Publications

The purpose of this guidebook is to help ranchers and land managers use integrated business planning and socio-eco- nomic and ecological monitoring to ensure their ranches are managed in a sustainable manner while maintaining or enhancing greater sage-grouse habitats. The assessment questionnaire included in this bulletin provides an opportunity for ranchers to gain insight about their operations. It includes information that will help agricultural producers and land managers develop or amend an existing ranch plan that may include habitat conservation and/or restoration for the iconic bird of the West. This guidebook is closely tied to the 2013 University of Wyoming Extension publication B-1216, Sustainable Ranch Management Assessment Guidebook, Do You Know Whether Your Ranch is Sustainable? A Communication Tool for Ranchers, Technical Service Providers, and Agencies, particularly in regard to the development of the sustainable ranch plan. Most importantly, this guidebook provides ranchers with information to develop socio-economic and ecological monitoring programs for their operations, includ- ing sage-grouse habitats. And finally, this guidebook, used in conjunction with UW Extension’s B-1216, can help inform a rancher’s decision-making processes by offering a framework for assessing, planning, monitoring, and evaluating overall ranch management, which may include sage-grouse habitat management and conservation.