Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Brief Summary of Minutes of the Annual Meeting (May 17-20, 2018, Moscow, ID):

A reception was held on Thursday May 17^th at the Best Western Plus University Inn, Palouse Room. This was a mixer among Rangelands Partnership Members and librarians who were attending the concurrent AgNIC conference, organized by Jeremy Kenyon, meeting organizer.

Friday, May 18th

The morning agenda included a review of Rangelands West Partnership (RWP) activities in the past year.  Each state representative gave an update regarding their contributions to advancing rangeland information within their region.  In particular, RWP members updated the group on numerous topics, including:

• extensive outreach activities, ranging from outreach addressing potential impacts from volcanic activity to livestock producers, new grass identification apps, livestock predation management, managing for drought, and more.
• new institutional hires and department changes in rangeland-related fields
• emerging invasive species challenges
• changes in institutional spending on extension and/or rangeland departments (both positive and negative)
• review of public lands-related litigation in the Great Basin

Partners from Colorado and Washington are using new outreach tools to reach stakeholders. For example, Washington State University representative Tip Hudson received a grant to produce podcasts on “the Art of Range.” Colorado is using social media (Facebook and Instagram) and new web-based technologies (Adobe Spark) to make content more accessible and visually appealing. Partners from Wyoming highlighted the work of the Sustainable Rangeland Roundtable, including their work putting together the Sustainable Range Management Assessment Guidebook, and connecting management actions to ecosystem services. Wyoming also highlighted the work of videos made via the Rangelands Partnership. McDonald’s has a “Flagship Farmers” nomination program to highlight managers conserving native plant communities and utilizing rotational grazing. Because of existing UWYO video from work with Rangelands Partnership, they were able to quickly nominate someone and provide the video for the nomination.

The morning session also introduced and updated the group on numerous examples of online education in rangeland topics, and recruitment of new students. In particular, work done through Range at a Distance [Yvette Gibson, OR], and development of rangeland careers & education [Susan Marshall, CA]. California showed a new video on careers in rangeland science and management.

The afternoon session covered a series of topics relevant to the work of the RWP. These included a hands-on workshop on using ESRI StoryMaps for communicating science, with Jeremy Kenyon and Bruce Godfrey, ID. Meeting participants viewed examples of the tool and made their own StoryMap.

In addition, the afternoon featured a lecture by RWP member David Kruger on his recent book, J. C. Penney: The Man, the Store, and American Agriculture, and a lecture by Leslie Roche titled “Sustainable Working Rangelands – Management Research Partnerships to Create Usable Science.” She highlighted several studies underway in California addressing issues such as rancher decision making in drought, divergence among management and research on grazing systems, and challenges faced by first generation ranchers.

The afternoon also featured updated on the new RREA strategic plan, and discussion on the advancement of the International Year of Rangelands designation through the United Nations. On the new RREA strategic plan for 2018-2022, plan creators (Arizona Team and regional representatives) are considering ways to feature example programs under each topic area, and they want ideas on how to evaluate programs over the long term. The group suggested that photos might be a reporting requirement. The project team would also like to raise the visibility of RREA and are considering a webinar series on what works and what doesn’t to achieve this goal. In terms of the International Year of Rangelands, Barb Hutchinson presented updates that the year designation will have to go through FAO and likely is scheduled for 2026.  Once the designation is settled, Partners discussed options to put energy into planning out a multi-tiered outreach strategy including youth activities and curriculum. Partners cited the “Year of Soil” as great example of outreach and youth outreach, in particular. Mark Thorne updated us on his work with International Land Coalition/Rangelands Initiative Global. Communication is progressing.

The Partnership hosted a dinner at the 1912 Center in downtown Moscow, ID in the evening. Guest speakers were Brenda Erhardt, conservation planner, Latah Soil and Water Conservation District: “Palouse Prairie” & David Benscoter, retired FBI agent and fruit explorer: “Lost and Found: Heirloom Apple Varieties in the Inland Empire”.

Saturday, May 19

The morning session consisted of a continuation of the International Year of Rangelands, which was not entirely completed on May 18. In addition, the Rangelands Partnership Business Meeting was held. Topics discussed included: the report from the Chair - [Jeremy Kenyon, ID], the administrative update on WERA - [John Tanaka, WY] and request for a new WERA administrator given John’s upcoming retirement, and the secretary-treasurer Report - [Retta Bruegger, CO]. We also elected a new secretary-treasurer (Livia Olsen), and transitioned to the new Executive team. We discussed states needing stronger representation in the Partnership, and strategies to engage people from these states. Karen Launchbaugh gave an update on the Range Science Education Council (RSEC). Amber Dalke recruited new authors for the newsletter for the upcoming year.

In addition, Jason Karl (ID) gave a presentation on a grant application from Idaho, Arizona and others to the NRCS CIG program that would develop a grazinglands ontology that would have broader applications for the Partnership’s database usability.  He also provided an update on JournalMap, an application that provides access to articles that are geospatially referenced.  There are currently 30,000 articles in JournalMap, with a focus on range, arid lands, drylands agriculture.  They do not host content; just use “cross-ref” services through agreements with several publishers.  RSIS might be next (as a batch); also could be good for sage grouse and Wrangle. He just published an article on JournalMap in Journal of Information Science.  

This was followed by small group discussions among 3 action groups with the following outcomes: 

• Marketing and Social Media: Continued and improved marketing strategy first developed in 2017. Members divided responsibilities for posting around themes such as “Field Follies”. For each theme, members with post a photo, text, and a link back to a state page, Rangelands West, and/or Global Rangelands-related page (e.g. YouTube channel). The group also discussed types of swag the RP should invest in to promote the site. Amber (chair). Members: Kristi Mackzo (Wyoming), Livia Olsen (Kansas State), Retta Bruegger (Colorado), Sarah Noelle (Arizona), Amy Shannon (Nevada), Sheila Merrigan (Arizona), Leslie Roche (California, Davis)
•  Content Development/Collection Management: Goals: Complete a draft collection development policy by next meeting.  Important points: search for own state content & data (location tags very important), including specific resources such as extension publications, conference proceedings that have aspects of range, rangelands, range management; also content must be authoritative, scholarly, and/or referred.  Members: Nicole Juve (ND), Jeanne Pfander (AZ), Walt Fick (KS), Beth Burritt (UT), Cynthia Watkins (NM), David Kruger (WY), Jason Karl (ID), and Jodee Kuden (AK).
•  Sustainability: Identified a further need to develop a succession plan for key leadership positions including a coordinator and WERA administrator.  Also discussed need to develop better mechanisms, e.g. templates, for assisting grant-seekers to incorporate the RWP in their grants.  Discussed a draft template provided by Barb including various boilerplate text that could be used for proposals seeking to include the RWP, perhaps as a sub-contract.   Also discussed the need to expand membership to other relevant stakeholders, e.g. agency officials.  Ultimate goal is to find a way to help RWP to continue.  Members: Mark, John, Jeremy, Tip, Susan, and Barb (chair).

The morning concluded with reports from each action group.

During lunch, Sheila Merrigan led a website & database training. The AZ Technical Team was available to assist in adding records to database or updating state rangelands websites.

Following lunch, the AZ Technical Team led a work session where we reviewed work from the past year, delved into topic pages and made edits, and reviewed Google Analytics for specific topic pages. Members spent time editing and revising particular pages of interest.

Continuing a motion to review the mission and vision from the 2017 meeting, the EC led a discussion from the results of the mission and vision survey conducted by the EC over the last year. Members gave input on results of the survey, and discussed key issues faced by the Partnership. The EC will review these comments and come up with a revised mission and vision statement before the meeting in 2019.

We concluded the day reviewing the Action Groups and their plans for the upcoming year, and each individual at the meeting reporting out on one activity they planned to work on with regards to the Partnership in the coming year, ranging from serving on the EC, to revising a state site, to serving in an action group, to writing articles for the newsletter.

The meeting concluded with evidence of responses to goals set in 2017. For example, in 2017 we decided to include presentation/activities from attendees, which the agenda this year showcased. The Mission and Vision is still in review, but progress has been made. Moving in to 2018/2019, we have several new avenues of progress to pursue. For example, we will pursue new funding for the Partnership, find a new WERA administrator, continue work on the Mission and Vision, and amplifying our efforts on social media.

Arizona Technical Team/State Report for 2017

Throughout 2017, the UACE Rangelands Partnership Team has continued to provide the technical foundation for the Partnership’s communications outlets and to participate in and help coordinate meetings, workshops, as well as special projects funded through competitive grants.  All activities have focused on providing information and educational resources to a variety of stakeholders including public and private land managers, teachers, students, policy makers, and the general public.  Specifically, the Partnership’s three-tiered websites (GlobalRangelands.org, RangelandsWest.org, and state rangelands sites) provide open access to research and education resources, practical tools, and multimedia programming on all aspects of sustainable rangeland management.  The GlobalRangelands database includes collections of resources emanating from rangelands-related organizations around the world, and RangelandsWest offers customized sections on trending topics specific to the Western U.S., see https://globalrangelands.org/rangelandswest/highlighted-topics, for example. State rangelands websites maintained by each of the Partnership members are also linked to the overall system with easy entry through a clickable map, see https://globalrangelands.org/state/arizona.  Ten state sites are hosted by the Arizona RP Tech Team.  

During 2017, website updates and refinements were made, including eliminating duplicate records in the underlying database (i.e. collections from a variety of collaborators), as well as adding records for new resources.  This includes new editions of Society for Range Management (SRM) journals Rangelands and Rangeland Ecology and Management (REM), abstracts for papers and posters presented at SRM conferences, as well as new materials, particularly multimedia, added to the general Global Rangelands and Rangelands West collections.  Total numbers of resources in the database are currently 23,192 (an addition of 437 records from 2016).

Topics pages were updated and new topics added including “Large Landscape Conservation” - https://globalrangelands.org/topics/large-landscape-conservation ; “Brush Management” - https://globalrangelands.org/brush-management-0 ; and “Sage Grouse” - https://globalrangelands.org/topics/uses-range-and-pasture-lands/sage-grouse.  The “brush management” topic page is based on a Western SARE Professional Development Program-funded series of workshops organized by the AZ Tech Team in collaboration with the Altar Valley Conservation Alliance (AVCA), and includes a series of new videos as well as fact sheets and other resources.  In addition, the AZ Tech Team, on behalf of the Partnership, was awarded a grant from USDANIFA-RREA to update the five-year RREA Strategic Plan.  One outcome of this project is a website providing access to project survey data as well as previous and current RREA resources - https://globalrangelands.org/rreasp/.

During this reporting period, the RWP also continued to expand its social media presence, and to tie outlets to each other as well as the websites.  Social media outlets include: Rangelands Partnership Facebook with 949 page likes as of 12/2017 (up from 816 at the end of 2016); the Global Rangelands YouTube channel featuring 237 videos in 22 playlists (up from 200 videos and 19 playlists) with more than 346,800 views in 2017; and the Rangelands Partnership Twitter page which has 636 followers (up from 299).  The RP Pinterest page is still a lesser priority but growing with 6 boards and 411 pins (up from 5 boards and 37 pins), while a small Instagram account currently numbers 141 (up from 35).  The Global Rangelands website usage has increased steadily from 35,965 users in 2015 to 41,480 in 2016 to 58,292 users in 2017; page views increased from 91,407 to 211,492 to 282,995 at the end of 2017 with 71,752 sessions documented (up from 51,364 sessions).  Just over thirty-six% of users are from the U.S. (all 50 states and the District of Columbia), with the other 63.6% users from 204 different countries (up from 187 countries).  

The focus for 2018 is to complete the RREA Strategic Plan project as well as the WSARE PDP series of Brush Management workshops and accompanying websites, videos, and user tools.  In addition, new annual updates of the SRM journals will be added to the database given the shortened embargo periods, and customized topics pages will be further developed.  Two RP-related proposals for special projects have been submitted with review results expected by mid-year.  

Grants Update:

• Completed NIFA-RREA “eXtension-Rangelands West Optimization” project (2016)
• Completed NIFA-RREA “Discovering Our Nations Rangelands” project (2017)
• Funded: Updating the RREA Strategic Plan 2018-21 project (2016-18)
• Funded: Global Rangelands-Rangelands West portion of five year RREA project for Arizona (2016-2021)
• Funded: WSARE Professional Development Project on Brush Management (UA-Altar Valley Conservation Alliance-RP; 2017-2019)
• Funded: The Art of Range (Podcast Series): Western Center for Risk Management Education (2018-2019)
• Submitted: A national grazingland information system: expanding GlobalRangelands.org through a grazingland thesaurus and mobile content access: NRCS CIG (2018-2021)

Member Site Update: http://uwyoextension.org/rwpmembers/

The Arizona RP team gives special thanks to Ann Tanaka for all of her work on keeping the Member site updated. This includes uploading various annual meeting documents and photos and keeping the home page refreshed.  Also updated are the Guide to Annual Meeting Planning as well as the General Partnership Guidelines document. The comprehensive PowerPoint slideshow about the Partnership is available on the Member Site - http://uwyoextension.org/rwpmembers/tools/marketing-materials/ as is the “Introduction to the Rangelands Partnership” videos from the 2017 Executive Committee - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9bs98fSwEjQp_h5JZVF3wUutBZUe3O1q.

International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP) Initiative

See also webpage on Global Rangelands: https://globalrangelands.org/international-yearrangelands-and-pastoralists-initiative

Beginning in early 2016, many organizations began working together to gain support for a United Nations designated International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP). This led to the formalization of an IYRP Steering Committee that has spearheaded this effort by actively engaging with colleagues and interested parties around the world. The Steering Committee has coordinated numerous meetings and events, and has worked with members to gain the support of their respective governments for the IYRP. One important event brought particular attention to this effort. The United Nations Environment Assembly conference held in Nairobi in May of 2016 (UNEA-2) included a Side Event on “Sustainable Pastoralism and the Responsible Consumption of Livestock”. The outcome of UNEA-2 was a successful resolution “Combating desertification, land degradation, and drought and promoting sustainable pastoralism and rangelands”. While this resolution did not include a provision for an International Year, it did include language calling upon organizations around the world to “contribute to raising the awareness of sustainable pastoralism and rangelands.” It also called for a worldwide gap analysis related to rangelands issues; this analysis is expected to be completed in 2018. Current efforts are focused on a Resolution for an IYRP drawn up by Kenyans in 2017, and proposed in early 2018 by their Ministry of Agriculture to their Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Although there have been delays in Kenya, Mexico and South Africa have also expressed support for submitting the proposed Resolution to the Director General of FAO for consideration.

Rangeland Partnership Monthly Newsletter

Amber Dalke has continued yet another year of wonderful monthly newsletters for the Partnership.  Here are the statistics from our readership:

How readers are choosing to view the newsletter:

SRM Journal Archive at the University of Arizona

Additional years/volumes for the SRM journals -REM 2012 and Rangelands 2015 - have been uploaded to the University of Arizona Libraries repository’s (UAiR) SRM journals collection. These will be imported into the Global Rangelands database in the next month.

Usage stats for 2017 on UAiR for REM show a modest 7.07% increase in pageviews over 2016 stats from 48,316 to 51,733. The United States remains as the source of the highest percentage (45.44%) of users is from the United States, followed by India, Canada, the U.K. and Australia.

Rangelands usage stats on UAiR show 21,985 pageviews in 2017, a decrease of 10.05% from 2016’s 24,441 pageviews. Geographic locations of users for Rangelands is somewhat different from REM, with the U.S., Canada, Nigeria, the U.K. and India being the top five.

Note: We are looking at how, if possible, we could get similarly detailed usage stats from the Global Rangelands site for the SRM journal records.

Colorado Rangelands State Report

• Created a new, updated CO Rangelands website that is combined with the Colorado State University Range Extension website
• Use is way up on the current site. Old site had 363 users in 2016. New site had 1.8 K in the past year with 4,028 page views.
• Need to use Analytics more effectively but most popular pages are 1) Cows and mountain bikes, 2) Stocking rate and carrying capacity, 3) Calendar, 4) Drought workshop materials, 5) Animals and toxic plants, 6) Welcome to rangelands with Retta Bruegger, 7) Range Monitoring – what is it and how to do it.
• New content this year was an interactive fact sheet and video on what to do if you see cow in the backcountry as a mountain biker, in response to increasing recreation in Colorado’s backcountry and on grazing allotments.
• Developed a “Grass, Grazing, and Goals” workshop which we delivered in Steamboat Springs, CO, in 2017.
• Also developed drought workshops in winter 2018 with the USDA Climate Hub, with 185 attendees. Workshop materials are on the website.
• Work with collegues in CO on a social media strategy on Instagram and Facebook.

10/2017 - 09/2018 Accomplishments

• Successful annual meeting of the Rangelands West Partnership (May 2018, Moscow, ID). Attendees (25 on-site; 2 virtual).  Positive financial return for the RP.
• Further enhanced a guideline document for including the RP and Arizona’s technology team in regional grant proposals.
• Progress on several grants received by different RWP partners for rangelands information projects (noted above in Arizona state report).
• Progress on the International Year of Rangelands initiative.
• Launching “The Art of Range” podcast in October 2018 in a cooperative effort led by Washington State University and involving RP as well as SRM; funded by $50,000 grant through Western Center for Risk Management Education.
• Distributed survey results to partners, with a focus on three areas prioritized by the RP Executive Committee and Arizona technical team:
  • Sustainability/Long-Term Funding
  • Services and Collections
  • Marketing and Outreach
• Focused the annual meetings action groups on these three items
• Committed resources to the preservation of several rangeland-oriented educational films from the 1980s, through the Society for Range Management
• Continued distributing RWP information and updates via social media and the RWP Newsletter

Challenges of the Past :

• Continuing to build and expand unique state rangelands websites with locally-specific content – and adding metadata records for that content to the Global Rangelands database with limited time and resources.
• Streamlining and engaging task forces to ensure ongoing productivity.
• Continuing to assess options for long-term sustainability and funding opportunities.

In Process / Next Step Activities:

• Continue to develop collaborative grant proposals that specifically identify connection to the RWP.
• Refine elements of new website redesign as per user feedback.
• Continue to pursue harvesting rangelands records from institutional repositories; and create a tool kit for members to use for setting up harvesting protocols.
• Review the mission and vision of the RWP.
• Create a list of “influencers” in local regions that can help distribute information.
• Develop templates to assist RWP members in including the RWP in grant proposals.
• Develop a succession plan for key positions.

Develop a Marketing Plan that includes guidelines/checklist for members to contribute to social media outlets; rotate Social Media Director monthly. This person will be responsible for pushing out existing content on a monthly basis; developing a video for marketing Global Rangelands and Rangelands West websites (review those overall presentations already developed and possible new applications that offer instant video options); conducting public awareness events by members in their institutions; and other efforts (International Year of Rangelands, consistent hashtag).