The San Francisco Bay Area in California, USA is a highly heterogeneous region in climate, topography, and habitats, as well as in its political and economic interests. Successful conservation strategies must consider various current and future competing demands for the land, and should pay special attention to livestock grazing, the dominant non-urban land-use. The main objective of this study...

Prescribed fires are used to manipulate and manage rangelands, but effective monitoring techniques are needed to ensure that management goals and objectives are being met. The application of an effective fire program on rangelands is not a simple task. Overgrazing by livestock since the early development of the livestock industry has altered the vegetative complex on most rangelands with an inc...

This paper identifies new ways of moving from land degradation towards sustainable land management through the development of economic mechanisms. It identifies new mechanisms to tackle land degradation based on retaining critical levels of natural capital whilst basing livelihoods on a wider range of ecosystem services. This is achieved through a case study analysis of the Kalahari rangelands ...

The Santa Rita Experimental Range is 100 years old this year, providing an occasion to celebrate and to reflect. The first of many experimental ranges in the United States, the Santa Rita was founded at a time when both range science and plant ecology were in their infancy. The purpose was to conduct research that would aid in the management of Southwestern rangelands by public agencies and pri...

This paper analyzes regulatory design for agroecosystem management on public rangelands. We present an informational and institutional environment where three of the most prominent regulatory instruments on public rangelands – input regulation, cost-sharing/taxation, and performance regulation – can be defined and compared. The paper examines how the optimal regulation is shaped by the informat...

Rangelands in Saudi Arabia extend over more than 175 m.ha. (about 75% of country land area) while woodland forests occupy only 2.7 m.ha. and are limited to the south western highlands. The diversity in landscape has been reflected in terrestrial plant species diversity. Range vegetation as well as forest understory vegetation has long history of grazing by livestock and wildlife herbivores. In ...

West Nile virus has undergone an unprecedented rate of infection in North America, sweeping from New York to California in four years. It attacked an exceptionally broad range of hosts/vectors over a broad geographic area. In 2004, the California Department of Health Services received approximately 98,000 reports of dead birds, representing tens of millions of birds killed by West Nile virus in...

Article history: Received 6 July 2005 Received in revised form 11 October 2005 Accepted 21 October 2005 Available online 4 January 2006 Global Climate Change (GCC) can bring about changes in ecosystems and consequently in their services value. Here we show that the urban population in Israel values the green landscape of rangelands in the mesic Mediterranean climate region and is willing to pay...