Over fifteen years ago, USGS and others authored an assessment protocol “Interpreting Indicators of Rangeland Health (IIRH)” that has been used in over 30,000 locations across the U.S. However, in portions of the U.S. and in other countries, the use of this protocol has been limited by the requirement for historic reference data on various indicators such as soil and climate. USGS, USDA, BLM, and Oregon State University researchers have authored a new publication that addresses specific management and policy situations when historic data are and are not required, approaches for defining historic references, and a new protocol for collecting and organizing data for historic references. This new publication will broaden applicability of IIRH both within the U.S. and internationally.

Herrick, J.E., Shaver, P.L., Pyke, D.A., Pellant, M., Toledo, D.P., Lepak, N., 2019, A strategy for defining the reference for land health and degradation assessments: Ecological Indicators, v. 97, p. 225-230, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2018.06.065