OREGON RANGELAND
MONITORING PROGRAM
The Oregon Rangeland Monitoring Program (ORMP) is a collaborative effort involving multiple stakeholders to measure and communicate the effectiveness of rangeland restoration treatments in eastern Oregon.
We are in a new era of significant funding opportunities (e.g., Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board Focused Investment Partnerships, State Wildfire Resiliency funds, and federal Bipartisan Infrastructure and Inflation Reduction Act funds) and there are millions being invested in landscape restoration treatments. Examples include response to wildfires and wildlife habitat improvement.
The current influx of state and federal dollars is providing practitioners with the ability to complete multi-phase, projects at a landscape scale. This offers a unique opportunity to measure restoration outcomes on a larger spatial and temporal scale than what has been previously possible.
To make the most of this opportunity we need an efficient means to determine if our collective efforts are working to increase the quality and quantity of sagebrush habitat in Oregon, and we need to be able to communicate these results to funders and decision makers, as well as share lessons among practitioners.
ORMP is for on-the-ground practitioners
We leverage the knowledge of our diverse stakeholder group to synthesize monitoring data to help bridge the knowledge gap between small scale experiments and real-world landscape scale management. Our approach is designed to not only determine if treatments succeed or fail, but importantly, also identify factors that contributed to treatment outcomes.
Guidance on where and how many locations to monitor.
US Geological Survey (USGS) helps practitioners identify a sufficient number of monitoring sites within restoration treatment boundaries and control (reference) areas to efficiently capture information across ecologically diverse areas.
Rapid and standardized data collection using mobile devices.
Electronic data collection (using Esri Survey123 and FieldMaps) minimizes effort and data entry errors.
Standardized methods facilitate automated analyses and comparison across multiple restoration treatments implemented by different partners across eastern Oregon.
Robust, but practical methods assess threat-based ecostates and measure vegetative cover using rapid ocular assessments and a commonly used line-point intercept method. Photo points are included, too!
Analyzing and summarizing treatment results on-demand using a customizable web-based platform (in progress).
Data summaries help practitioners know if their restoration project is improving the ecological condition, resistance, and/or resilience of the site.
Specific treatment effects (such as decreases in targeted invasive vegetation or increases in desirable species) are displayed to help practitioners know if their treatment is effective and if adaptive management is needed.
All data and photos are available to download for limitless analyses and uses. ORMP capitalizes on existing treatment databases (like the Land Treatment Digital Library [LTDL], Land Treatment Exploration Tool [LTET], and others currently being managed at local and state levels) at a time when both state and federal funding opportunities are enabling land managers to treat sagebrush ecosystem threats at large landscape scales
ORMP partners monitor large-scale restoration treatments throughout eastern Oregon using a standardized, repeatable, multi-scaled, and streamlined protocol.
ORMP uses the best available science
How do we harness practitioners’ experience to inform future restoration treatments and adaptive management?
Land managers need the best strategies to guide our restoration efforts in eastern Oregon.
However, often our best available science occurs at small scales (research plots) and the results can be hard to access because they are buried in scientific journals.
While published, peer-reviewed studies are scientifically sound, because they use intensive monitoring methods and a standardize, repeatable study design, it can be unclear if the results are applicable at real-world scales.
Published, peer-reviewed research
Landscape scale restoration
How does ORMP work?
Step 1: Submit maps of the treatment polygons
The project manager provides a shapefile and pertinent details about the treatment type and implementation.
Example Seeding Treatment Area
Step 2: Heatload Stratification
Control (reference) areas are identified within a zone surrounding the treatment area. Both the control and treatment areas are stratified according to elevation and heatload (a metric that incorporates aspect and solar radiation). Heatload and elevation often vary across a treatment, accounting for differences in existing vegetation pre-treatment and potentially variable effectiveness of the restoration treatment.
Step 3: Monitoring locations are generated
Monitoring plots are randomly placed within treatment polygons and adjacent control (reference areas). Points are placed as equally across the elevation and heat load strata as possible and backup points are also generated in case “preferred” points cannot be accessed or are unrepresentative.
Step 4: Field data collection
Monitoring crews collect data (where permitted) using Survey123 and Field Maps. Ideally data are collected prior to and after treatment implementation. The post-treatment monitoring schedule depends on treatment type and land management goals.
Crews assess 13-m radius plots using a rapid ocular assessment of key functional vegetation groups and assign a threat-based ecostate representing the general condition. One plot per treatment is randomly selected and additionally monitored using a line-point intercept method (identical to methods used by the Bureau of Land Management).
Step 5: Data Sync
Back in the office or within cell service, crews “sync” their data. Data is stored on ArcGIS Online.
Step 6: Data QA/QC
Field crews review data and correct errors. Data area also reviewed by USGS using statistical software.
Step 7: Analyses, summaries and reports (under development)
Because data are collected in a standardized way, automated and dynamic analyses can be easily performed. A user-friendly web-based tool is under development for end users to readily visualize and interpret data.
ORMP TRAINING SIGN UP!
This 2-day event on May 29th and 30th will follow up on the May 13th Threat-based Ecostate Assessment webinar for the Oregon Rangeland Monitoring Program and CCAAs with staff from USFWS and USGS. This in-person event is to train staff on how to use the Oregon Rangeland Monitoring Protocol in the classroom and in the field. This training is free and required for those monitoring using ORMP in 2024, but is also open to anyone who is interested in learning more.
Location: Burns BLM District Office, 28910 Hwy 20 West, Hines, OR 97738
Dates:
Day 1: May 29th 1-5pm (Classroom-ORMP and protocol overview, technical trouble-shooting, Survey123 FieldMaps best practices)
Day 2: May 30th 8-5pm (Practice in the field)
For additional information please reach out to Jackie Cupples.
Registration Information
Photo credit: Jeremy Roberts
Accomplishments to date:
Since 2022, partners have monitored 275 individual treatment polygons covering 250,719 acres and 78 miles of linear roadside herbicide treatments occurring on private, Oregon Department of State Lands, and Bureau of Land Management lands. Over 1,000 monitoring locations were surveyed.
How can I get involved?
If you are interested in monitoring your restoration projects using ORMP, please contact Jackie Cupples.
For additional information contact:
Jacqueline Cupples, jacqueline_cupples@fws.gov
Megan Creutzburg, megan.creutzburg@oregonstate.edu
David Pilliod, dpilliod@usgs.gov
Project partners:
ORMP is made possible with the support and interest of many federal, state, and local partners. Funding provided from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Bipartisan Infrastructure funds, U.S. Geological Survey, and Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board.
