921-26 drought, and 23 percent in 1934. During the Great Drought from 1951 to 1956, black grama cover was reduced to 1 to 50 percent of its predrought average, depending on soil type. The drought loss was much more severe on deep sandy sites than on sites with shallower sands. Where 99 percent of the black grama was lost there has been no recovery. Droughts are a fact of life in this region and must be anticipated in the management of any southwestern range. There is no evidence that the climate is getting drier.}, keywords = {average annual evaporation, average annual precipitation, brush control, drought, research notes, seeding, Southwest}, url = {/files/bibliography/159.pdf}, author = {C.H. Herbel} } @article {52587, title = {Maintaining the balance between summer and winter forage on black grama ranges under yearlong grazing use}, number = {Research Note 81}, year = {1939}, month = {1939}, pages = {4 }, institution = {USDA, Forest Service, Southwest Forest and Range Experimental Range Station}, abstract = {

Black grama type important in the Southwest. Black grama (Bouteloua eriopoda) is one of the most highly prized forage grasses in Arizona, New Mexico, and west Texas. Although it is often the dominant grass on the lower plains, it is rarely found in pure stands over very large areas. Other grasses, mainly sand dropseeds (Sporobnlus spp.), the three-awn grasses (Aristida spp.), and other species of grama, are almost invariably mixed with it. Usually, on undeteriorated black-grama-type range, this mixture is comprised of about 80 to 85 percent black grama and 15 to 0 percent other grasses. Because of differences in their seasons of usability, the relative proportion of black grama and the associated grasses is an important factor to be considered in range management.

}, keywords = {black grama, Bouteloua eriopoda, forage grass, highly prized, range management, research notes}, url = {/files/bibliography/049.pdf}, author = {Canfield, R.H.} } @article {52590, title = {Semideferred grazing as a restorative measure for black grama ranges}, number = {Research Note 80}, year = {1939}, month = {1939 (Revised 19}, pages = {4 }, institution = {USDA, Forest Service, Southwest Forest and Range Experimental Range Station}, abstract = {The Southwestern Forest and Range Experiment Station is engaged in a series of long-time experiments designed to determine the best method of handling each of the important types of range occurring in southern Arizona, New Mexico, and west Texas. Among the native forage plants in this area, probably the one of highest economic value is black grama (Bouteloua eriopoda). As such, it is deserving of particular attention from the standpoint of range management. The purpose of this note is to describe one of the methods that have proven successful by experimentation in the restoration of depleted black grama ranges on the Jornada Experimental Range in southern New Mexico. The pasture in which this experiment was conducted is representative of the black grama type that is commonly spotted with tobosa grass (Hilaria matica) flats on the heavier soils. The black grama areas are not pure stands but contain, in addition to black grama, a mixture of summer palatable grasses. These are principally sand dropseed (Sporobolus spp.) and three-awn grasses (Aristida spp.).}, keywords = {black grama, Bouteloua eriopoda, research notes, restoration method, semideferred grazing}, url = {/files/bibliography/050.pdf}, author = {Canfield, R.H.} } @article {52589, title = {Ways and means to minimize the ill effects of drought on black grama ranges}, number = {Research Note 82}, year = {1939}, month = {1939}, pages = {7}, institution = {USDA, Forest Service, Southwest Forest and Range Experimental Range Station}, abstract = {Black grama ranges of southern New Mexico and adjacent portions of Arizona and Texas have the largely unmerited reputation of being excessively vulnerable to drought. Actually, a complete failure of the forage crop is as rare here as is the complete failure of crops in regions of higher rainfall. Climatic data support this statement and provide the best index to the frequency of lean years. Long-time precipitation records taken at the Jornada Experimental Range and supporting experience indicate that each 10-year period may be expected to include 1 year of drought and 2 or more critically dry years. During these dry years the forage growth is far below that of the average year. Forage estimates and grazing capacity figures indicate that the feed supply will vary 60 percent or more between good and poor years. With complete annual use, the current forage crop cannot always be depended on year in and year out to support an unvarying number of cattle. Clearly, if sustained grazing capacity is to be maintained, the feed produced in drought years must be supplemented in some manner.}, keywords = {black grama, drought, effects, research notes}, url = {/files/bibliography/051.pdf}, author = {Canfield, R.H.} } @article {52594, title = {Tentative range utilization standards; black grama (Bouteloua eriopoda)}, number = {Research Note 26}, year = {1938}, month = {1938}, pages = {4 }, abstract = {Refer to Research Note 25 of the Southwestern Forest and Range Experiment Station which presents the fundamental concepts underlying tentative range utilization standards. Black grama (G28) is an important forage grass on many Southwestern semidesert and shortgrass ranges. In association with tobosa (Hilaria mutica) (G71), it is the dominant type over several million acres in southern New Mexico, western Texas, southeastern Arizona and along the Rio Grande to Albuquerque. Black grama is also abundant in portions of central Arizona and in the shortgrass country of eastern New Mexico. It now occurs, or has occurred in the past, in important quantities on the Cibola, Coconino, Coronado, Crook, Gila, Lincoln, Prescott, and Tonto National Forests in the Southwest.}, keywords = {black grama, range utilization, research notes, tentative standards, tobosa}, url = {/files/bibliography/040.pdf}, author = {R.S. Campbell and Crafts, E.C.} }