USDA Rangeland Research Program

Rangelands — the grasslands, shrublands, and open lands that can't be farmed but support grazing — cover roughly 60 percent of the United States. They are the foundation of the American beef and sheep industries, provide critical habitat for wildlife, and serve as massive carbon sinks and watershed protection systems. Yet despite their enormous footprint, federal rangeland research has historically been underfunded relative to cropland research. For the federal conservation programs that pay ranchers to improve these lands, see farm conservation programs. 7 U.S.C. §§ 3331–3336 authorizes a dedicated USDA rangeland research and grant program — authorized at $2,000,000 per year (fiscal years 2014–2023) — to improve how these lands are managed, measured, and restored.

The program coordinates with the Renewable Resources Extension Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. §§ 1671 et seq.), which funds rangeland extension education, and includes a specific partnership with the Joe Skeen Institute for Rangeland Restoration — a research center named for the longtime New Mexico Congressman who championed rangeland science.

Current Law (2026)

Key Numbers

• Rangeland extent: approximately 800 million acres of U.S. land are classified as rangelands — roughly 60% of the total land area; approximately 500 million acres are non-federal private rangeland (primarily in the West); BLM manages approximately 155 million acres of public rangeland, the Forest Service approximately 100 million acres
• Beef production: approximately 40% of U.S. beef cattle graze on rangelands for some portion of their lives; western range-based cattle production accounts for roughly $10-15 billion/year in farm-gate value — rangelands are the economic foundation of the western beef industry
• Cheatgrass invasion: cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) has invaded approximately 60 million acres of Great Basin rangelands; it increases wildfire frequency from roughly once every 60-100 years (historical) to once every 3-5 years, destroying native perennial grass communities and reducing forage productivity by 60-90%
• Drought impact: the 2020-2023 western drought forced approximately 15-20% of western cattle producers to reduce herds; an estimated 1.5-2 million head of cattle were sold off rangelands prematurely due to inadequate forage; rebuilding breeding herds after drought takes 3-5 years
• Carbon storage: western rangelands sequester approximately 200-300 million tons of CO₂ equivalent per year in soil organic carbon (USDA ARS estimates), making them a significant — and underrecognized — natural carbon sink
• Funding gap: the program's congressional authorization was $2 million/year (FY2014-2023), down from $10 million/year previously — approximately $5-8 per head of range cattle; by comparison, USDA's crop research programs receive orders of magnitude more funding per dollar of production value

Legal Authority

• 7 U.S.C. § 3331 — Congressional statement of purpose (rangelands cover 60% of U.S.; support livestock, wildlife, and watershed functions; research needed to increase productivity and improve management)
• 7 U.S.C. § 3332 — Program development (Secretary sets up joint rangeland research program with Renewable Resources Extension Act programs; goals include improving native and introduced forage production, range technology, grazing nutrition, rangeland watersheds, and wildlife habitat on rangelands)
• 7 U.S.C. § 3333 — Rangeland research grants (competitive grants to land-grant colleges, experiment stations, universities, federal labs, and the Joe Skeen Institute for Rangeland Restoration)
• 7 U.S.C. § 3336 — Authorization of appropriations ($10M/year FY1991–2013; $2M/year FY2014–2023; funds distributed to eligible institutions for jointly agreed programs)

How It Works

What Rangeland Research Covers

The statute lists the research priorities: improving production and quality of native forages and introduced species that can be established on rangelands; developing better range management technology; understanding grazing animal nutrition in range conditions; studying rangeland watershed hydrology; and improving wildlife habitat quality on rangelands. This broad mandate reflects the multiple overlapping uses of rangeland — livestock production, wildlife habitat, watershed protection, and recreation all compete and interact on the same land base.

Rangeland research is fundamentally different from cropland research. You can't run a controlled experiment in a rain-fed lab for forage grasses that depend on variable precipitation, complex soils, and seasonal grazing patterns across millions of acres. Long-term field studies on actual ranches and public lands are essential, which makes rangeland research expensive and slow to produce results.

The Joe Skeen Institute Partnership

The Joe Skeen Institute for Rangeland Restoration at New Mexico State University is specifically named as an eligible grant recipient — reflecting the political importance of New Mexico rangeland to the program's congressional champions. The Institute focuses specifically on rangeland restoration: reestablishing native plant communities on degraded rangelands, developing methods to control invasive species like cheatgrass that displace native perennial grasses, and studying the economics and ecology of rangeland health transitions.

Coordination with Extension

The joint program structure with the Renewable Resources Extension Act means rangeland research results flow to the field through the extension network — county agents and range management specialists who work directly with ranchers and public land managers. Research without extension is science without application; the joint structure ensures findings reach the people making on-the-ground management decisions.

How It Affects You

If you're a rancher or livestock producer on rangeland: The research program funds the science behind two practical things that determine your operation's viability — forage production and drought resilience. Grazing management frameworks your county range specialist recommends (rotational grazing, rest-rotation, stocking rate adjustments) are grounded in decades of research supported by this program and ARS. The cheatgrass problem directly threatens your carrying capacity: cheatgrass-invaded rangeland produces 60-90% less forage than intact native-grass rangeland and cycles through fire every 3-5 years instead of 60-100, progressively destroying the perennial grass communities that sustain a viable operation. New revegetation protocols from ARS and the Joe Skeen Institute are the most practical tool available for recovering post-fire rangeland — contact your state's land-grant extension range specialist (find them through your state's land-grant university) to find out what methods are validated for your rangeland type and precipitation zone.

If you manage BLM or Forest Service grazing allotments: Rangeland research informs the scientific basis for grazing permit renewals, stocking rate decisions, and rangeland health determinations that affect your allotment. The BLM's Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring (AIM) strategy and the National Resources Inventory draw on rangeland science funded by USDA and partner programs. When a grazing permit renewal involves contested science — what's the baseline forage productivity? What's the correct stocking rate given recent drought? Is the rangeland improving or declining? — the federal research literature provides the methodological foundation that both agency decision-makers and appellants cite. Understanding the research literature specific to your allotment's rangeland type is practically useful in permit negotiations and administrative appeals.

If you live downstream of western rangelands and depend on river or groundwater: Rangeland watershed research is directly relevant to water supply quantity and quality. How rangelands are managed — stocking rates, vegetation cover, soil health, erosion control — determines how much precipitation infiltrates into soil (recharging groundwater and streams) versus runs off as erosion and sediment. Degraded rangelands with compacted soils or cheatgrass monocultures yield more runoff, more sediment, and lower water quality than healthy native-grass rangelands. For irrigators, municipalities, and hydroelectric operators in the West, rangeland health upstream directly affects water delivery reliability and downstream treatment costs — degraded rangelands increase sediment loads and treatment costs measurably.

If you're interested in western rangeland carbon markets: The emerging rangeland carbon offset market — where ranchers receive payments for carbon sequestered through improved grazing management — depends on the same science this program funds. Carbon offset protocols (developed by Verra, the American Carbon Registry, and others) require validated soil carbon measurement methods and modeling frameworks that come from USDA ARS and university rangeland research. The accuracy and market credibility of rangeland carbon credits depends entirely on this research infrastructure. For ranchers considering carbon market participation, understanding which measurement protocols are scientifically validated versus experimental requires knowing what the research actually says — your state's rangeland extension specialist and the USDA ARS rangeland lab serving your region are the authoritative sources.

State Variations

Rangeland research is federally funded but delivered through state land-grant universities and experiment stations. Each state's program reflects its specific rangeland type — desert grasslands in Arizona and New Mexico, mixed-grass prairies in the Dakotas, sagebrush steppe in Nevada and Idaho, and oak woodlands in California. The Joe Skeen Institute specifically serves the Chihuahuan Desert and Southwestern rangelands.

Pending Legislation

The 2025 Farm Bill (pending as of April 2026) is expected to address rangeland research reauthorization (expired FY2023) and may increase funding given growing concerns about rangeland degradation from drought, invasive species, and wildfire. The western drought and its impacts on ranching communities created political momentum for rangeland science investment.

Recent Developments

Farm Bill reauthorization is the primary policy moment. The rangeland research program's authorization expired after FY2023; Congress has been operating on continuing resolutions, and the program is running under prior-year funding levels while the 2025 Farm Bill remains in negotiation. Western-state members have been pushing for a rangeland research title that increases funding given years of drought, wildfire, and invasive species damage. The political context is favorable: drought-forced herd liquidations in 2020-2023 generated constituent pressure, and the cheatgrass/wildfire cycle in the Great Basin has become a high-profile crisis that congressional staff can see in satellite imagery. Whether the Farm Bill restores the program to $10 million/year (the pre-2014 level) or increases it further is the key legislative question.

Cheatgrass and post-fire recovery research has become the most urgent applied priority. The 2020-2023 wildfire seasons burned millions of acres of productive Great Basin and Intermountain West rangeland, driven partly by cheatgrass-accelerated fire cycles. USDA ARS researchers have been developing and testing revegetation protocols — combinations of native seed mixes, soil microbiome treatments, targeted pre-emergent herbicide applications, and grazing rest periods — designed to help native perennial grasses outcompete cheatgrass recolonization after fire. The challenge is that cheatgrass germinates earlier and faster than most native grasses, making the first 2-3 post-fire years critical. The Joe Skeen Institute for Rangeland Restoration at New Mexico State is specifically focused on this applied restoration challenge in the Chihuahuan Desert and Southwest.

Climate-driven aridification is changing the planning horizon. USDA's climate projections for the western U.S. show long-term precipitation decline and rising temperatures across most rangeland areas, increasing evapotranspiration stress. This means the forage production baseline on which historical stocking rates were calculated is shifting downward structurally — ranchers need to plan for lower carrying capacity as a new normal, not just as a drought cycle to survive. Developing rangeland management strategies for permanent aridification (adaptive stocking, expanded drought trigger systems, brush encroachment management as precipitation zones shift) is an active research and extension priority that requires the long-term field data that this research program funds.