Pairing Groundwater and Climate Data to Inform Sustainable Ranch Management in Uncertain Times

View the project final report

Commodities

• Animals: bovine, equine, goats
• Animal Products: meat

Practices

• Animal Production: feed/forage, rangeland/pasture management
• Crop Production: water management
• Education and Training: decision support system, extension, on-farm/ranch research, workshop

Ranchers and farmers in northeastern New Mexico have been, and will continue, to face urgent
challenges related to uncertain groundwater supplies and frequent drought. To address these
challenges, New Mexico State University has partnered with the High Plains Grasslands Alliance
(a collective of northeastern NM ranchers who have been working together since 2011), Zeigler
Geologic Consulting (ZGC), and Think Ubiquitous to incorporate scientific data into
management decision-making. The overarching research question being pursued through this
partnership is: How can groundwater and weather data be used to inform land managers
that are faced with making critical decisions that influence long-term sustainability and
operational profitability? The economic and ecological viability of ranch businesses is
inherently tied to long-term water availability, but research by ZGC since 2011 has shown that
many aquifers in northeastern NM are not recharging. Furthermore, drought is a persistent threat
to short- and long-term forage supplies. The Alliance has supported ZGC’s ongoing research
since 2014 through member participation and financial contributions toward regional data
collection. In addition, the Alliance has been working with NMSU since 2016 to collect detailed
weather data, in effort to elucidate better understanding of the local hydrologic cycle. Funding
from Western SARE will enable the member ranches of the Alliance to continue participating in
the collection of essential scientific data, provide the resources necessary for our science team to
facilitate comprehensive analysis of groundwater and weather data, and support the development
of a producer-oriented, web-based data access platform. The outcome of this project will be the
development and implementation of a user-friendly platform that will be used by producers to
access comprehensive hydrologic and climatic data which will assist them in making informed
decisions about key operational management practices such as stocking rates, grazing moves,
and drought planning.

The following objectives will support our goals of, 1) expanding key hydrological and climate
data collection, 2) developing a tool that provides land and livestock managers with easy access
to this data, and 3) integrating this data into management decision-making to improve farm and
ranch sustainability:
1. Develop a clear picture of local water table dynamics on producer lands: Continue measuring
static water levels; Integrate existing water level monitoring and supplemental highresolution
measurements to capture daily fluctuations; Integrate subsurface hydrogeology
data with regional geologic mapping to create educational materials.
2. Compile, analyze, and expand on climate data collection efforts from Decagon weather
stations installed on participating producers’ lands: Provide summaries of local and regional
climate data for individual properties as well as the region relevant to drought planning and
grazing management; Integrate climate and groundwater data for development of
comprehensive water resource management materials.
3. Develop, test, and refine a web-based tool for data input, management, visualization and
communication: Customize and field test features and functions to meet producer needs;
Develop animations/visualizations capable of conveying complex data relationships for
application in land and livestock decision-making