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Uncertainty as to the extent and magnitude of changes in conditions that might occur due to climate change poses a problem for land and resource managers as they seek to adapt to changes and mitigate effects of climate variability. We illustrate using scenarios of projected future conditions on rangelands in the Northern Great Plains and Desert Southwest of the United States. These two regions are different in the ways climate change is projected to affect the regions. Projection of a longer and warmer growing season in the Northern Great Plains could lead to increased forage production and land productivity. Highly uncertain effects on summer monsoons that primarily control rangeland productivity in the Desert Southwest, combined with the possibility of more intense and/or frequent drought events, could present land managers with challenges stemming from decreased forage production and land productivity. Climate projections, though uncertain, provide land managers with basic insight into future conditions they might encounter. They need more. A focus on vulnerability and resilience, with explicit recognition of interactions between ecological and socio‐economic factors, coupled with systematic monitoring and assessment of observable conditions on the land to supplement information based on climate projections, will more effectively provide critical and specific information managers need to adaptively manage rangelands under uncertain climate futures.

More diverse sources of energy are needed for countries to progress toward energy independence and to meet future food production needs. The US Task Force on Strategic Unconventional Fuels concluded that to achieve this objective it is essential to develop a domestic unconventional fuels industry. Rangelands, which cover 50% to 70% of the earth’s terrestrial surface and dominate much of the western half of the United States, represent a major source of alternative energy resources. A framework to systematically identify biophysical-socioeconomic links that influence the delivery of ecosystem services affected by alternative uses of rangelands has been lacking. The Integrated Social, Economic, and Ecological Conceptual framework was developed by the Sustainable Rangeland Roundtable to address this deficiency. We apply this framework to demonstrate how the effect on ecosystem services of exploiting rangeland-based biofuel, natural gas, and wind energy resources can be systematically compared. We also demonstrate the use of this framework for selecting suitable indicators to monitor changes in the biophysical-socioeconomic links affected by the development of these unconventional energy sources. This type of approach can potentially enhance coordination between federal, state, and local agencies that are attempting to set polices and regulations for the sustainable development of unconventional energy resources on rangelands.

Rangeland Ecosystem Goods and Services: Values and Evaluation of Opportunities for Ranchers and Land Managers DOI:10.2458/azu_rangelands_v33i5_maczko

In recent years mountain pine beetles (MPB), Dendroctonus ponderosae, along with several other bark beetle species, have severely damaged coniferous forests in the western United States (U.S.) and Canada (Morris and Walls, 2009). Colorado provides one example of a region that has been heavily affected. The Colorado State Forest Service estimates that 769,000 ha of Colorado's forests, of all jurisdictions, have been infested with MPB since the outbreak began in 1996 (Leatherman, 2009). An important consequence of this damage is declining utility (i.e. a reduction in the level of satisfaction derived from goods and services, both market and nonmarket) for residents of the wildland-urban interface (WUI). Specifically, beetle infestations lower utility by reducing the value of forest amenities and increasing the risk of wildfire. We use a hedonic pricing model to estimate willingness-to-pay (WTP) to prevent MPB damage in Grand County, Colorado. The hedonic model establishes a statistical relationship between property prices and various characteristics. In this case, the characteristic of interest is the number of trees killed by MPB infestations. A Geographic Information System (GIS) is used to determine the number of these trees within 0.1, 0.5, and 1.0 kilometer buffers of each property. Marginal implicit prices for MPB damage are calculated, after controlling for structural and spatial characteristics. Results indicate that property values decline by $648, $43, and $17 for every tree killed by MPB infestations within a 0.1, 0.5, and 1.0 km buffer, respectively.

Currently, there is no standard method to assess the complex systems in rangeland ecosystems. Decision makers need baselines to create a common language of current rangeland conditions and standards for continued rangeland assessment. The Sustainable Rangeland Roundtable (SRR), a group of private and public organizations and agencies, has created a forum to discuss rangeland sustainability and assessment. The SRR has worked to integrate social, economic, and ecological disciplines related to rangelands and has identified a standard set of indicators that can be used to assess rangeland sustainability. As part of this process, SRR has developed a two-tiered conceptual framework from a systems perspective to study the validity of indicators and the relationships among them. The first tier categorizes rangeland characteristics into four states. The second tier defines processes affecting these states through time and space. The framework clearly shows that the processes affect and are affected by each other.

The value of public land forage has been of key interest since grazing fees were first established on federal lands. Additionally, knowing the value of rangeland forage is important for assessing the economics of range improvements, grazing systems, and alternative land uses. It is important for resource value comparisons and impact assessments when public land forage is allocated to other uses. In this synthesis paper, we review the various methods that have been used to value public land forage and discuss the advantages and limitations of each. We highlight that past valuation efforts have concentrated on the value of public land forage for livestock production and, consequently, underestimated total forage value and rancher willingness to pay for forage and grazing permits. These research efforts failed to recognize that amenity and lifestyle attributes from ranch ownership and forage leasing play important roles in the use and pricing of rangeland forage. We review the numerous studies conducted to estimate public land forage value and suggest modifications to improve future value estimates. Because lifestyle attributes of ranch ownership have so strongly influenced ranch values and what ranchers are willing to pay for grazing use on public lands, we find the market value of federal grazing permits and a modification of the standard contingent valuation method for valuing non-market goods to hold the greatest promise for valuing public land grazing. DOI:10.2458/azu_jrm_v55i5_bartlett

This study applies benefit‐cost analysis to one area of prenatal diagnosis— amniocentesis. The ultimate purpose of such a study is to provide useful guidelines to policy makers. An attempt is made to exhaustively list benefits and costs, whether measurable or not. Those which can be quantified are estimated. On the basis of these benefit‐cost estimates, the study concludes that a program of amniocentesis for all pregnant women beyond age 32 would be warranted. This economic analysis, however, is only one aspect of a policy decision. Moral, legal, and ethical questions must also be considered.