National Assessment and Critiques of State-and-Transition Models: The Baby with the Bathwater

摘要

Ecological site descriptions (ESDs) have been characterized as the world's largest land management framework.1 They comprise a database and document collection used throughout the United States to provide management guidance in rangelands and, increasingly, in forests, wedands, and croplands. ESDs are specific to fine-grained (1:12,000) land classes called ecological sites that differ in soil, landscape position, or climate, and therefore inpotential plant communities. Different ecological sites call for differences in the details of management actions such as stocking rates, restoration seed mixes, and strategies for managing woody plants.