Range and Pasture Publications

• Agriculture Publications from Montana State University
• Montana Livestock Winter Feeding Area Assessment
• Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Technical Reference Library
• Drought Information for Pastures and Rangelands on the Foragebeef.ca website for the Canadian forage beef industry.
• Fences. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Manual, July 1998.
• Graminoid Quarterly Newsletter
  • May 2008
• Monitoring Manual for Grassland, Shrubland and Savanna Ecosystems, Volumes I and II, 2005. USDA Agricultural Research Service, Jornada Experimental Range.
• Rocky Mountain Research Station, USDA-Forest Service
• Sage Grouse: Management Plan and Conservation Strategies in Montana (Final) Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks publication.
• Soil and Vegetation Inventory of Near-pristine Sites in Montana July 1973.
• USFS Photo Point Monitoring Handbook. PNW-GTR-526. March 2000.
• Tame Pasture Grass and Legume Species and Grazing Guidelines - Plant Materials Technical Note Number MT-63

Publications available from the national NRCS Grazing Lands Technical Publication webpage:

• Anti-Quality Factors in Rangeland and Pastureland Forages - This 67-page bulletin reviews anti-quality factors that influence livestock production on both pasturelands and rangelands. As more emphasis is placed on forages for animal production, potential limitations need to be better understood.
• Interpreting Indicators for Rangeland Health, Version 4 - Technical Reference 1734-6, dated 2005, is a booklet developed through inter-agency coordination between the BLM, NRCS, ARS, and USGS. It provides land specialists with the tools to do a preliminary evaluation of soil/site stability, hydrologic function, and integrity of the biotic community on rangelands.
• Guide to Pasture Condition Scoring - Developed by GLTI in May 2001, the guide is used to inform landowners as well as professionals of the 10 indicators of pasture condition and the 6 causative factors affecting plant vigor with a procedure to assess each indicator.
• Introduction to Microbiotic Crusts - A 13-page booklet developed by GLTI and the Soil Quality Institute which provides the latest information to NRCS personnel and landowners on microbiotic crusts and how they impact soils, hydrology, and plant communities.
• Inventorying, Classifying, and Correlation of Juniper and Pinyon Communities to Soils in Western United States - A 39-page booklet developed by GLTI which provides guidance during all progressive soil surveys and during ecological site description development or revision in the inventorying, classifying, and correlating of Juniper and Pinyon ecosystems into ecological sites.
• Sampling Vegetation Attributes - Developed by an inter-agency group, this reference material will help you determine what kind of sampling technique to use and how to set up and run monitoring studies.
• States, transitions, and thresholds: Further refinement for rangeland applications. Special Report 1024, March 2001.

The following documents are available in Adobe Acrobat format.

Big Sagebrush Shrub-steppe Postfire Succession in Southwest Montana Montana Natural Heritage System Website (PDF; 6 MB)
Common Sagebrush Community Forbs and Their Importance to Sage-Grouse Hens and Chicks. Compiled by: Sands, Alan and Reese, Kerry. (PDF; 20 KB)
Handbook of Erosion Control in Mountain Meadows Kraebel, C. J. and Pillsbury, A. F., U. S. Forest Service. 1934 (PDF; 2.7 MB)
How Many Animals Can I Graze on My Pasture? University of Arizona Cooperative Extension (PDF; 965 KB)
Monitoring the Vegetation Resources in Riparian Areas (PDF; 3.5 MB)
Pasture Condition Score Protocols for 2005 Conservation Security Program (PDF; 17 KB)
Rangeland Health Assessment Protocols for 2005 Conservation Security Program (PDF; 252 KB)
Rangeland Management Before, During, and After Drought University of Arizona Cooperative Extension (PDF; 168 KB)
References on the American Indian Use of Fire in Ecosystems by Gerald W. Williams, Ph.D., National Historian (retired), USDA Forest Service, Washington, D.C. May 18, 2005 (PDF; 616 KB)
State and Transition Modeling:  An Ecological Process Approach (PDF; 100 KB)
State-and-Transition Models and Ecological Thresholds: Bridging Theory and Application Briske et al., 2005. Texas A&M University website. (PDF; 557 KB)
State-and-Transition Models, Thresholds, and Rangeland Health: A Synthesis of Ecological Concepts and Perspectives Briske et al. Rangeland Ecology and Management, January 2005. (PDF; 265 KB)
A Summary of Livestock Grazing Systems Used on Rangelands in the Western United States and Canada University of Arizona Cooperative Extension (PDF; 47 KB)
Ten Common Mistakes in Designing Biodiversity Indicators for Forest Policy, Journal of Environmental Management 68 (2003) 121–132. (PDF; 264 KB)
A Unified Framework for Assessment and Application of Ecological Thresholds Briske et al., Rangeland Ecology and Management, May 2006. (PDF; 336 KB)
Vegetation Dynamics on Rangelands Briske et al. Journal of Applied Ecology 2003. (PDF; 282 KB)

Publications Available upon Request

The following publications are available electronically in Adobe Acrobat format by contacting publications.

• Can Cows and Fish Coexist? Canadian Journal of Plant Sciences, April 1998
• Cattle Wintering Sites and Stewardship
• Central Region Seedling Identification Guide for Native Prairie Plants. USDA-NRCS Elsberry Plant Materials Center, Elsberry, Missouri. October 2005.
• Eighty Years of Vegetation and Landscape Changes in the Northern Great Plains: A Photographic Record
• Livestock Grazing and Riparian Areas Literature Review. (2001) Foragebeef.ca
• Selected Shrubland and Grassland Communities of the Northern Great Plains
• Stockmanship - A Powerful Tool for Grazing Lands Management

< Back to Range and Pasture

Last Modified: 06/24/2008