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Greater Harmony Between Agriculture and the Environment
A Western Regional Land-Grant Web Initiative for Rangeland Management
Issue
In 1995, a collaboration began at the University of Arizona to create
one of the first fully operational components of the Agriculture National
Information Network (AgNIC), an initiative involving multiple land grant
universities and the U.S. National Agricultural Library. Conceived as
a means to distribute basic information to the public, specialized information
to land managers, and instruction to students, the Managing Rangelands
AgNIC web development project united the University Library with the
School of Renewable Natural Resources, the Arid Lands Information Center,
and the Networking Group of the Educational Computing and Technology
unit in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences with a common goal
of providing timely, accurate, trusted information on Western rangelands.
Initially, the effort focused on Arizona, but following a regional workshop
held at the UA in 2002, a new "Rangelands of the Western U.S."
web resource has been developed as part of a multi-state collaborative
effort.
What has been done?
Over the past seven years, the Arizona site has been regularly updated
and expanded both in content and design to improve its ability to serve
rangeland students and land managers. It includes more than 350 unique
pages and features. Besides an archive of full-text articles published
in the Journal of Range Management and other in-depth sections on rangeland
management, the web site includes a section on weeds and invasive species,
and sections on marketing and conservation ranching. In cooperation
with the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), Ecological Site
Guides covering all areas of Arizona are also available. These guides
describe soil qualities, vegetation, precipitation, and other factors
that affect decision-making in land management.
Recognizing that Western rangelands and environmental issues do not
stop at political boundaries, the March 2002 workshop explored the possibility
of forming a Western regional rangelands alliance to develop a comprehensive
Web-based resource on current issues and knowledge related to U.S. Western
rangelands. This resulted in a redesign of the existing Managing Rangelands
site into a regional home page [http://rangelandswest.org/]
and a series of state-specific linked sites [see Arizona Rangelands
at: http://rangelandswest.org/az/index.html]
One of the initial motives for selecting rangelands as the University
of Arizona's contribution to AgNIC was the controversial nature of the
issues surrounding the topic. To defuse those issues and provide access
to balanced and trusted information, a major section is focused on policy
issues concerning public land management, including such topics as wildlife
and endangered species, forests and logging, mining, Indian lands, urbanization,
grazing, recreation and wilderness areas.
Impact
The Rangelands of the Western U.S. web site is widely accepted as an
important source of information on the understanding and management
of Western rangelands. On average, the site receives more than 2,200
hits per day, bringing the total during 2002 to approximately 760,000.
In addition, the newly established Western partnership is an accepted
model for collaboration within the national AgNIC effort. A broad cross-section
of the public benefits from the Web site's capabilities. Throughout
the past seven years, questions have been sent in by students from middle
school through the post doctoral level. In addition, reference questions
have been received from landowners in Arizona, with others coming from
people in Oregon, Texas, New Mexico, and as far away as Iran and Jordan.
One staff member from the U.S. Forest Service sent the following comment:
"This is a great site; made me proud to be an alum. Thanks for
the obvious effort that went into it. Appreciate the effort at achieving
balance in the discussion."
Funding
Arizona Cooperative Extension
Arizona Common Ground Roundtable (in kind)
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service
NASA/Raytheon
Natural Resources Conservation Service (in kind)
University Library
Contact
George Ruyle, extension specialist, rangelands
Rangeland and Forest Resources Program
School of Renewable Natural Resources
Biosciences East 301, Tucson, AZ 85721
Tel: 520-621-1384; FAX: 520-621-8801
Email: gruyle@ag.arizaona.edu
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