Rangelands constitute just less than one half of the earth's land area; 770 million acres in the US are classified as rangelands.  Even so, rangelands suffer from an identity crisis.  Common characterizations of landscapes do not identify rangelands as a type of land, and often subdivide rangeland classification into more recongizable descriptions such as forest, crops, and agricultural lands which often omit those lands that are public and relatively undeveloped.  A national survey exist for all forested lands, as well as for all private agricultural lands.  However, there is no national survey that includes federal rangelands.  Additionally, there are no data collected for all rangelands using the same methodology over time that allows for aggregation at the national level.  That leaves interpretation of condition to professional opinion and personal judgement.  When rangelands are not well understood or undervalued, they are susceptible to degradation, intense development pressure, and conversion.  Congress, the Society for Range Management, the Sustainable Rangelands Roundtable, the National Academy of Sciences, the Counsel for Environmental Quality, and many others have called for a national  survey for all rangelands.  The Bureau of Land Management, the Natural Resource Conservation Service, and the Forest Service are jointly responding to this need, beginning with the Oregon Pilot.

The Pilot is still very much underway.  However, much work has been accomplished to date.  For example, the agencies have worked to determine an appropriate platform, defined common database structure, developed sample design and sampling techniques, refined analysis processes, and have jointly expedited the application of the latest technology in a unified fashion that will yield the desired results.  The information and lessons learned during the Pilot will serve the agencies well as we continue our efforts to accomplish a national rangeland survey.