ANR Peer Reviewed Publications

This rapid user guide for public and private land managers and livestock producers, will walk you through key considerations and timelines that should go into your decision-making process following wildfires on California's intermountain perennial rangelands.

Rest from grazing is a viable option in some cases, but it is not always necessary. Specific grazing management decisions, including whether or not to rest from grazing, should be based on field assessments made in the spring following fire.

Much of California is annual rangeland, grazed seasonally when forage quality is best. For optimum results, the seasonality of these rangelands must be coordinated with the phases of beef cattle production. This publication walks cattle producers through annual stock flows and calendar of operations and gives tables for estimating costs, return over cash, and gross income under various scenarios. Also included is a discussion of various risk factors.

Possession of an Ag Pass during a wildfire or similar disaster allows farmers and ranchers access to areas that may otherwise be restricted to the public so that they can protect or care for agricultural assets (such as by irrigating crops or feeding, watering, and transporting livestock) or provide auxiliary support to emergency personnel (such as identification of access roads and water points).   

It is crucial that those who may seek access to an evacuation zone establish communication—before a crisis—with all relevant local agencies so that authorities understand and support the process.   

This publication describes how communities across California might approach such a program, recognizing that the structure and organization of any such program will ultimately depend upon the specific resources, politics, and relationships within any one community.

The Ranch Water Quality Planning Instructor's Guide and Lesson Plan (RWQP Guide) is a multi-part curriculum for extension professionals, watershed organization staff and volunteers, and the ranching community. The goal is to provide an objective, adaptive blueprint for organizing short course-type educational programs to enable ranchers to complete their RWQPs.

This updated guide and lesson plan provides a scientific overview of water quality, specifically for livestock operations, with a wealth of new information discovered since the curriculum was first written in 1995. Designed for "turn-key" operation with a guide, lesson plans, participant worksheets, and video modules.

Through the 6 modules and 19 lessons short course participants will learn about key issues presented in advanced management practices that protect water quality and support grazing livestock operation viability.

The response of vegetation, livestock, and ecosystems to grazing is complex, and grazing managers are confronted with a variety of grazing strategies or systems that are sometimes hard to compare or evaluate.

This publication covers what are commonly known as the four components of grazing—intensity, season, frequency, and duration—and their effects on annual rangelands. We will discuss why grazing management research results sometimes conflict with experience. And you will get an overview of the adaptive management process of planning, implementation, and learning that grazing managers can use to help them cope with complexity and knowledge. 

Vegetation types in the annual rangelands include annual-dominated non-native grasslands, native-dominated grasslands, oak woodlands, chaparral, and coastal scrub. The ecosystem services, or benefits, that humans obtain from each vegetation type change as the vegetation type changes and need to be assessed accordingly. This publication describes the dominant and common species in each vegetation type, the vegetation changes and change agents that are commonly recognized, and an approach to evaluating ecosystem services.

The Ecology and Management of Annual Rangelands Series is a 9-part online publication that provides owners and leasees of California rangelands with a comprehensive source of information pertinent to the management and enjoyment of these lands. This information will help you formulate and implement strategies for achieving your personal goals as a landowner.

Part 3 – Soils is an overview of how soils are classified. Researchers and managers like to organize the world they live in so that they can explain their environment. This publication will help you understand the soil taxonomy developed by soil scientists to help them classify soils and understand soil similarities and differences. Includes links to glossaries of terms so you can understand the terms used to define soil characteristics.

The Ecology and Management of Annual Rangelands Series is a 9-part online publication that provides owners and leasees of California rangelands with a comprehensive source of information pertinent to the management and enjoyment of these lands. This information will help you formulate and implement strategies for achieving your personal goals as a landowner.

Part 1 is an overview of the characteristics that define a Mediterranean Climate.

This publication provides an overview of the research and practices for brush and weed control, seeding, and fertilization. Also covered are practices that reduce seasonal gaps in forage availability and quality and the economics of vegetation management.

While increasing carrying capacity by producing more forage remains an important objective, ranchers and public agencies also manage for fire hazard reduction, improved water quality, air quality, and biodiversity. In addition, suppressing introduced species and restoring native species has become a major theme among conservation organizations and some government agencies. 

The Ecology and Management of Annual Rangelands Series is a 9-part online publication that provides owners and leasees of California rangelands with a comprehensive source of information pertinent to the management and enjoyment of these lands. This information will help you formulate and implement strategies for achieving your personal goals as a landowner.

Range livestock production developed as an enterprise with the colonization of California by the Spanish and their formation of ranches or ranchos, and it expanded rapidly during early statehood. The development of improved animal management and range management practices ensured that the industry would continue its dominance in California agriculture throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first century.