Eric Peterson,

1
Implementing aCooperative Permittee Monitoring
Program

• Eric Peterson,
• Area Natural Resource Education Specialist
• Mountain West Extension Area

2
Introduction

• Voluntary Cooperative Permittee Monitoring
  (CPM)
• The 4-Cs

Communication, Cooperation, and Consultation,
all in the service of Conservation
3
Who Would Get Involved?

• You are innovative
• You are proactive
• You understand the value of permittee involvement
  in the permits operation
• You are a leader
• You are interested in stewardship of your
  rangeland resources

4
What will happen to you?

• Knowledge
• Producers will learn and understand more about
  rangeland and its ecology
• Range Specialists will learn and understand more
  about animal husbandry and ranch management
• Learning is stimulating
• You will think about the work and enjoy it!

5
The Alliance

• Permittee and specialist will come to understand
  each other
• Driving forces
• Appreciation
• Trust
• A relationship forged in common understanding and
  toil

6
The Outcome

• Creation of a body of information which does not
  exist
• Documentation of past success
• and/or
• Demonstration of awareness of problems and
  commitment to addressing those problems via your
• Objectives
• Strategies
• Evaluation

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Is CPM needed?

• Worries
• Fox Guarding the Henhouse!
• Its my job! Its your job
• Who loses?
• Time Commitment

• But. . .
• Defensible grazing program
• Acres per specialist
• Trusted technicians
• Common understanding of management forces and
  objectives
• Relationships

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Coordination Between The Permittee And The Agency
Range Professional

• Priority 1 Imperative
• Coordination and Cooperation nullify resistance
• Different worlds
• A common goal
• The alliance strengthens ownership and
  defensibility
• Shared
• Objectives
• Process

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Starting a Cooperative Permittee Monitoring
Program

• This model works when
• Voluntary
• Voluntary Enhanced Stewardship
• Compulsary Regulatory Compliance
• All want success
• Commitment to managing for Great Stewardship

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The hard work isnt range management. Its group
process.

• Proper representation
• Agency
• Permittee
• Auxiliary process and technical advisors as
  appropriate

You must go slow to go fast.
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Two Important Events

• THE MEETING
• THE TOUR

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The Tabletop Meeting

• Who
• Principals in the administration of the permit
• Principals in the operation of the permit
• Others? CPM vs CRM
• When
• Early
• Where
• Safe Place

13
Meeting objectives

• Verbal Mutual Commitment to Stewardship Goal
• Discuss agency and permittee needs and
  constraints
• Review maps and discuss
• Cattle movements
• Resource concerns
• Describe characteristics of Potential key area
• Review existing file for existing studies
• Plan a field tour

14
The Tour (or tours)

• Reasonable Tour group
• Constructive vs. Confrontational
• Accomplishments
• Identify Key Areas
• Write Objectives for Key Areas
• Install monitoring methodologies
• Training
• Collection

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CPM Monitoring Basics

• Objective driven monitoring
• Grazing related objectives
• KISS methodologies
• Do-able with limited training
• Reliable accurately estimates reality
• Valid direct link to management
• Scheduling
• Permanent Record

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Monitoring Program Design

• Highly tailored to specific situation
• OBJECTIVE DRIVEN
• Short Term Objectives
• Long Term Objectives
• Easy Objectives
• Hard Objectives
• Written and Archived

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Logically Processing Objectives

• Concern
• Objective
• Strategy
• Anticipated outcome
• Indicator/Data
• Method

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Short Term Monitoring

• Important in the current year/growing season
• Climatological
• Animal number/date/time/class
• Other Noteworthy factors
• Management
• Insects
• Plant community result
• Use vs. Residual
• Cumulatively important to trend

20
Trend Monitoring

• Long term
• Separate points in time
• Supporting objectives concerned with
• Resource condition and sustainability
• Effect of management
• Composition of plant community (KISS)
• Photography

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Riparian Concerns

• Definition of Riparian Area
• The areas in which cattle and critics
  congregate
• No mysterious voodoo take care of the plants
• Set Streambank Vegetation Objectives
• Short Term
• Longterm

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Methods

• Independent design?
• Interagency Technical References
• http//www.blm.gov/nstc/library/techref.htm
• Wyoming Rangeland Monitoring Guide
• KISS
• Mutually agreeable
• Reliable, valid, credible, do-able

Official File
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Maintaining A Record Of Results

• Intent Permanent record - Redundancy
• Agency
• Permittee
• Others?
• Houses burn, people move, memory fades.
• The time to scrimp in not when you are standing
  in front of a color copier.

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Two notebooks

• 1) Permanent File
• Organized by monitoring site
• Permanent copies of Objectives worksheets
• Establishment dates, location, players,
  objective, strategies, data requirements and
  methodologies, timeframe for review
• Permanent copies of past year(s) data and
  photographs for each site

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Two Notebooks

• 2) Annual Data notebook
• Prepared annually to be included into permanent
  notebooks
• Cooperative Statement
• Weather log
• Grazing Record
• Copies of Data Sheets from current years studies
• Copies of photo studies
• Objectives and data for special short term
  studies
• Other noteworthy observations

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Equipment and Expertise

• Field notebook
• Blank Data Forms and pencils
• Copies of archive objective sheets and photo
  point references as necessary
• Dry erase sheet with markers
• Camera (dated image) and daytime film
• 35 mm vs. digital
• 15-20 mp vs. 5 no compression or digital tricks
• 100 vs gt500

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Equipment and Expertise , Cont

• GPS
• 100 Foot tape
• Two folding carpenter rules
• Transect stakes
• Survey pins
• Hardware stores or www.benmeadows.com
• USFS Utilization Gauge
• www.bookstore.colostate.edu

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Equipment and Expertise , Cont

• Training
• Identification of
• Objectives
• Key areas
• Key species
• Study
• Methodology Selection
• Study installation
• Data reading and recording

Educators aint no use if you dont use em!
paraphrased from Hight Profit
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Conclusion

• Three year investment for agency specialist
• Enhanced understanding of
• Rangeland ecology
• Range management
• Animal Husbandry
• Vastly improved set of defensible data
• Improved relationships an alliance

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Thanks!