Part 1: Laying the Groundwork for Range Monitoring

Historical Information Useful for Rangeland Monitoring

Information that has been gathered in the past about your area or your ranch can be helpful in making present-day decisions about management.

You may want to do a little searching for the following information:

At the ranch:

• Journals or letters written by past owners or occupants of the ranch
• Old photographs of terrain and landscape
• Past grazing or range management plans
• Actual stocking numbers
• Livestock production records
• Precipitation records

At the local county government offices

• Ownership and sales history

From your county extension agent, various state and federal agencies, and state university

• Historical livestock information, including land use and productivity
• Monitoring and vegetation data
• Utilization surveys
• Environmental assessments or impact statements
• Time and location of wildfires
• Data from past studies
• Historical climate data
• Wildlife population trends and other data
• Aerial photographs