Co-creating a social-ecological research agenda for rangelands

The term "social-ecological systems" can be intimidating. Yet any ecosystem managed to produce both products and services for people is a social-ecological system. So it’s no surprise that when Usable Science for Sustainable Rangelands workshop participants sought to craft a socio-economic research agenda, it was really a social-ecological systems agenda. Our group of academics and ranchers developed a broad agenda – each research “question” could sustain a career-long research program. Questions centered on the challenge of sustaining human communities and providing sound stewardship in increasingly variable environments, and on improving flows of information needed to meet those challenges.