Knowledge derived from grazing lands assessment programs provides the foundation for the development of conservation policy and informs local, regional, and national entities on benefits associated with investments in conservation and land management.

Conservation Effects Assessment Project – Grazing Lands provides a baseline for informing decision-makers at all levels of the impacts and potential values of conservation practice application.

Comprehensive assessment at multiple scales provides opportunities for understanding the impacts of land management and conservation programs on approximately 600 million acres of grazing lands in the United States.

Large patches of dry conifer forests have burned as high intensity crown fire, threatening life, property and natural resources.

Conservation practices such as mechanical thinning can reduce crown fire potential while promoting other benefits such as restoring forest heterogeneity, reducing post-fire erosion risk, and improving wildlife habitat.

We report on a pilot study to apply landscape-scale effects modeling in the Colorado Front Range as a potential framework for forestlands CEAP.

Spatially explicit estimates of conservation benefits to multiple resources provide a quantitative means to evaluate competing projects and to prioritize conservation outreach.

Maximizing efficiency and effectiveness of limited resources to conserve America's vast western grazing lands requires a science-based approach.

Working Lands for Wildlife, USDA's approach for conserving America's working lands, co-produces scientific tools and quantifies outcomes that help guide future implementation and improve delivery.

Quantifying outcomes in conservation provides accountability for investments, and illustrates to readers the role of science in working lands conservation.

Together, diverse partners continue expanding into new technologies to further enhance the productivity, profitability, and sustainability of valuable grazing lands.

The use of science to inform conservation practices is limited by broad generalities generated from limited sampling alongside narrow ecosystem service perspectives.

Collaborative science approaches featuring “social-ecological system” perspectives are being used as a means to improve the utility of science.

We review our approach to collaborative science to improve brush management outcomes in rangelands in the Chihuahuan Desert.

Expanding the use and utility of collaborative science requires stable support via targeted funding and technical expertise, as well as web-based tools and mobile applications that link specific locations to science information and conservation practice guidelines.

The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) is responsible for assessing and reporting on the effects of conservation practices provided through Farm Bill programs.

Effects on resources, economics, and production capacity are assessed statistically through a combination of modeling, direct measurement, benefit transfer, and producer surveys.

Results from CEAP-Grazing Land projects help guide NRCS conservation planning and policy, and provide grazing land managers with additional resources for successful management of their soil, water, air, plant, animal, and economic resources.

A summary of projects and project status is provided.