Land System Vulnerability and Resilience to Drought: A Multi-Scalar, Comparative Analysis of Public and Private Lands in the American West

农业推动环境变化。不能有效管理土地的土地所有者可能会在生产方面遭受巨大损失，特别是在面临环境变化的情况下。随着时间的推移，干旱会进一步降低农业产量，使农民越来越容易受到变化的影响。俄克拉荷马州的西马伦县和新墨西哥州的联合县就是这种情况。这两个地方都是全国重要的牛和农业生产者。然而，干旱、不断变化的牛和农业市场、政府政策以及与本地草竞争的入侵植物威胁着牛、农业生产和其他土地利用。自2000年以来，该地区一直经历着“极端”（D3）到“异常”（D4）的干旱。这是可能出现的最严重的干旱类型。土地管理者不得不做出越来越困难的土地使用决定，以维持生产，养活他们的家庭，以及其他国家。本研究探讨在这种极端的环境条件下，土地使用者如何回应和反弹。该研究将采用混合方法，包括调查、观察、焦点小组和口述历史，以了解西马隆县和联合县的农民和牧场主目前正在发生的事情。研究人员还将开发一个地理信息系统（GIS）数据库，其中包含历史和人口普查数据，以便绘制出土地利用如何随时间变化，以及这些变化如何影响农民家庭。研究小组将包括研究生来协助这项研究。此外，40名本科生也将有机会在该地区进行实地考察，并研究土地利用的变化。面对日益恶劣的环境条件，土地使用者必须变得更有弹性。这项研究将着眼于哪些土地使用者会变得脆弱，以及他们为什么和何时会遭受生计质量的损失或下降。同样，该研究还将研究土地使用者如何适应极端干旱条件，以及哪些因素使一些土地使用者比其他土地使用者更不容易受到伤害。结果将揭示土地使用者变得更有弹性或能够反弹的方式。鉴于这种干旱情况预计将持续下去，该项目将产生有用和及时的调查结果。研究结果将提供给当地的土地使用者、政策制定者和研究人员。用户友好的结果将传播给俄克拉何马州和新墨西哥州的当地社区和决策者。该团队创建的土地地图副本将与当地县评估办公室共享。

Agriculture drives environmental change. Landowners who do not manage their land effectively may experience large losses in production, especially in the face of environmental change. Drought over time decreases agricultural production even more, making farmers increasingly vulnerable to change. Such is the case in Oklahoma's Cimarron County and New Mexico's Union County. Both locations are nationally important cattle and agricultural producers. Yet, drought, changing cattle and agricultural markets, governmental policies, and invasive plants that compete with native grasses threaten cattle and agricultural production and other land use. Since 2000, the region has been experiencing an "extreme" (D3) to "exceptional" (D4) drought. These are the most severe categories of droughts possible. Land managers have to make increasingly difficult land use decisions in order to sustain production, and to feed their families, as well as the rest of the country. This study explores how land users' respond and rebound under such extreme environmental conditions. The study will use a mixed methods approach including surveys, observations, focus groups and oral histories to understand what is currently happening to farmers and ranchers in Cimarron County and Union County. Researchers will also develop a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) database with historical and census data to map out how land uses change over time, and how these changes impact farm families. The research team will include graduate students to help with the study. In addition, forty undergraduate students will also get the opportunity to experience fieldwork in the region and to study land use changes too. Land users must become more resilient when facing increasingly harsh environmental conditions. The study will look at which land users become vulnerable, as well as why and when they are subject to a loss of or decrease in the quality of their livelihoods. Likewise, the study will also look at how land users adapt to extreme drought conditions and what factors make some land users less vulnerable than others. Results will reveal the ways in which land users become more resilient or able to bounce back. Given that such drought conditions are expected to continue, the project will create usable and timely findings. The study results will be given out to local land users, policymakers, and researchers. User-friendly results will be disseminated to local communities and policy makers in Oklahoma and New Mexico. Copies of the land maps created by the team will be shared with the local County Assessors Offices.