Mitigating land degradation and promoting recovery following disturbance is a growing need in the southwestern U.S. Increasing aridity in this region poses a significant challenge to successful land treatments. The Restoration Assessment and Monitoring Program for the Southwest (RAMPS; www.usgs.gov/sbsc/ramps) is a growing collaborative of over 20 federal and state agencies, universities, and private organizations that aims to strengthen land treatment outcomes in water-limited ecosystems. RAMPS provides a hub of information and guidance on effective restoration and rehabilitation strategies through stakeholder engagement, research and data synthesis, and the development of decision-support tools. Here we present recent research and outreach efforts to bridge restoration science and land management.
Results/Conclusions
A RAMPS synthesis of ~4,000 land treatments across the southwestern U.S. from 1940 – 2010 reveals that treatments are shifting toward restoration practices that are increasingly large, expensive, and related to fire and invasive species control. RAMPS is identifying anticipatory science approaches to restoration, including “prestoration” or utilizing species in seed mixes that will perform well under both current and future climate conditions. RAMPS is implementing a restoration field trial network across the southwestern U.S. The central goal of the network is to test the effectiveness of a variety of treatments and species in restoring ecosystem services. RAMPS organizes multiple workshops and symposia to identify critical land recovery needs, showcase innovative restoration practices, and integrate research with on-the-ground operations. Through these activities, the RAMPS network enhances landscape productivity and reduces risks posed by invasive species, wildfire, and increasing aridity in the Southwest.