Stewart Breck is a research carnivore ecologist with the USDA-APHIS-WS National Wildlife Research Center and a member of the new Colorado State University Center for Human Carnivore Coexistence in Fort Collins. He has been focused on carnivore ecology and behavior and minimizing conflict between carnivores and people many years. The interview also includes Matt Barnes, a grazing consultant out of Colorado who works with the Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative and has a long history in the ...
Jul 02, 2020•1 hr
Ranching and rangelands are undergoing rapid and intertwined changes. Changes include ecological transitions due to climate and invasive species; land use transitions associated with urbanization and shifting priorities for public lands; demographic transitions reflected in the increasing average age and decreasing number of ranchers; and market transitions associated with changing consumer attitudes and globalized markets. Dr. Place discusses the importance of reconnecting consumers and food pr...
Jun 18, 2020•39 min
This is a presentation from the Society for Range Management's annual meeting in February 2020 in a symposium titled "Stakeholder Engagement to Improve Federal Rangeland Wildfire Mitigation and Response". Rangeland wildfires have grown in size, frequency, and length of season due to factors that include increasing human use of rangelands, vegetation state change (e.g., cheatgrass invasion), drought, and climate change. Because western U.S. rangelands are largely managed by the federal government...
Jun 04, 2020•30 min
When rangeland scientists question why those who manage ecosystems do not implement the information developed into action, the manager's concern is not centrally about the quality of data or information but rather the processes of knowledge production and implementation. Knowledge is a result of human reflection and experience, and it is most often found within an individual or collective routine or process that results in an increased capacity for decision-making and action to achieve some purp...
May 21, 2020•33 min
Karim-Aly Kassam is International Professor of Environmental and Indigenous Studies in the Department of Natural Resources and the American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University. His aim is to seamlessly merge research and teaching in the service of communities. His research focuses on the complex connectivity of human and environmental relations, addressing indigenous ways of knowing, food sovereignty, sustainable livelihoods, ...
May 07, 2020•57 min
This forum highlighting leading women in ranching operations was recorded Feb 20, 2020 at the National Western Complex in Denver, Colorado as part of the Society for Range Management annual meeting. The speakers included women from non-traditional ranching backgrounds as well as women whose families have been in the ranching business for several generations. The speakers provide a breadth of perspective as to what ranching is and why women are critical to the mission of sustainable ranches. This...
Apr 23, 2020•1 hr 26 min
When does science become art? We often refer to the “Art and Science of Range Management’ but how often do we acknowledge the “art” or the “artist?” in today’s world of ever-expanding technology and engineering, many aspects of the “art” of natural resource and land management are being overshadowed by a desire for predictability driven decision processes. This session with Jenny Pluhar and Frank Price, involving a conversation with H.L. Bentley, Special Agent in Charge of Grass, Abilene, Texas ...
Apr 09, 2020•1 hr 22 min
This talk was recorded at the Society for Range Management annnual meeting and training February 2020. The talk is from a symposium titled "Strategies for sustainability transformations in western rangelands." Lynn's presentation is available as a PDF here. hhttps://bit.ly/2QJXxLi Ranching and rangelands are undergoing rapid and intertwined changes. Changes include 1) ecological transitions due to climate and invasive species; 2) land use transitions associated with urbanization and shifting pri...
Mar 26, 2020•59 min
Dr. Karen Launchbaugh's plenary address at the SRM's 2020 annual meeting was titled "Bridging the Gap: What Does SRM Want/Need to be and How to Get There?" This is a recording of that talk. Karen's PowerPoint presentation is available in PDF at http://bit.ly/2TRiox7 if you want to follow along. Karen Launchbaugh is a professor of rangeland ecology at the University of Idaho who specializes in topics related to grazing behavior, range animal nutrition, and targeted grazing. Dr. Launchbaugh’s rese...
Mar 12, 2020•26 min
What's good for cattle nutrition is sometimes different than what's good for plants. Dr. Bohnert talks about the timing of nutrient supply on rangelands and the nutrient demand of late winter- or spring-calving beef cattle and how to manage body condition to optimize calf performance. WE NEED YOUR FEEDBACK! Please take 60 seconds to complete this survey: https://wsu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9Y3fUWlQdBsyBZX Resources TRANSCRIPT The full transcript of this episode is available at: https://bit...
Feb 27, 2020•50 min
Join Barry Perryman, Matt Williamson, and Karen Launchbaugh as they discuss recent research on cheatgrass causation and association and strategies to hold invasive annual grass at bay. WE NEED YOUR FEEDBACK! Please take 60 seconds to complete this survey: https://wsu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9Y3fUWlQdBsyBZX ARTICLES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW Williamson article, “Fire, livestock grazing, topography, and precipitation affect occurrence and prevalence of cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) in the central...
Feb 13, 2020•1 hr 15 min
Join Julie Elliott, Chuck Butterfield, Hailey Wilmer and Matt Barnes as they discuss their new approach to the Society’s 2020 annual meetings. Interaction, conversation and hands-on learning rather than presentation is the outworking of a planning process that capitalizes on the integrative nature of rangeland science and rangeland people and the process of translating and transforming the Society’s meetings and trainings to the 21st century. Find out more at http://www.srm2020.org/ WE NEED YOUR...
Jan 30, 2020•47 min
"Six patches make you six times less likely to be entirely wrong". Diversity and variability drive rangeland health. Healthy rangelands provide an array of ecological and social goods and services. Resiliency describes the robustness of natural mechanisms that allow land to continue providing those EGS over time with and through disturbance. Disturbances are necessary processes to create botanical diversity, but also changing diversity, across space and time. Human-caused disturbances should avo...
Jan 16, 2020•1 hr 4 min
"Six patches make you six times less likely to be entirely wrong". Diversity and variability drive rangeland health. Healthy rangelands provide an array of ecological and social goods and services. Resiliency describes the robustness of natural mechanisms that allow land to continue providing those EGS over time with and through disturbance. Disturbances are necessary processes to create botanical diversity, but also changing diversity, across space and time. Human-caused disturbances should avo...
Jan 02, 2020•39 min
Regenerative agriculture has gained popularity in response to concerns about the long-term effects of various agrochemical inputs we use on a variety of landscapes as well as the growing recognition of the complexity and sheer volume of microbial life in the soil-plant interface and below. Nicole discusses the origins of her book For the Love of Soil and some possible conclusions for building up soil health on rangelands. Her book can be purchased on Amazon or at her website https://www.integrit...
Dec 19, 2019•55 min
Lands are tied to people, and any changes in land use necessarily involve people. Understanding people and land together is the work of cultural and landscape geography. Paul Starrs is a geographer who has written some of the more interesting literature on the lifeways of range people. Tip and Paul discuss the culture of the West and challenges to ranching in a wide-ranging interview centered on Paul's opening chapter in the book "Ranching West of the 100th Meridian". WE NEED YOUR FEEDBACK! Plea...
Dec 05, 2019•51 min
Rangeland vegetation monitoring has always been hampered by landscape variability, site selection bias, and available time to get to remote areas. With the Rangeland Analysis Platform, range managers can get landscape-scale cover values (perennial grass, annuals, shrubs, and trees) over both space and time, with data going back to 1984. Brady Allred and Matt Jones discuss the origins of the RAP, the mechanics of the technology, and applications for land managers. WE NEED YOUR FEEDBACK! Please ta...
Oct 31, 2019•55 min
Perennial bunchgrass roots are the prize fighter in the wildland boxing ring with cheatgrass, and bacteria may be sitting this one out. Matt Germino, range scientist with the US Geological Survey in Idaho, describes recent research on how bunchgrass roots compete with invasive annual grasses below the soil surface. We discuss concepts of resilience and resistance, the ecological mechanisms involved in competition, monitoring measurements that are good indicators of root dominance, and eventually...
Oct 17, 2019•1 hr 1 min
Following "Cattle Free by '93" sentiment of the 80s and 90s has come growth in the middle ground, supported by both increasing recognition of the ecosystem goods and services provided by grazed rangelands as well as improvements in grazing management. Tip and Rick continue their discussion here and transition to Payment for Ecosystem Services programs that incentivize stewardship instead of non-production. WE NEED YOUR FEEDBACK! Please take 2 minutes to complete this short survey to help us cont...
Sep 26, 2019•59 min
The value of large public lands is largely dependent on adjacent private lands. Charismatic megafauna that characterize the American West will, perhaps ironically, only survive if large livestock ranches remain profitable. Rick Knight, conservation biologist at Colorado State University, discusses with Tip the unequal ecological value of private lands, the rise of the radical center, and the economics of maintaining habitat through ranching. PUBLICATIONS MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST The book Rick co...
Sep 19, 2019•33 min
Epigenetics studies in beef cattle have revealed surprising long-term effects of cow nutrition on performance of offspring in muscle and fat development, calf survivability, growth, carcass characteristics, reproduction, and health. Don Llewellyn and Tip discuss research what is meant by fetal programming (the more familiar name for this branch of epigenetics)and some of the research from Nebraska and Kansas that has illuminated the relationship between the health of the mother and the subsequen...
Sep 05, 2019•42 min
A common misconception about late summer and fall range grass is that low-quality forages serve only as fillers and have little value as feed. If this were universally true, wild ruminants would not be able to survive. Join Tip Hudson and Don Llewellyn for Art of Range episode #20 as they discuss how to get ruminants to digest low-quality forages. Rumen physiology, ruminant nutrition, and the fine points of proper protein supplementation for cattle on late summer/fall/winter range and pasture ar...
Aug 22, 2019•44 min
Why a podcast to teach on range ecology and livestock production? Tip discusses some of the thInking behind using podcasting to counter the ”Age of Distraction” and to promote deep thinking about complex subjects. WE NEED YOUR FEEDBACK! Please take 60 seconds to complete this quick 5-question survey: wsu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4GHpHVHlsouSorr TRANSCRIPT The full transcript of this episode is available at: https://bit.ly/2KjwAvg
Aug 08, 2019•22 min
WE NEED YOUR FEEDBACK! Please take 2 minutes to complete this short survey to help us continue funding the podcast: https://wsu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9Y3fUWlQdBsyBZX TRANSCRIPT The full transcript of this episode is available at: https://bit.ly/32OcUa1
Jul 25, 2019•1 hr
Can satellite data and drones answer questions we’re not even asking yet? Jason Karl, Univ. of Idaho researcher, believes that’s a good possibility. We may be able to make connections, associations, observations, even test hypotheses, using images of whole landscapes in tandem with ground-based measurements to better understand and manage rangelands. Join Jason and Tip as they discuss the limitations and opportunities in remotely-sensed data, how to choose good monitoring indicators and measurem...
Jul 11, 2019•1 hr 9 min
“If a grain farmer doesn’t have crop insurance, any lender will show him/her the door.” But ranchers have not historically used many financial risk tools such as crop insurance. Tip and Shannon Neibergs, director for the Western Center for Risk Management Education, discuss the variety of risk education products available to ranchers as well as various financial measurement and financial risk tools such as livestock insurance products. WE NEED YOUR FEEDBACK! Please take 2 minutes to complete thi...
May 23, 2019•46 min
Ethan Lane, director of the national Public Lands Council, makes a compelling case for ranchers to build a record of stewardship in order to tell a positive story as well as provide protection from critics of public lands grazing. He and Tip discuss the work of the PLC, why ranchers should be doing their own monitoring, and suggestions for constructively interacting with state and federal agencies. WE NEED YOUR FEEDBACK! Please take 2 minutes to complete this short survey to help us continue fun...
May 09, 2019•1 hr
The scientists at the Jornada Experimental Range have been at the forefront of research monitoring rangeland health for decades. Jeff Herrick, a lead soil scientist at the Jornada, discusses with Tip recent advancements in rangeland monitoring methods and tools, including a monitoring app that brings together big data and on-the-ground sampling. Land PKS is now available at landpotential.org, and developers will be rolling out several key modules over the next couple months. WE NEED YOUR FEEDBAC...
Apr 25, 2019•53 min
How many times have you thought: “You should have seen what this looked like 10 years ago?!” We usually mean that a range site or riparian zone looks better than it did 10 years ago, but most people can’t back up that claim. Join Tip and Sherm Swanson as they discuss ways to document landscape change and translate that data into management action. WE NEED YOUR FEEDBACK! Please take 2 minutes to complete this short survey to help us continue funding the podcast: https://wsu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/...
Apr 11, 2019•53 min
Dr. Nathan Sayre has written the definitive work on the origins and history of rangelands science, public ownership, agency management, and grazing philosophy in the United States. Join Tip and Nathan as they discuss his background building fence on ranches on the Southwest, his pathway to the sociology of rangelands, and then surprising findings in Sayre’s book research. Finally, they visit about recommendations for modern range management. WE NEED YOUR FEEDBACK! Please take 2 minutes to comple...
Mar 28, 2019•1 hr 18 min
