title: State of knowledge about energy development impacts on North American rangelands: An integrative approach.
abstract: To reduce dependence on foreign oil reserves, there has been a push in North America to develop alternative domestic energy resources. Relatively undeveloped renewable energy resources include biofuels and wind and solar energy, many of which occur predominantly on rangelands. Rangelands are also key areas for natural gas development from shales and tight sand formations. Accordingly, policies aimed at greater energy independence are likely to affect the delivery of crucial ecosystem services provided by rangelands. Assessing and dealing with the biophysical and socio-economic effects of energy development on rangeland ecosystems require an integrative and systematic approach that is predicated on a broad understanding of diverse issues related to energy development. In this article, we present a road map for developing an integrative assessment of energy development on rangelands in North America. We summarize current knowledge of socio-economic and biophysical aspects of rangeland based energy development, and we identify knowledge gaps and monitoring indicators to fill these knowledge gaps.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Ecosystem Science and Management, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA. Electronic address: urs@tamu.edu.
authors.forename: Urs P
authors.initials: UP
authors.lastname: Kreuter
authors.affiliation: Semiarid Prairie Agric. Research Centre, Agric. and Agri-Food Canada, Swift Current, Saskatchewan, Canada.
authors.forename: Alan D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Iwaasa
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Sociology, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Gene L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Theodori
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Ecosystem Science and Management, Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Vernon, TX, USA.
authors.forename: R James
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Ansley
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Earth System Science, Woods Institute for the Environment and Precourt Institute for Energy, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Robert B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.affiliation: Biological Sciences, Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: Lauchlan H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Fraser
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: M Anne
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Naeth
authors.affiliation: Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: McGillivray
authors.affiliation: Colegio de Postgraduados-Botánica, Campus Montecillo, 56230, Texcoco, Estado de México, Mexico.
authors.forename: Edmundo Garcia
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Moya
mesh_terms: D002170:Canada; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D017753:Ecosystem; D004777:Environment; D052918:Environmental Restoration and Remediation / Q000379:methods; D065948:Grassland; D008800:Mexico; D059206:Natural Gas; D009656:North America; D059205:Renewable Energy; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D012993:Solar Energy; D014919:Wind
chemical_list: D059206:Natural Gas
keywords: Biofuels; Hydraulic fracturing; Land use change; Oil and gas; Rangeland restoration; Wind energy