Fed-state-private partnership on Grand Canyon North Rim lands

Grand Canyon Trust, Arizona Game and Fish Department, Bureau of Land Management, Northern Arizona University, University of Arizona, U.S. Forest Service, and U.S. Geological Survey signed a Memorandum of Understanding, to form the Kane and Two Mile Research and Stewardship Partnership - "a collaborative group of scientists, livestock producers, and resource managers actively pursuing science-based solutions to the challenges facing this dramatic landscape," according to a news release from the USGS. [Right, Kanab Creek is the largest tributary of the Colorado River on the north side of the Grand Canyon. Credit: NAU Cline Library, Bill Belknap Collection, NAU.PH.96.4.80.16]

The Partnership has identified several key research initiatives designed to inform management across the 850,000 acres of private land, BLM, and USFS grazing leases that comprise the Kane and Two Mile ranches. "These include evaluating the sustainability and effects of various livestock management strategies, identifying key factors responsible for the spread of non-native species, developing methods for restoring semi-arid grasslands, and creating tools for monitoring environmental change – particularly the effects of climate and land- use change."