Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

The meeting commenced at 1:00pm on Tuesday, 03 September, 2013 in board room of the Hilton Garden Inn in Rapid City, South Dakota. WERA-1018 is the reformatted W-1192 regional research committee which expired in 2011. Since the authorization process was continuing in 2012, there was no 2012 meeting and this is the first meeting of the new WERA. The first order of business was to elect officers. Neil Rimby nominated Tom Foulke as Chairman. John Tanaka seconded the nomination and nomination was carried unanimously. Lynn Huntsinger was voted in unanimously as Vice Chairman, to become chairman in 2015. State reports for California, Idaho, New Mexico, Nevada, and Wyoming were presented to the committee. Discussion of these projects and the progress (See attached) for the committee continued for some time. Discussion of a future project followed and dominated the rest of the meeting. John Tanaka is the PI for the project and he brought with him to the meeting a soon-to-be new graduate student, Brianne Lind. Brianne just graduated from the University of Idaho in May and is currently working for the BLM on sage grouse habitat in Idaho. The new project is a survey of public land grazing permit holders. Brianne will be the primary worker on the survey and will write her thesis from it. Our task at the meeting was to start the process, by talking to the Public Lands Council executive committee, the BLM and Forest Service. We need to have their input as to what are the important outcomes of the survey so we know what questions to ask. The meeting adjourned at 5:00pm.

A University of Idaho Hatch project deals with private grazing lease arrangements, ranch values and rangeland management policy issues.  Ashley McClain completed her MS thesis project on western juniper encroachment, partially supported by Sage-STEP and the Joint Fire Science Program.  She used a GAMS model to estimate the ranch-level economic impacts of moving from phase I (few trees) to phase III (lots of trees) of encroachment and the ability of the ranch to pay for treatment of invasive junipers.  We completed a private grazing lease study that was partially funded by Idaho Department of Lands and involved the survey unit in a telephone survey of Idaho grazing lessees/lessors.  Unfortunately, IDL has not allowed us to release/publish the study yet. There is some pretty good stuff resulting from this study that will be published somewhere down the road.  In the interim, Rimbey is pursuing external funding to re-do the survey and analysis of private leases, hoping this will spur some action from IDL.  Wulfhorst continues to lead the PhD NSF-IGERT team focusing on social-ecological resilience with a developing research emphasis on juniper encroachment management, litigation impacts, and assessing drivers of change including fire, climate, and biological invasion. Rimbey is serving in a mentoring role of the 4 graduate students partially funded under the NSF-IGERT program.  The project deals with juniper invasion and we are working closely with BLM, TNC, and others on the participatory research/modeling effort.  Rimbey is also cooperating with the Range Specialist and a county faculty member on a sagebrush thinning project in eastern Idaho, designed to test 3 methods (chemical and mechanical) to enhance sage-grouse habitat.  Neil is also involved with multi-state/agency project dealing with wolf-cattle interactions in which he is providing the ranch-level economic analysis of wolf impacts and alternative strategies for dealing with wolves.  John Tanaka, Allen Torell and Rimbey recently put their heads together and updated the GAMS models used to estimate ranch-level impacts of alternative sage-grouse management strategies in 2002.  Models were originally developed and used to analyze the situation under the short-lived PACWPL.  Price and cost updates have been accomplished and initial runs undertaken, limiting public land forage for ranch models in Wyoming, Idaho, Nevada, and Oregon. Neil serves on BLM’s Boise District Resource Advisory Council (RAC).  The RAC continues to push the district to do something about cheatgrass invasion and fire frequency that is negatively impacting sagebrush habitat on the Snake River Plain.  A major symposium was sponsored in 2011 and dealt with “Breaking the Fire Cycle”.  Efforts continue on this important resource issue, including a public information campaign, designing and installing fuel breaks, using grazing as a tool to reduce fuel loads and others.  He has also been involved in a series of papers dealing with rangeland issues associated with the Owyhee Initiative effort.  These will be published in a new journal (J. of Rangeland Applications) in the next year or so. 

University of Nevada, Reno researchers had a journal article accepted by the Review of Regional Science that incorporated a ranch level model with a regional Social Accounting Matrix model.  This model also incorporated a stochastic rangeland fire model.

They also analyzed with researchers at the University of Wyoming problems in using out of box impact models for regional economic impact analysis. This procedure adjusted Use and Make Tables by incorporating University of Nevada, Reno Cooperative Extension budgets for range cattle and alfalfa.  Results presented at Western Agricultural Economics Association meeting.

Work is underway updating representative Northeastern Nevada range cattle model with the Agricultural and Food Policy Center at Texas A&M. Also incorporating procedures for analysis of impacts from changes in public land grazing due to rangeland fires, drought, and potential sage grouse designation.

UNR researchers are analyzing adoption rates by Nevada range cattle producers of the trichomonaisis vaccine. A rancher questionnaire has been developed and completed. Analysis of data is currently under way.

An NMSU research report exploring and updating market values for New Mexico ranches was published. An updated RANVAL model was released at the website http://ranval.nmsu.edu for use by ranchers, appraisers, lenders and those interested in New Mexico ranchland values and the factors affecting those values.

A thesis and research review was completed at NMSU about the cost and potential of using targeted cattle grazing to reduce fire danger. Researchers also did an assessment and critique of the ecosystem services provided from New Mexico rangeland restoration efforts implemented by the cooperative Restore New Mexico restoration project (part of the BLM Healthy Lands Initiative) was made.

NMSU researchers published a Western Economics Forum (WEF) journal article was published about the feasibility of providing sound assessments and economic valuations of ecosystem service provisioning from rangelands.

NMSU participated in a regional effort to write science guides about various public land management issues. Thirteen guides are proposed and are at various stages of completion. The effort is coordinated by Karen Launchbaugh, Rangeland Center Director at the University of Idaho. The guides that Torell co-authored along with other members of this WERA committee included the following:

• Ranch Level Economic Impact Analysis for Public Lands: A Guide to Methods, Issues, and Applications. L. Allen Torell, Neil R. Rimbey, John A. Tanaka, David T. Taylor and J.D. Wulfhorst
• Economic and Social Impact Analysis for Public Lands: Guides to Methods, Issues, and Applications—Part II: Community and Social Impact Analysis by. David T. Taylor, J.D. Wulfhorst. L. Allen Torell, Neil R. Rimbey, and John A. Tanaka.
• Stocking Rate and Stock Density Considerations for Livestock Grazing in the Great Basin by Glenn E. Shewmaker, Karen L. Launchbaugh, K. Scott Jensen, and L. Allen Torell
• Wildland Fuels and Fire Behavior by Eva K. Strand, Ryan Limb, Karen L. Launchbaugh, Barry Perryman and L. Allen Torell
• Participating in a Western Regional Development Center (WRDC) economic study to update an earlier study about the economic impacts to livestock producers of protecting the Greater Sage Grouse.

A proceedings paper has been written for inclusion in a proposed publication of the 17^th Wildland Shrub Symposium papers as a special Rangelands journal issue.  The proceedings paper is in review as of August 29, 2013.

Parry’s thesis research was presented at the Society for Range Management 65^th Annual Meeting, Spokane, Washington, February 29, 2012, “Impermanence Factors and Rangeland Management in the Desert Southwest.”

Historical data for individual BLM grazing allotments in SW New Mexico focusing on ownership instability and turnover is being analyzed spatially and temporally by Rhonda Skaggs and collaborators from the Jornada Experimental Range.

The following paper was published: Williamson, J. C., Burkett, L., Bestelmeyer, B., Skaggs, R., Havstad, K. (2012). Reinterpreting Historical Data for Evidence-Based Shrubland Management. Natural Resources and Environmental Issues, 17(1), Article 18. http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1763&context=nrei.

Wyoming researchers are involved in a number of project that connect with WERA-1018:

• Wyoming Sage-Grouse 9 Plan Amendment

This project is in support of BLM and Forest Service Sage-Grouse planning efforts in Wyoming. It involves an economic impact analysis of five potential Sage-Grouse management alternatives for amendments to six BLM RMPs and three Forest Service LMPs in Wyoming. BLM Field Offices considered in the analysis included: Casper, Kemmerer, Newcastle, Pinedale, Rawlins, and Rock Springs. Forest Service units considered in the analysis include: Bridger-Teton National Forest, Medicine Bow National Forest and the Thunder Basin National Grasslands. Commodities considered in the analysis included: Oil & Gas Well Drilling, Oil & Gas Production, Cattle Grazing, Sheep Grazing, Wind Development, Wind Generation, and Recreation.  The analysis considered both regional and statewide economic impacts for each unit.

• Socioeconomic Analysis for Sage-Grouse Planning in the Western United States

This project is in support of BLM and Forest Service Sage-Grouse planning efforts in the Western United States. It involves economic impact analysis for five sub-regions including:

Northwest Colorado

The Northwest Colorado analysis considered 8 counties as the primary study area and 5 counties as the secondary study area. Commodities included in the analysis were: Oil & Gas Well Drilling, Oil & Gas Production, Cattle Grazing, Sheep Grazing, and Recreation. This information is to be used to assist in planning for amendments to 5 BLM RMPs and 1 Forest Service LMP in Northwest Colorado.

Nevada and Northeast California

The Nevada and Northeast California analysis included 10 counties in Nevada and 2 counties in California as the primary study area. There was no secondary study area for this analysis. Commodities included in the analysis were: Oil and Gas Well Drilling, Oil and Gas Production, Cattle Grazing, Sheep Grazing, and Geothermal. This information is to be used to assist in planning for amendments to 10 BLM RMPs and 2 Forest Service LMPs.

Idaho and Southwest Montana

The Idaho and Southwest Montana analysis included 27 counties in Idaho and 2 counties in Montana as the primary study area and 4 counties in Idaho and 2 counties in Montana as the secondary study area. Commodities included in the analysis were: Cattle Grazing, Sheep Grazing, and Recreation. This information is to be used to assist in planning for amendments to 13 BLM RMPs and 7 Forest Service LMPs.

Oregon

The Oregon analysis included 7 counties as the primary study area and 1 county as the secondary study area. Commodities included in the analysis were: Cattle Grazing, Sheep Grazing, Wind Development, and Wind Generation. This information is to be used to assist in planning for amendments to 10 BLM RMPs.

Utah

The Utah analysis included 22 counties as the primary study area and 5 counties as the secondary study area. Commodities included in the analysis were: Oil & Gas Well Drilling, Oil & Gas Production, Cattle Grazing, Sheep Grazing, Wind Development, and Wind Generation. This information is to be used to assist in planning for amendments to 13 BLM RMPs and 6 Forest Service LMPs.

The Rock Springs RMP project is in support of the BLM’s planning effort for the Rock Springs RMP. It involves an economic impact analysis of potential management alternatives on a five-county region in Southwest Wyoming.  Commodities to be considered in the analysis include: Oil & Gas Well Drilling, Oil & Gas Production, Cattle Grazing, Sheep Grazing, Coal, Trona, Recreation, and possibly Wind Development and Generation. This project is unique in that both an IMPLAN and REMI analysis will be conducted and the results compared.

Work on the Shoshone National Forest Plan continues. This project was in support of the U.S. Forest Service’s planning efforts for the Shoshone National Forest. It involved an economic impact analysis of six management alternatives on a three-county region in Northwest Wyoming.  Commodities considered in the analysis included: General Recreation, Commercial Recreation, Timber, Cattle Grazing, and the Shoshone National Forest Budget. This was an update to a previous analysis conducted for the Forest in 2007.

Wyoming researchers recently completed multi-year project for Wyoming State Parks. It involved an economic impact analysis of: 1) Snowmobiling in Wyoming, 2) ORV Use in Wyoming, and 3) Non-motorized Trail Use in Wyoming. Another component of the project was development of a State Trail Inventory for Wyoming. The snowmobile analysis, ORV analysis, and Trails Inventory were all updates of previous studies conducted for Wyoming State Parks and were based on snowmobile and ORV registrations in Wyoming. The non-motorized trail use in Wyoming was based on U.S. Forest Service NVUM data for the four national forests located in Wyoming.

Brownsey, P., Oviedo, J., Huntsinger, L. and B. Allen-Diaz. 2013. Historic forage productivity and cost of capital for cow-calf production in California. Rangeland Ecology and Management 66(3): 339-347. [http://dx.doi.org/10.2111/REM-D-11-00059.1]

Bunn, D., M. Lubell, and C. K. Johnson. 2013. Reforms could boost conservation banking by landowners. California Agriculture 67:86-95.

Campos, P., Huntsinger, L., Oviedo, J.L., Starrs, P.F., Díaz, M., Standiford, R.B., Montero, G. (eds). 2013. Mediterranean oak woodland working landscapes: Dehesas of Spain and ranchlands of California. Landscape Series, Springer. 460 p. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6707-2]

Committee to review the Bureau of Land Management Wild Horse and Burro Management Program--Guy Palmer, Chair, Lynn Huntsinger, one of 13 committee members, lead for chapter 6. 2013. Using science to improve the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program: A way forward. 436 p. ISBN-10: 0-309-26494-4. 436 pgs. [http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13511]

Ferranto, S., Huntsinger, L., Getz, C., Lahiff, M., Stewart, W., Nakamura, G. and M. Kelly.  2013. Management without borders? A survey of landowner practices and attitudes towards cross-boundary cooperation. Society and Natural Resources 0:1-19. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2013.779343]

Fife, T.E., J.B. Glaze, Jr., K.S. Jensen, N. Rimbey, S. Kane, S.D. Baker, J. Church, S.J. Etter, D. Gunn, G. Keetch, S. Nash, S. Williams, R.L. Ruiz. 2013. Case study: Handling and management of animal health products by Idaho producers and retailers.  Prof. An. Scientist. 29(3): 313-320.

Gerber, E. R., A. D. Henry, and M. Lubell. 2013. Political Homophily and Collaboration in Regional Planning Networks. American Journal of Political Science 57:598-610.

Roche, L.M., Kromschroeder, L., E.R. Atwill, R.A. Dahlgren, and K.W. Tate. 2013. Water quality conditions associated with cattle grazing and recreation on national forest lands. PLOS ONE 8(6): e68127.

Haden, V. R., M. T. Niles, M. Lubell, J. Perlman, and L. E. Jackson. 2012. Global and Local Concerns: What Attitudes and Beliefs Motivate Farmers to Mitigate and Adapt to Climate Change? Plos One 7.

Maher, A.T., J.A. Tanaka, N. Rimbey. 2013. Economic risks of cheatgrass invasion on a simulated eastern Oregon ranch.  Rangeland Ecology & Management. 66(3): 356-363.

McClain, Ashley. 2013. Ranch-level economic impacts of Western Juniper (Juniperus occidentalis) encroachment on sagebrush steppe ecosystems in Owyhee County, Idaho.  University of Idaho College of Graduate Studies. M.S. Thesis.

McClain, Ashley and Neil Rimbey. 2013. Impacts of Western Juniper (Juniperus occidentalis) treatment costs on ranch-level profits.  Idaho Section Soc. for Range Management Spring Newsletter. Available on-line at: http://idaho.rangelands.org/Spring2013.pdf.

Niemeyer, R. J., Bentley Brymer, A. L., Holbrook H. D., Suazo, A. A., Heinse, R., Link, T., Newingham, B., Rachlow, J., Vierling, K., Wulfhorst, J. D. (2013, May). Employing a deliberative process to understand knowledge integration and sagebrush-steppe system dynamics. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the University of Idaho NSF-IGERT Project, CATIE, Costa Rica.

Torell, L.A., G. L. Torell, J.A. Tanaka, N.R. Rimbey. 2013. The potential for valuing ecosystem services on public rangelands.  Western Economics Forum XII (1): 40-46. Available on-line at: http://www.waeaonline.org/UserFiles/file/WEFSpring2013.pdf.