Includes IB ST-2002-106
Since December 1982, ecological site inventory (ESI) has been the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) standard vegetation inventory technique. The ecological site inventory method involves the use of soils information to map ecological sites and plant communities and the collection of natural resource and vegetation attributes. The sampling data from each of these soil-vegetation units, referred to as site write-up areas (SWAs), become the baseline data for natural resource management and planning.
The purpose of Technical Reference 1734-7, Ecological Site Inventory, is to identify the procedures for completing an ecological site inventory and to describe the technique used by the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) to document and describe ecological sites. These procedures were derived from the NRCS Rangeland Ecological Site Inventory procedure as described in their National Range and Pasture Handbook. Information was also adapted from the NRCS National Soils Handbook and BLM Technical Reference 1737-7, Procedures for Ecological Site Inventory—With Special Reference to Riparian-Wetland Sites. Technical Reference 1734-7 replaces previous guidance found in BLM Manual Handbook 4410-1.
The need for natural resource inventories are mandated by Congress in Section 201(a) of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) of 1976. Congress reaffirmed this need in Section 4 of the Public Rangelands Improvement Act (PRIA) of 1978—in particular, to develop and maintain an inventory of range conditions and trends on public rangelands, and to keep that inventory updated on a regular basis.