The College of Natural Resources, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and University of Idaho Extension have combined efforts to create the Rangeland Center. The center will not be housed in a building, but will provide services pertaining to rangeland conservation and management.
“We are progressive in Idaho. Range is disappearing, merging into other departments, but UI is doing the opposite. We are bringing it forward,” said Karen Launchbaugh, Rangeland Center director.
Until 2009, the rangeland department was its own entity. But when the College of Natural Resources was reorganized, the college was added to the forestry and fire departments. The range program was then created.
“It just put a label on what was already there,” said Lovina Roselle, outreach coordinator for the Rangeland Center. “But now we’ve been able to put together the opportunity to work across fields.”
The center will work on projects with researchers in the field, ranchers and landowners alongside students.
“We are looking to connect to researchers and outreach to people in the field. We learn a lot from them, but they learn a lot from us. It’s a good marriage,” Launchbaugh said. “It’s a simple model. We have students, people in the field don’t, but they have trucks and land. I might have equipment, like the GIS (geographic information system), but researchers don’t, so we can share with ranchers and landowners. We work together to get the job done.”
The center will focus on outreach and education of rangeland management and conservation.
“We offer workshops and symposiums for land managers and rangeland professionals, provide educational resources to high schools and publish science-based materials related to contemporary rangeland management concerns such as the ‘Sage-grouse Habitat Management in Idaho: A Practical Guide for Land Owners and Managers,”‘ Roselle said.
The center educates people regarding invasive plant and weed management and livestock management. But, Launchbaugh said the main intent is to make sure people understand and become aware of what range is.
With the new program and combined resources, the center was also able to hire student interns to work on outreach programs.
The Rangeland Center will always be a group of people and does not have plans for a specific building to house their staff. Everything can be done remotely, electronically or over the phone, and people involved will remain housed with their specific departments.
“It’s not a brick and mortar, it’s a group of people looking to share resources,” Roselle said.
They will also be constructing an advisory board in a few months that will consist of members from different agencies who have a rangeland focus. The board will direct the Rangeland Center’s attention to outreach and research projects.