RANGELAND HEALTH ASSESSMENT - A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR RANCHERS IN ARID KAROO SHRUBLANDS

A recently published rangeland health assessment guide for arid shrubl ands of the Karoo, South Africa, addresses the problem of apathy towar d rangeland. The guide is designed for land users with a minimal knowl edge of plants and soil processes. More than 200 colour photographs, m aps and diagrams introduce the rancher to the processes that maintain soil fertility and range productivity. Topics covered include soil for mation, cryptogam crusts, water acquisition and storage by plants, pla nt population renewal and vegetation change. Then using subjective fiv e-point scores, the guide assesses rangeland health by vegetation cove r, forage value, utilization intensity, plant demography and soil heal th and protection. This hands-on, non-technical approach to range asse ssment is intended to avert rangeland damage by making the rancher mor e aware of the natural resources on which ranching depends. Ranchers w ho spend time in their rangelands and well understand the dynamics of plant populations in response to rainfall patterns and grazing are gen erally more successful than ranchers with little interest in their ran geland. A similar approach, combining subjective assessment of soil an d vegetation, could be designed for ranchers in other arid and semi-ar id regions subject to desertification through misunderstanding and ina dvertent mismanagement. (C)1998 Academic Press Limited.