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Overview
The Government of Alberta has developed tools to assess the health of rangeland ecosystems and evaluate the overall condition of a range site.
Rangeland health assessments
The health of rangeland ecosystems is measured by the ability of rangeland to perform key ecological functions:
- maintenance of soil/site stability
- net primary production
- capture and beneficial release of water
- nutrient and energy cycling
- functional diversity of plant species
Assessments of these indicators are used to evaluate the health of forest, native shrublands and grasslands, and tame pastures, and enables the province to determine the ecological health of public rangelands.
These tools are also available for use by ranchers, students, researchers and resource managers.
Workbook and worksheets
Range Plant Community guides
Assessing rangeland health requires knowledge of the kind and type of rangeland being assessed. Before using the tools below, you will require assistance from range plant community guides. To find a listing of the guides, see:
Workbook
Field worksheets and score sheets
Forest
Grassland
Tame pasture