Rangeland ecosystem goods and services include extractable goods, tangible and intangible services, and core ecosystem processes that underlie them. While rangeland amenity values matter to some, profit potential may motivate others to engage in conservation and provision of goods and services. As competing land uses vie for finite resources, identifying rangeland goods and services, along with conservation practices contributing to their viability, becomes more important. Ranchers manage rangeland systems for their livelihood, also providing wildlife habitat, clean water, carbon sequestration, open space, hunting, fishing, and recreation opportunities. The Sustainable Rangelands Roundtable (SRR) recognized that querying ranchers about goods and services their operations provide would produce useful information. SRR distributed the survey to more than 2500 ranchers in the Great Basin, Colorado Plateau, Southwest, and Central Rockies, during Spring and Summer of 2015. A response rate of 25% reflected completed surveys received from over 600 ranchers in these regions.
Results/Conclusions
Preliminary results reflect the importance of activities and resource uses to ranching operations; management practices used to improve conditions, and motivations for doing so; species for which habitat is provided; how much is charged for recreation activities; and days of recreation provided. Responses show that ranchers steward a variety of ecosystem services on public and private rangelands. Key areas of emphasis included invasive species management; optimization of grazing to conserve and enhance riparian areas; and land management to create wildlife habitat for large ungulates and birds. Additionally, provision of recreation opportunities (hunting, fishing, birdwatching, etc.) has the potential to offer a diversified source of income for ranchers. However, they don’t always take advantage of such options. Ranchers manage to enhance rangeland ecosystem goods and services, and they don’t always charge a fee to those who enjoy the benefits. As society becomes more urbanized, it is important to publicize benefits emanating from ranchers and rural communities while these skilled land managers pursue their core business of providing protein to a growing population. Additionally, as the economics of ranching become more complex, sharing strategies for enterprise diversification and alternative income streams associated with ecosystem goods and services, such as provision of recreation opportunities, may also help ranchers improve their operations’ long term sustainability.