Corrine N. Knapp and Maria Fernandez-Gimenez. Forest, Rangeland and Watershed Stewardship, Colorado State University, 1208 Briarwood Rd, Fort Collins, CO 80521
Developing models of vegetation change, such as state-and-transition models (STM) requires long-term ecological monitoring data and knowledge of management histories. This information is rarely available, and researchers have begun to utilize expert and local knowledge to inform the development of STM. However there has been little systematic analysis of the benefits and downfalls of using this type of knowledge for model creation. This project uses both structured and field interviews with long-time ranchers to understand vegetation change over time and to inform the development of state-and-transition models. Preliminary results show that ranchers understand vegetation change on a larger scale than ecological sites and have valuable information about the cross-scale impacts of change on adjacent vegetative communities. Ranchers are aware of specific events such as the introduction of weedy species or significant erosion events, however the timescale needed to identify vegetative changes is often longer than the that of human management. In addition, ranchers may miss gradual changes because of their consistent engagement with the landscape. Although there are weaknesses in incorporating local knowledge in state-and-transition models, local knowledge can provide specific management history, suggestions about the cause of transitions, and broad context including social and economic history to inform model development. Despite the potential limitations of local knowledge, it is an important resource to integrate in model development
