Rangeland health assessment: a practical guide for ranchers in arid Karoo shrublands

A recently published rangeland health assessment guide for arid shrublands of the Karoo, South Africa, addresses the problem of apathy toward rangeland. The guide is designed for land users with a minimal knowledge of plants and soil processes. More than 200 colour photographs, maps and diagrams introduce the rancher to the processes that maintain soil fertility and range productivity. Topics covered include soil formation, cryptogam crusts, water acquisition and storage by plants, plant population renewal and vegetation change. Then using subjective five-point scores, the guide assesses rangeland health by vegetation cover, forage value, utilization intensity, plant demography and soil health and protection. This hands-on, non-technical approach to range assessment is intended to avert rangeland damage by making the rancher more aware of the natural resources on which ranching depends. Ranchers who spend time in their rangelands and well understand the dynamics of plant populations in response to rainfall patterns and grazing are generally more successful than ranchers with little interest in their rangeland. A similar approach, combining subjective assessment of soil and vegetation, could be designed for ranchers in other arid and semi-arid regions subject to desertification through misunderstanding and inadvertent mismanagement.