Conservation Benefits of Rangeland Practices: Assessment, Recommendations and Knowledge Gaps. Second Printing with Revisions

摘要

Conservation is a major tenet of American society that is symbolized by Aldo Leopolds iconic work Sand County Almanac. A conservation ethic emphasizes the protection, management, and restoration of natural resources for the public benefit, including sustainable social and economic utilization. The importance of conservation was imprinted on the national psyche by several episodes of environmental degradation, including severe overgrazing of western rangelands in the late 19th century and the Dust Bowl of the 1930sthe latter of which provided the impetus for organization of the current-day Natural Resource Conservation Service. Black Sundaya severe dust storm that occurred in the southern Great Plains on April 14, 1935serves as a symbol of the devastating consequences of unsustainable land use on both natural resources and human well-being that is dependent on them. The rangeland profession similarly emerged from the actions of early government researchers and managers, focused largely on grazing management and restoration, to halt and reverse degradation of western rangelands in the late 19th century. These episodes of natural resource degradation have contributed to the growing awareness that conservation of the nations natural resources is as much about managing human actions and values as it is about managing natural resources themselves.