Ranchers, WSE, and YERC team up to monitor land health diagnostics

Photo Credit: USDA NRCS Texas Flickr

In partnership with Western Sustainability Exchange (WSE), YERC staff members Roby Roberts and Colter Fretwell have been working on developing the Land Heath Dashboard with WSE staff. The Land Health Dashboard is very similar to the RiverNET app in that it is designed for community members, especially ranchers, to access, and engage with land health metrics called 'diagnostics'. These key measurements on ranchlands include soil, plant, and animal metrics that can be used to gauge land health across time and make smart decisions. This data helps producers increase their profit margins by tracking regenerative agriculture practices leading to sustainable and improved production. 

The data accessible on the platform is sourced from soil monitoring stations, soil moisture probes, drones, and citizens with a cell phone (like you!). This program is of particular interest to ranchers, who can easily log, track, and display data regarding grazing, vegetation health, soil properties, and more. Roby and Colter have recently been focused on doing some behind the scenes work to make the application run more smoothly, and to make it scalable for future expansions with WSE.