Santa Rita Experimental Range

One of the most important issues in natural resources today is the intersection of land management and climate influences on vegetation change and soil erosion. Here at the SNRE, we are very fortunate to have a unique real-world laboratory: the Santa Rita Experimental Range (SRER), where research projects and data collection have been going on for more than 100 years.

Dr. Mitch McClaran, SNRE Professor of Range Management, is currently Director of Research at the SRER. He has focused on understanding the long-term (>100 y) record of vegetation change provided by the historical research and archives for the 106 year old SRER. In addition, he leads an ongoing effort to provide digital versions of the historical data to land managers and the general public through the SRER web site. This work will help distinguish permanent changes in the environment from changes that are part of long-term, cyclical processes.

Determining the means for achieving long-term sustainable livestock grazing on southwestern US rangelands has been an important part of the research legacy on the SRER. In addition, research activities have grown to more basic investigations that include descriptions of carbon, nitrogen and water dynamics, pollination ecology, hormone influences on song-bird behavior and noxious weed control. For example, at the SRER, researchers are working to understand how climate change and land use practices contribute to the spread of the non-native buffelgrass. This work started in late 2006, when students mapped the spatial distribution of the buffelgrass with GPS units, and continues with an extensive eradication program.

The mission at the SRER is "To advance research and education on the ecology and management of desert rangelands through the secure, long-term access to research areas, state-of-the-art facilities, new discoveries, and research legacies." Pursuing this mission provides tools and techniques that help us provide valuable ecosystem services, like insect pollination, flood control, recreation, educational opportunities, and sustainable livestock grazing in the face of growing human populations. The SRER is not only an excellent real-world laboratory for this, it is also a base from which to reach out and inform the public about land management issues.