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On the Ground • Adaptive management should explicitly involve stakeholders, emphasize multiple iterations of identifying and prioritizing outcomes, and tightly link science-informed monitoring to decision-making benchmarks for effective feedback loops. • Short-term monitoring procedures should be simple, quick, and based on consistent methods that are focused on locations where meaningful change is expected or uncertainty is high. • Long-term monitoring procedures should emphasize consistent methodology across years that provides broader ecosystem context for multiple ecosystem services (e.g., watershed protection and grassland bird habitat). • Incorporating timely feedback from monitoring improves the capacity for rapid decision-making when benchmarks are attained and management should be modified.

Frequent, severe defoliation reduces grass production and can alter plant species composition in grasslands. Multipaddock rotational grazing has been proposed as a grazing strategy that may reduce the frequency and intensity of defoliation on palatable grass plants without altering stocking rates. Previous studies evaluated this hypothesis using small, homogeneous paddocks and nonadaptive rotation schedules and found small and inconsistent differences between continuous and rotational grazing systems. Using a stakeholder-driven collaborative adaptive management (CAM) framework, we conducted the first ranch-scale experimental investigation into tiller defoliation patterns in the context of adaptive multipaddock rotational grazing. We monitored tiller defoliation frequency and intensity in 10 paired 130-ha pastures assigned to either a collaborative adaptive multipaddock rotational grazing treatment (CARM, one livestock herd) or a season-long continuous grazing treatment (traditional rangeland management [TRM]; 10 separate herds) in shortgrass steppe. Consistent with previous studies, we observed that frequencies of grazing and regrazing on a palatable, cool-season grass (western wheatgrass, Pascopyrum smithii) were much more sensitive to stocking rate than grazing system. Under moderate stocking rates used in both CARM and TRM treatments, roughly two-thirds of western wheatgrass tillers remained ungrazed annually, regardless of grazing system. Thus, season-long rest is present in season-long continuous and rotational grazing systems. Frequencies of tiller regrazing were low (5−15%) and similar between CARM and TRM treatments. Although defoliation patterns were similar between treatments at the whole-ranch scale, CARM enhanced spatial and temporal heterogeneity in defoliation frequencies among individual pastures. Pastures grazed earlier in the season or for longer experienced more defoliation. Managers implementing adaptive, multipaddock rotational grazing could use this heightened and predictable variability to strategically manage impacts of grazing on western wheatgrass at the individual pasture scale. The CAM model enabled our team to identify and directly address key stakeholder hypotheses and resulted in coproduction of management-relevant research.

Throughout the Great Plains, aboveground annual net primary productivity (ANPP) is a critical ecosystem service supporting billions of dollars of commerce and countless stakeholders. Managers and producers struggle with high interannual change in ANPP, which often varies 40% between years due to fluctuating precipitation and drought. To quantify ANPP trends and evaluate interannual and spatial variation, we created the Rangeland Production Monitoring Service (RPMS), a spatially explicit database with automatic annual updates of ANPP for all rangelands in the conterminous United States. The RPMS establishes relationships between normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) from remote sensing data and ANPP from soil ecological site descriptions. These relationships were applied to NDVI data in each year from 1984 to present, although the present assessment focuses on the period from 1984 to 2017. Validation metrics include an r2 of 89% between predicted and observed ANPP at three locations in the Great Plains. For this special issue, we assess data from the RPMS to quantify trends and variation of ANPP in the Great Plains region for four major grassland types, smaller-scale ecological subsections, and national grassland units. Significant (α ≤ 0.05) increases in ANPP since 1984 were observed across all major grassland types in the Great Plains, particularly the northern mixed-grass prairie, which also had the greatest interannual variation (21%) from 1984 to 2017. Corresponding significant increases (P

On the Ground • The 2020 SRM Annual Meeting piloted “Campfire Conversation,” round-table discussions styled after the World Cafe approach. • The event attracted 280 attendees and enabled multidirectional knowledge exchange (i.e., “cuss and discuss”), rather than one-way “chalk-and-talk.” Attendees participated in three 20-minute facilitated round-table discussions around three topics they selected from a menu of 13 timely rangeland issues. • Change was a common theme for many Campfire Conversations, including social, climatic, ecological, management, and policy changes. • Participants highlighted a desire for SRM to grow as an organization by enhancing members’ opportunities and resources for multidirectional knowledge exchange among students, scientists, practitioners, and policy-makers; cross-generational mentorship; cross-disciplinary training; diverse ways of knowing; and greater inclusivity and connection to the SRM. • A post-event analysis of the Campfire Conversation event revealed valuable lessons for organizing successful World Cafe-style sessions at future SRM meetings, including virtual meetings.

Natural resource researchers have long recognized the value of working closely with the managers and communities who depend on, steward, and impact ecosystems. These partnerships take various forms, including co-production and transdisciplinary research approaches, which integrate multiple knowledges in the design and implementation of research objectives, questions, methods, and desired outputs or outcomes. These collaborations raise important methodological and ethical challenges, because partnering with non-scientists can have real-world risks for people and ecosystems. The social sciences and biomedical research studies offer a suite of conceptual tools that enhance the quality, ethical outcomes, and effectiveness of research partnerships. For example, the ethical guidelines and regulations for human subjects research, following the Belmont Principles, help prevent harm and promote respectful treatment of research participants. However, science–management partnerships require an expanded set of ethical concepts to better capture the challenges of working with individuals, communities, organizations, and their associated ecosystems, as partners, rather than research subjects. We draw from our experiences in collaborative teams, and build upon the existing work of natural resources, environmental health, conservation and ecology, social science, and humanities scholars, to develop an expanded framework for ethical research partnership. This includes four principles: (1) appropriate representation, (2) self-determination, (3) reciprocity, and (4) deference, and two cross-cutting themes: (1) applications to humans and non-human actors, and (2) acquiring appropriate research skills. This framework is meant to stimulate important conversations about expanding ethics training and skills for researchers in all career-stages to improve partnerships and transdisciplinary natural resources research.

Collaborative adaptive management (CAM) is hypothesized to benefit management of rangeland ecosystems, but the presumed benefits have seldom been quantified, and never in a multipaddock rotational grazing system. Here, we evaluated average daily weight gain (ADG) of livestock (kg steer−1 d−1) in four grazing management treatments during the summers of 2016−2018 in a semiarid shortgrass steppe. These four treatments had the same stocking rate but differed in stocking densities. The three lowest stocking densities were implemented using nonadaptive grazing management, while the highest stocking density was implemented using CAM by an 11-member Stakeholder Group. Three of the four treatments used multipaddock rotational grazing. Growing season precipitation varied from drought in 2016 to near average in 2017 and dry in 2018. During nondrought years, ADG under nonadaptive grazing declined linearly as stocking density increased from low to high. This relationship was not significant during drought (2016). CAM increased absolute livestock production by 0.13 to 0.19 kg steer−1 d−1 in nondrought years, or a 23−25% relative increase in ADG. This benefit of CAM arose from the Stakeholder Group's ability to rotate cattle in response to spatiotemporal heterogeneity across the landscape—i.e., the ability to graze the “right pastures at the right time.” Multiplying the additional grazing season livestock gains achieved through CAM by the monetary value of gains ($ kg−1) resulted in an estimated additional gross revenue return from CAM of $48.16 to $55.54 per steer annually, as compared with revenues from nonadaptive multipaddock rotational grazing under nondrought conditions. These results indicate that CAM, supported with substantial and timely monitoring data, can minimize decreases in livestock production associated with high stocking densities used in multipaddock rotation systems. However, in this experimental context, the economic benefits of increased livestock production associated with CAM were likely insufficient to offset the substantial cost of this approach.

A comprehensive understanding of multipaddock, rotational grazing management on rangelands has been slow to develop, and the contribution of adaptive management (Briske et al. 2011) and sufficient scale (Teague and Barnes 2017) have been identified as key omissions. We designed an experiment to compare responses of vegetation and cattle in an adaptively managed, multipaddock, rotational system with that of a season-long, continuous system at scales comparable with those of a working ranch. We hypothesized that 1) year-long rest periods in the adaptively managed, rotational pastures would increase the density and productivity of perennial C3 graminoids compared with continuously grazed pastures and 2) adaptive management, supported with detailed monitoring data, would result in similar cattle performance in the rotational as in the continuously grazed pastures. However, we found little supporting evidence for grazing management effects on C3 graminoid abundance or production under either above-average or below-average precipitation conditions during the 5-yr experiment. Furthermore, adaptive rotational grazing resulted in a 12–16% reduction in total cattle weight gain relative to continuous grazing each year. Our work shows that the implementation of adaptive management by a stakeholder group provided with detailed vegetation and animal monitoring data was unable to fully mitigate the adverse consequences of high stock density on animal weight gain. Under adaptive rotational grazing, C3 perennial grass productivity and stocking rate both increased following above-average precipitation. But when adaptive rotational management was directly compared with continuous grazing with the same increase in stocking rate, continuous grazing achieved similar vegetation outcomes with greater cattle weight gains. We suggest that managers in semiarid rangelands strive to maintain cattle at stock densities low enough to allow for maximal cattle growth rates, while still providing spatiotemporal variability in grazing distribution to enhance rangeland heterogeneity and long-term sustainability of forage production.

Rangeland scientists have made substantial progress in understanding ecological dynamics of rangelands, but the social factors have received less attention in North America. A body of North American rangeland social science has developed over the past 4 decades, with the number of studies increasing each decade. However, these works have not been systematically reviewed to assess the state of rangeland social science in North America or to identify research gaps. We developed a systematic map to characterize this literature by 1) the research objectives and questions; 2) who was studied; 3) where research was conducted; 4) which theories, methodologies, and methods were applied; and 5) how these research characteristics have changed from 1970 to 2017. We found that most (81%) North American rangeland social science has studied ranchers, farmers, and/or landowners, with limited consideration of other stakeholders (e.g., ranch workers, youth). Although age (43% of the studies) and education (40%) are often considered, other attributes/identities, such as gender (28%) and race or ethnicity (18%), are less frequently included. The most commonly used research method is surveys (52%), and much of rangeland social science does not make explicit connections to either specific methodological or theoretical frameworks. The limited application of theories, methodologies, and a lack of diverse methods has potentially constrained who and what have been studied in North America. The limited consideration of gender and race in rangeland social science is echoed in the limited number of studies that have accounted for the effects of social identities and power relationships on people’s connection to and management of rangelands. This review highlights the need for more North American research that 1) is informed by social theory, 2) applies a diversity of methods, 3) considers a broader diversity of stakeholders, and 4) draws from multiple social science disciplinary traditions.

Ranchers in the Great Plains make decisions in complex social and ecological environments. While a great deal of research has studied rancher adaptation, an insider's or "emic" view rancher's mental models is less well understood. In this study a rancher and a researcher collaborate to document ten years of management on a Colorado ranch. Using data from repeated interviews, participatory mapping and records review, we describe a conceptual model for ranch decision-making. Then, we illustrate the spatial ecology of these decisions, via a participatory map. Finally, we show management, climate, and ecological records over ten years. This timeline illustrates how the rancher's management approach and relationship to the ecosystem changed over time from viewing himself as the "controller" of the ecological community to "member of it". We discuss how our results complement existing research about ranch systems adaptation by documenting how climate, weather, economic and ecological dynamics interacted with the rancher's own self-image and how management strategies changed over time. Our collaborative methodology and the resultant mental model may inform other first-generation ranchers seeking to develop adaptive management approaches, and researchers seeking to better understand the decision-making environments of their rancher collaborators.

Drylands cover 41% of the Earth's terrestrial surface, play a critical role in global ecosystem function, and are home to over two billion people. Like other biomes, drylands face increasing pressure from global change, but many of these ecosystems are close to tipping points, which, if crossed, can lead to abrupt transitions and persistent degraded states. Their limited but variable precipitation, low soil fertility, and low productivity have given rise to a perception that drylands are wastelands, needing societal intervention to bring value to them. Negative perceptions of drylands synergistically combine with conflicting sociocultural values regarding what constitutes a threat to these ecosystems. In the present article, we propose a framework for assessing threats to dryland ecosystems and suggest we must also combat the negative perceptions of drylands in order to preserve the ecosystem services that they offer.

Ranchers and pastoralists worldwide manage and depend upon resources from rangelands (which support indigenous vegetation with the potential for grazing) across Earth's terrestrial surface. In the Great Plains of North America rangeland ecology has increasingly recognized the importance of managing rangeland vegetation heterogeneity to address conservation and production goals. This paradigm, however, has limited application for ranchers as they manage extensive beef production operations under high levels of social-ecological complexity and uncertainty. We draw on the ethics of care theoretical framework to explore how ranchers choose management actions. We used modified grounded theory analysis of repeated interviews with ranchers to (1) compare rancher decision-making under relatively certain and uncertain conditions and (2) describe a typology of practices used to prioritize and choose management actions that maintain effective stewardship of these often multi-generational ranches. We contrast traditional decision-making frameworks with those described by interviewees when high levels of environmental and market uncertainty or ecological complexity led ranchers toward use of care-based, flexible and relational frameworks for decision-making. Ranchers facing complexity and uncertainty often sought "middle-ground" strategies to balance multiple, conflicting responsibilities in rangeland social-ecological systems. For example, ranchers' care-based decision-making leads to conservative stocking approaches to "manage for the middle," e.g. to limit risk under uncertain weather and forage availability conditions. Efforts to promote heterogeneity-based rangeland management for biodiversity conservation through the restoration of patch burn grazing and prairie dog conservation will require increased valuation of ranchers' care work. USDA-ARSUnited States Department of Agriculture (USDA); USDA-NIFA AFRIUnited States Department of Agriculture (USDA) [2009-04442, 2012-38415-20328]; Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station project [COLO0698]; Western Sustainable Agriculture, Research, and Education program [SW10-073]; Center for Collaborative Conservation Fellows Program at Colorado State University The authors appreciate Dr. Emily Kachergis who helped initiate the research, developed the study design and collected data in Wyoming in 2012, and Dr. Kachergis, Dr. Paul Meiman, Brad Palmer, Dr. David Briske, Dr. Tracy Hruska, Julie Kennedy, Sam Cannon and Dr. David Augustine for helpful comments on the study and/or manuscript. Research assistance provided by Pam Freeman, Nicole Kaplan and Shakota Dilley. Funding provided by: USDA-ARS; USDA-NIFA AFRI awards 2009-04442 and 2012-38415-20328, Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station project COLO0698; Western Sustainable Agriculture, Research, and Education program (Project Number SW10-073); and the Center for Collaborative Conservation Fellows Program at Colorado State University. Public domain – authored by a U.S. government employee

On the Ground • We assessed diet quality and livestock weight gains for shortgrass steppe pastures dominated by Loamy Plains or Sandy Plains ecological sites. • When growing season precipitation is “normal,” livestock gains are higher on Sandy Plains ecological sites, and diet quality is not limiting livestock production. • Conversely, when growing season precipitation declines by ≥ 20%, digestible organic matter, but not crude protein, influences livestock gains. These negative effects on livestock gains are more pronounced for the Loamy Plains ecological site. • Pastures with multiple ecological sites may provide range managers greater forage diversity for livestock and higher livestock gains during dry growing seasons.

Drought is an inescapable reality in many regions, including much of the western United States. With climate change, droughts are predicted to intensify and occur more frequently, making the imperative for drought management even greater. Many diverse actors – including private landowners, business owners, scientists, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and managers and policymakers within tribal, local, state, and federal government agencies – play multiple, often overlapping roles in preparing for and responding to drought. Managing water is, of course, one of the most important roles that humans play in both mitigating and responding to droughts; but, focusing only on “water managers” or “water management” fails to capture key elements related to the broader category of drought management. The respective roles played by those managing drought (as distinct from water managers), the interactions among them, and the consequences in particular contexts, are not well understood. Our team synthesized insights from 10 in-depth case studies to understand key facets of decision making about drought preparedness and response. We present a typology with four elements that collectively describe how decisions about drought preparedness and response are made (context and objective for a decision; actors responsible; choice being made or action taken; and how decisions interact with and influence other decisions). The typology provides a framework for system-level understanding of how and by whom complex decisions about drought management are made. Greater system-level understanding helps decision makers, program and research funders, and scientists to identify constraints to and opportunities for action, to learn from the past, and to integrate ecological impacts, thereby facilitating social learning among diverse participants in drought preparedness and response.

The ongoing devastation of the Covid-19 pandemic has brought new urgency to questions surrounding the origins, management, and complex dynamics of infectious diseases. In this mini review, we use growing international concern over the pandemic potential of emerging infectious diseases as motivation for outlining a research approach to study the emotional dimensions of animal disease management. We sketch out this important analytical terrain by first locating opportunities for literature on the biosecurization of nature to intersect with the emerging field of emotional political ecology. Second, we describe three biosecurity contexts and environmental conflicts at the wildlife-livestock interface: African swine fever in wild boar, brucellosis in elk, and pneumonia in bighorn and domestic sheep. We argue that in these “contact zones,” a focus on emotions can add a new layer of explanation for analyzing the manifestations, implications, and varied experiences of biosecurity.

Natural resource researchers have long recognized the value of working closely with the managers and communities who depend on, steward, and impact ecosystems. These partnerships take various forms, including co-production and transdisciplinary research approaches, which integrate multiple knowledges in the design and implementation of research objectives, questions, methods, and desired outputs or outcomes. These collaborations raise important methodological and ethical challenges, because partnering with non-scientists can have real-world risks for people and ecosystems. The social sciences and biomedical research studies offer a suite of conceptual tools that enhance the quality, ethical outcomes, and effectiveness of research partnerships. For example, the ethical guidelines and regulations for human subjects research, following the Belmont Principles, help prevent harm and promote respectful treatment of research participants. However, science-management partnerships require an expanded set of ethical concepts to better capture the challenges of working with individuals, communities, organizations, and their associated ecosystems, as partners, rather than research subjects. We draw from our experiences in collaborative teams, and build upon the existing work of natural resources, environmental health, conservation and ecology, social science, and humanities scholars, to develop an expanded framework for ethical research partnership. This includes four principles: (1) appropriate representation, (2) self-determination, (3) reciprocity, and (4) deference, and two cross-cutting themes: (1) applications to humans and non-human actors, and (2) acquiring appropriate research skills. This framework is meant to stimulate important conversations about expanding ethics training and skills for researchers in all career-stages to improve partnerships and transdisciplinary natural resources research.

Pastoralists and researchers (and others) are finding new ways of working together worldwide, attempting to sustain pastoral livelihoods and rangelands in the face of rapid and profound changes driven by globalization, growing consumption, land-use change, and climate change. They are doing this partly because of a greater need to address increasing complex or “wicked” problems, but also because local pastoral voices (and sometimes science) still have little impact on decision-making in the governmental and private sectors. We describe here, using six worldwide cases, how collaborative rangelands partnerships are transforming how we learn about rangelands and pastoralists, whose knowledge gets considered, how science can support societal action, and even our fundamental model of how science gets done. Over the long-term, collaborative partnerships are transforming social-ecological systems by implementing processes like building collaborative relationships, co-production/co-generation of knowledge, integration of knowledges, social learning, capacity building, networking and implementing action. These processes are changing mental models and paradigms, creating strong and effective leaders, changing power relations, providing more robust understanding of rangeland systems, reducing polarization and supporting the implementation of new practices and policies. Collaborative partnerships have recurring challenges and much work is yet to be done. These challenges rest on the enduring complexity of social-ecological problems in rangelands. At a practical level, partnerships struggle with listening, amplifying and partnering with diverse (and sometimes marginalized) voices, the time commitment needed to make partnerships work, the bias and naivete of scientists, the recognition that partnerships can promote negative transformations, management of power relations within the partnership, and the need to attribute impacts to partnership activities. We think that the future of this work will have more focus on systems transformations, morals and ethics, intangible and long-term impacts, critical self-assessment, paradigm shifts and mental models, and power. Overall, we conclude that these partnerships are transformative in unexpected and sometimes intangible ways. Key transformations include changing mental models and building the next generation of transformative leaders. Just as important is serendipity, where participants in partnerships take advantage of new windows of opportunity to change policy or create new governance institutions. We also conclude that collaborative partnerships are changing how we do science, creating new and transformative ways that science and society interact that could be called “transformative science with society.”

Ongoing revitalization of the &gt, 5000-year-old tradition of using trees for vital culture and heritage activities including carving and weaving affirms Alaska Native resilience. However, support for these sustained cultural practices is complicated by environmental and political factors. Carving projects typically require western redcedar (Thuja plicata) or yellow cedar (Callitropsis nootkatensis) trees more than 450 years of age&mdash, a tree life stage and growth rate inconsistent with current even-aged forest management strategies. Herein, we qualitatively assess the significance of wood products to rural communities and Indigenous cultures with implications for natural heritage sustainability. In partnership with Alaska Native Tribes, we engaged local youth programs to lead community discussions throughout southeast Alaska to provide specificity to the suite of cultural activities linked to regional forest lands. Results from 58 discussions across 11 southeast Alaska communities (primarily Alaska Native participants) highlighted the cultural importance of forest products including totem poles, dugout canoes, longhouses, woven hats, and woven baskets. Findings indicated spiritual well-being, health, education, tourism, and income are attributed to these products. Participant-suggested management strategies for increasing supply and expanding access to trees on public lands included: engaging local artisans in forest planning, selecting and delivering specific trees to roads as part of ongoing timber sales, allowing bark removal prior to forest-timber sales, simplifying the tree-acquisition permit process, and setting aside cultural forest groves to sustain trees seven generations into the future. By facilitating discussions, this study fostered relevant place-based youth and community engagement, benefiting youth and enhancing community knowledge transfer while simultaneously summarizing the significance of forest products for resilient culture and heritage activities. Forest management plans aiming to support Alaska Native lifeways may benefit from improved understanding of Indigenous perspectives and worldviews, designation of &ldquo, culture market values&rdquo, and &ldquo, culture targets&rdquo, can help deliver a broad array of ecosystem services.

Rangelands of the western Great Plains of North America are complex social-ecological systems where management objectives for livestock production, grassland bird conservation, and vegetation structure and composition converge. The Collaborative Adaptive Rangeland Management (CARM) experiment is a 10-year collaborative adaptive management (CAM) project initiated in 2012 that is aimed at fostering science-management partnerships and data-driven rangeland management through a participatory, multistakeholder approach. This study evaluates the decision-making process that emerged from the first 4 yr of CARM. Our objectives were to 1) document how diverse stakeholder experiences, epistemologies, and resulting knowledge contributed to the CARM project, 2) evaluate how coproduced knowledge informed management decision making through three grazing seasons, and 3) explore the implications of participation in the CARM project for rangeland stakeholders. We evaluated management decision making as representatives from government agencies and conservation nongovernmental organizations, ranchers, and interdisciplinary researchers worked within the CARM experiment to 1) prioritize desired ecosystem services; 2) determine objectives; 3) set stocking rates, criteria for livestock movement among pastures, and vegetation treatments; and 4) select monitoring techniques that would inform decision making. For this paper, we analyzed meeting transcripts, interviews, and focus group data related to stakeholder group decision making. We find two key lessons from the CARM project. First, the CAM process makes visible, but does not reconcile differences between, stakeholder experiences and ways of knowing about complex rangeland systems. Second, social learning in CAM is contingent on the development of trust among stakeholder and researcher groups. We suggest future CAM efforts should 1) make direct efforts to share and acknowledge managers’ different rangeland management experiences, epistemologies, and knowledge and 2) involve long-term research commitment in time and funding to social, as well as experimental, processes that promote trust building among stakeholders and researchers over time.

Experiments investigating grazing systems have often excluded ranch-scale decision making, which has limited our understanding of the processes and consequences of adaptive management. We conducted interviews and vegetation monitoring on 17 ranches in eastern Colorado and eastern Wyoming to investigate rancher decision-making processes and the associated ecological consequences. Management variables investigated were grazing strategy, grazing intensity, planning style, and operation type. Ecological attributes included the relative abundance of plant functional groups and categories of ground cover. We examined the environmental and management correlates of plant species and functional group composition using nonmetric multidimensional scaling and linear mixed models. After accounting for environmental variation across the study region, species composition did not differ between grazing management strategy and planning style. Operation type was significantly correlated with plant community composition. Integrated cow-calf plus yearling operations had greater annual and less key perennial cool-season grass species cover relative to cow-calf − only operations. Integrated cow-calf plus yearling ranches were able to more rapidly restock following drought compared with cow-calf operations. Differences in types of livestock operations contributed to variability in plant species composition across the landscape that may support diverse native faunal species in these rangeland ecosystems. Three broad themes emerged from the interviews: 1) long-term goals, 2) flexibility, and 3) adaptive learning. Stocking-rate decisions appear to be slow, path-dependent choices that are shaped by broader social, economic, and political dynamics. Ranchers described having greater flexibility in altering grazing strategies than ranch-level, long-term, annual stocking rates. These results reflect the complexity of the social-ecological systems ranchers navigate in their adaptive decision-making processes. Ranch decision-making process diversity within these environments precludes development of a single “best” strategy to manage livestock grazing.

Complex and “wicked” natural resource issues often require transdisciplinary research approaches–methods that span boundaries among disciplines and engage multiple sectors of society in the research process. Social-ecological systems approaches acknowledge the complexity of dynamics within and feedbacks between natural and social systems, but have insufficiently incorporated the subjective lived experience, agency, culture and power dynamics of people within these systems. We propose that poetic inquiry, together with poetry-based approaches to engagement and science translation, offers a novel set of methods for data generation, analysis, communication, and engagement for natural resource social scientists. We introduce arts-based research and poetic analysis, their benefits and criteria for quality, and reflect on the transformative potential of poetic inquiry. We present cases of poetic inquiry that disrupted hierarchies and humanized research by centering on the participants’ lived experience, evoking emotion, amplifying participants’ voices, fostering researcher reflexivity, and encouraging collaborative research and public scholarship.

The Northern Great Plains (NGP) region of the USA—which comprises Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska—is a largely rural area that provides numerous ecosystem services, including livestock products, cultural services, and conservation of biological diversity. The region contains 25% of the Nation’s beef cattle and approximately one-third of the confined beef cattle, as well as the largest remaining native prairie in the US—the Northern Mixedgrass Prairie. With rising atmospheric CO2, the NGP is projected to experience warmer and longer growing seasons, greater climatic variability, and more extreme events (e.g., increased occurrence of large precipitation events). These climatic changes may affect livestock production both directly via physiological impacts on animals and indirectly via modifications to forage, invasion of undesirable plants, and increased exposure to parasites. This raises concerns about the vulnerability of grazing livestock operations and confined livestock operations to projected changes in mid- (2050) and late- (2085) twenty-first century climate. Our objectives are to (1) describe the NGP’s exposure to temperature and precipitation trends, inter-annual variability, and extreme events; (2) evaluate the sensitivity of beef cattle production to direct and indirect effects imposed by these projected climatic changes; and (3) provide a typology of adaptation strategies to minimize adverse consequences of projected changes and maximize beneficial consequences. Agricultural managers have developed considerable adaptive capacity to contend with environmental and economic variability. However, projected climatic changes, especially the increased frequency and magnitude of weather extremes, will require even greater adaptive capacity to maintain viable production systems. Consequently, regional vulnerability to projected climatic changes will be determined not only by ecological responses but also by the adaptive capacity of individual managers. Adaptive capacity in the NGP will differ from other regions, in part because projections suggest some opportunities for increased livestock production. Adaptations in both grazing and confined beef cattle systems will require enhanced decision-making skills capable of integrating biophysical, social, and economic considerations. Social learning networks that support integration of experimental and experiential knowledge—such as lessons learned from early adopters and involvement with science-based organizations—can help enhance decision-making and climate adaptation planning. Many adaptations have already been implemented by a subset of producers in this region, providing opportunities for assessment, further development, and greater adoption. Context-specific decision-making can also be enhanced through science-management partnerships, which aim to build adaptive capacity that recognizes multiple production and conservation/environmental goals.

Dairy farms producing 98% of the US milk supply participate in the Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) Animal Care Program. Producers who sell milk to cooperatives or processors participating in FARM must follow program standards. The objectives of this study were to assess producer perceptions about the knowledge, experience, and value of FARM and to determine whether perceptions differ based on demographics. A concurrent triangulation design was implemented through collecting quantitative and qualitative data using a 30-question survey instrument. Quantitative questions aimed to address project objectives, and qualitative data were provided through 1 open-ended survey question that asked participants what they thought the main goal of the FARM program was. Participants offered additional feedback through providing text in comment boxes, writing on the back of the survey, or writing a separate letter and returning it with their survey. Quantitative data were analyzed using principal components analysis and modeling, and qualitative data were analyzed through thematic analysis. Dairy producers from cooperatives or processors that participate in the FARM program were recruited via electronic and postal mail. A total of 487 respondents from 40 states completed the survey. Of the survey participants, 414 (85.0%) answered the open-ended question and 190 (39.0%) provided additional qualitative feedback. Thematic analysis revealed 5 main themes: distrust of program, producers on the defense, anger, efficiency, and nostalgia. Of respondents, 73.6% reported being knowledgeable about the FARM Animal Care Program. Greater level of formal education and larger herd size were associated with greater producer knowledge. More dairy producer input in the revisions of FARM was identified as a need by 83.3% of respondents. Although 89.3% of respondents reported positive experiences with evaluations and relationships with evaluators, 45.6% did not think that the program had value overall. Respondent age was positively associated with perceived value of FARM. Respondent age was also significant in determining the reasons why FARM was considered to be important. Results indicate that to increase buy-in and positive perceptions from producers, future versions of FARM should solicit producer input during the development of program standards, target specific producer demographics for program promotion, and address perceived communication deficits and program inequalities. Findings from this study can be used to inform future versions of the program.

In the North American Great Plains, multigenerational ranches and grassland biodiversity are threatened by dynamic and uncertain climatic, economic, and land use processes. Working apart, agricultural and conservation communities face doubtful prospects of reaching their individual goals of sustainability. Rangeland research could serve a convening platform, but experimental studies seldom involve local manager communities. The Collaborative Adaptive Rangeland Management (CARM) project, however, has undertaken a ten-year, ranch-level, participatory research effort to explore how community-engaged research can increase our understanding of conservation and ranching goals. Using ethnographic data and the nature-culture concept&mdash, which recognizes the inseparability of ecological relationships that are shaped by both biological and social processes&mdash, we examine the CARM team&rsquo, s process of revising their management objectives (2016&ndash, 2018). In CARM&rsquo, s early days, the team established locally-relevant multifunctional goals and objectives. As team members&rsquo, understanding of the ecosystem improved, they revised objectives using more spatially, temporally and ecologically specific information. During the revision process, they challenged conventional ecological theories and grappled with barriers to success outside of their control. The emerging CARM nature-culture, based on a sense of place and grounded in hope, provides insights into effective community-engaged research to enhance rangeland livelihood and conservation outcomes.

Learning is recognized as central to collaborative adaptive management (CAM), yet few longitudinal studies examine how learning occurs in CAM or apply the science of learning to interpret this process. We present an analysis of decision-making processes within the collaborative adaptive rangeland management (CARM) experiment, in which 11 stakeholders use a structured CAM process to make decisions about livestock grazing and vegetation management for beef, vegetation, and wildlife objectives. We analyzed four years of meeting transcripts, stakeholder communications, and biophysical monitoring data to ask what facilitated and challenged stakeholder decision making, how challenges affected stakeholder learning, and whether CARM met theorized criteria for effective CAM. Despite thorough monitoring and natural resource agency commitment to implementing collaborative decisions, CARM participants encountered multiple decision-making challenges born of ecological and social complexity. CARM was effective in achieving several of its management objectives, including reduced ecological uncertainty, knowledge coproduction, and multiple-loop social learning. CARM revealed limitations of the idealized CAM cycle and challenged conceptions of adaptive management that separate reduction of scientific uncertainty from participatory and management dimensions. We present a revised, empirically grounded CAM framework that depicts CAM as a spiral rather than a circle, where feedback loops between monitoring data and management decisions are never fully closed. Instead, complexities including time-lags, trade-offs, path-dependency, and tensions among stakeholders' differing types of knowledge and social worlds both constrain decision making and foster learning by creating disorienting dilemmas that challenge participants' pre-existing mental models and relationships. Based on these findings, we share recommendations for accelerating learning in CAM processes.

Grazing land models can assess the provisioning and trade-offs among ecosystem services attributable to grazing management strategies. We reviewed 12 grazing land models used for evaluating forage and animal (meat and milk) production, soil C sequestration, greenhouse gas emission, and nitrogen leaching, under both current and projected climate conditions. Given the spatial and temporal variability that characterizes most rangelands and pastures in which animal, plant, and soil interact, none of the models currently have the capability to simulate a full suite of ecosystem services provided by grazing lands at different spatial scales and across multiple locations. A large number of model applications have focused on topics such as environmental impacts of grazing land management and sustainability of ecosystems. Additional model components are needed to address the spatial and temporal dynamics of animal foraging behavior and interactions with biophysical and ecological processes on grazing lands and their impacts on animal performance. In addition to identified knowledge gaps in simulating biophysical processes in grazing land ecosystems, our review suggests further improvements that could increase adoption of these models as decision support tools. Grazing land models need to increase user-friendliness by utilizing available big data to minimize model parameterization so that multiple models can be used to reduce simulation uncertainty. Efforts need to reduce inconsistencies among grazing land models in simulated ecosystem services and grazing management effects by carefully examining the underlying biophysical and ecological processes and their interactions in each model. Learning experiences among modelers, experimentalists, and stakeholders need to be strengthened by co-developing modeling objectives, approaches, and interpretation of simulation results.

On the Ground•Ranchers'’ responses to drought differ depending on where they live and specific circumstances of their ranches, but there are striking similarities across regions.•Changes in practice after a drought reflect a general desire to buffer one's operation against disruptions, rather than being specifically aimed at the next drought.•Interviewees often pointed to good things that arose from the bad situation of drought.•Energy development helped offset drought impacts in two cases, but interviewees generally preferred to diversify their income streams through agricultural rather than non-agricultural enterprises.•Ability to respond to drought is somewhat constrained by federal tax laws and agency grazing regulations, as well as by ranchers' specific circumstances.

The gendered contexts of rangeland decision-making in the southwestern United States are poorly understood. We conducted life-history interviews with 19 ranching women and analyzed the resulting transcripts using narrative analysis. Interviews revealed eight common themes in these women ranchers’ experiences: 1) learning from older generations, 2) finding a personal career path, 3) operating livestock businesses, 4) breaking gender barriers, 5) leading communities, 6) aging and going on alone, 7) living close to the land, and 8) passing the ranching tradition to the next generation. Women’s roles as ranch decision-makers, community-keepers, and business operators evolve throughout their lifetimes, as do their needs for decision-making support from outreach. We suggest that women’s life stages and gendered contexts be considered in further rangeland management research, policy, and extension.

On the Ground The field of rangeland science and management is working to incorporate women's voices and a better understanding of women's decision-making roles into our research priorities and Extension practices. The Wyoming Women in Range program offers a success story of Extension programming designed to encourage women's participation and engagement in rangeland management. Further research is needed to understand ranching women's needs and responsibilities as business operators, natural resource managers, wives, mothers, and off-farm wage earners.

This synthesis article joins the authors of the special issue "Gender perspectives in resilience, vulnerability and adaptation to global environmental change" in a common reflective dialogue about the main contributions of their papers. In sum, here we reflect on links between gender and feminist approaches to research in adaptation and resilience in global environmental change (GEC). The main theoretical contributions of this special issue are threefold: emphasizing the relevance of power relations in feminist political ecology, bringing the livelihood and intersectionality approaches into GEC, and linking resilience theories and critical feminist research. Empirical insights on key debates in GEC studies are also highlighted from the nine cases analysed, from Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa and the Pacific. Further, the special issue also contributes to broaden the gender approach in adaptation to GEC by incorporating research sites in the Global North alongside sites from the Global South. This paper examines and compares the main approaches adopted (e.g. qualitative or mixed methods) and the methodological challenges that derive from intersectional perspectives. Finally, key messages for policy agendas and further research are drawn from the common reflection. Este artículo de síntesis une a los autores del número especial "Gender perspectives in resilience, vulnerability and adaptation to global environmental change" en un diálogo reflexivo común sobre las principales contribuciones de sus documentos. En resumen, aquí reflexionamos sobre los vínculos entre los enfoques feministas y de género a la investigación en adaptación y resiliencia en el cambio ambiental global (GEC). Las principales contribuciones teóricas de este número especial son tres: enfatizar la relevancia de las relaciones de poder en la ecología política feminista, incorporar los enfoques de medios de subsistencia e interseccionalidad al GEC y vincular las teorías de la resiliencia y la investigación feminista crítica. También se destacan las ideas empíricas sobre los debates clave en los estudios de GEC de los nueve casos analizados, de Europa, América, Asia, África y el Pacífico. Además, el número especial también contribuye a ampliar el enfoque de género en la adaptación a GEC mediante la incorporación de sitios de investigación en el Norte Global junto a sitios del Sur Global. Este documento examina y compara los principales enfoques adoptados (por ejemplo, los métodos cualitativos o mixtos) y los desafíos metodológicos que se derivan de las perspectivas interseccionales. Finalmente, los mensajes clave para las agendas políticas y la investigación adicional se extraen de la reflexión común. Aquest article de síntesi uneix els autors del número especial "Gender perspectives in resilience, vulnerability and adaptation to global environmental change" en un diàleg reflexiu comú sobre les principals contribucions dels seus documents. En resum, aquí reflexionem sobre els vincles entre els enfocaments feministes i de gènere a la investigació en adaptació i resiliència en el canvi ambiental global (GEC). Les principals contribucions teòriques d'aquest número especial són tres: emfatitzar la rellevància de les relacions de poder en l'ecologia política feminista, incorporar els enfocaments de mitjans de subsistència i interseccionalitat al GEC i vincular les teories de la resiliència i la investigació feminista crítica. També es destaquen les idees empíriques sobre els debats clau en els estudis de GEC dels nou casos analitzats, d'Europa, Amèrica, Àsia, Àfrica i el Pacífic. A més, el número especial també contribueix a ampliar l'enfocament de gènere en l'adaptació a GEC mitjançant la incorporació de llocs d'investigació al Nord Global al costat de llocs del Sud Global. Aquest document examina i compara els principals enfocaments adoptats (per exemple, els mètodes qualitatius o mixtos) i els desafiaments metodològics que es deriven de les perspectives interseccionals. Finalment, els missatges clau per a les agendes polítiques i la investigació addicional s'extreuen de la reflexió comuna.

In this study, we examine the subjective decision-making experiences of cattle ranchers in the western United States. Using a constructivist grounded-theory framework, we analyse semi-structured interviews with 38 ranchers (in three states) whose operations rely upon native rangeland forage. We compare ranchers’ drought management and succession planning processes across interviews. We find that ranchers construct decision-making processes through non-linear and complex consideration of multiple ranch dynamics, through engagement with multiple ways of knowing and across different timescales. We describe four patterns in drought management decision-making processes that can inform needs-based outreach to help spread drought risk across space, time, asset class, households, the market and epistemic frameworks. Ranchers’ succession planning processes are regulated by economic and social uncertainties. However, ranching communities emphasise technical and cultural knowledge transfer and are comprised of producers who took diverse routes to ranching. The study suggests that future programs, outreach, partnerships and research involving ranchers in the western United States are likely to achieve greater success when designed with consideration for the diverse ways of knowing and complex decision-making experiences of ranchers.