StockSmart

Calculating rangeland stocking rates has historically been a challenge for land managers – it’s been a time-consuming, costly, and somewhat piecemeal process. Researchers recognized the need for an automated process to assess grazing capacity, develop grazing management plans, and determine where to reduce wildfire fuels through targeted grazing, so they developed StockSmart. StockSmart is a decision support tool for ranch managers, public lands managers, fuel planners, and fire risk analysts to manage livestock grazing more efficiently and achieve better outcomes for long-term rangeland health.

Photo Credit

Preston Keres

StockSmart leverages high-resolution satellite imagery to describe annual productivity; proportions of trees, shrubs, and herbs; landscape topography; and distance from water to estimate appropriate stocking rates for different management objectives. Private landowners, land managers, planners, and analysts can use StockSmart to quickly access accurate and time-sensitive scientific and historical data. In addition to calculating stocking rates, users can:

• Make detailed evaluations of current, past, and modeled future vegetation conditions
• Identify geographic areas where there is an imbalance between available forage and demand based on current rangeland conditions
• Compare scenarios
• Evaluate fuel treatments and targeted grazing efficacy
• Collaborate with other users

StockSmart was developed by Washington State University and University of Arizona in collaboration with Research Ecologist Matt Reeves at the USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station. This development was supported by the intramural research program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

Purpose

StockSmart is an app that provides users with near real-time, accurate data on vegetation conditions so they can make more informed and cost-effective grazing management decisions.

Applicability and Overview