Revised Chapter Four of National Range and Pasture Handbook Released

The National Range and Pasture Handbook (NRPH), along with other NRCS technical and policy guidance manuals and handbooks, contains information to help NRCS conservationists provide technical assistance for all phases of the conservation planning and application process. Chapter four of the NRPH was recently revised to incorporate current rangeland assessment methodology found in version four of Interpreting Indicators of Rangeland Health.

Rangeland health assessments provide an evaluation of the soil/site stability, hydrologic function, and integrity of the biotic community on rangelands. The changes identified in chapter four are designed to improve consistency in application of the assessment.  The most significant modification is the replacement of the Ecological Reference Area Worksheet with the Ecological Site Reference Sheet.  The reference sheet facilitates consistent application by integrating all of the available sources of data and knowledge to generate a single range of reference conditions for each rangeland health indicator.

The NRPH chapter four revision and the Interpreting Indicators of Rangeland Health publication can be accessed from the NRCS Directives Website.
Your contact is George Peacock, NRCS Grazing Lands Team Leader, at 817-509-3211.