Direct impacts of drought on rangelands include reduced rangeland productivity, increased fire hazard, reduced water levels, and increased livestock mortality. However, range managers can make management decisions before, during, and after drought that lessen the impacts of drought when it does occur.

Careful attention to precipitation patterns, soil moisture conditions, and plant stress levels can provide insight into drought conditions. Developing advance contingency plans during the "good" years helps managers prepare for the "bad" years. Proactive planning also prepares ranch managers to better handle the damaging effects of drought when it occurs.

The focus of this learning module is how landowners can prepare for drought, weather drought conditions, and can best manage lands to recover from drought.

Module Overview

1. What is drought? In this first unit, you will become familiar with the various definitions of drought and how what constitutes drought varies from place to place.

2. What causes drought? In this unit, you will be given a basic background in climatology and an introduction into the factors that contribute to the occurrence of drought.

3. Impacts of drought on rangelands. This unit describes how drought abnd water stress plant processes. The effects of the intensity, frequency, and timing of grazing on range production are also described.

4. Protecting rangelands prior to drought. This unit describes grazing management practices and guidelines to ensxure soil protection and sustainable forage production each year.

5. Signs & symptoms of drought conditons. This unit introduces ways to identify drought conditions so that management action can be taken before range conditions are severely degraded. Tools including daily rainfall monitoring, simple soil moisture tests, and vegetation monitoring techniques are described.

6. Managing range under drought conditions. This unit introduces a variety of range management principles including monitoring key forage species, providing accessible water and emergency forage, and destocking practices.

7. Managing range following drought.  This unit covers range-preserving techniques including resting pastures following drought, deferring grazing, and using pastures when the least desirable species are green.

8. Fore more information. Module references and additional resources are provided.

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