| Rangeland | Nonfederal | Bureau of Land Management | |||||||||
| condition | 1963 | 1977 | 1982 | 1987 | 1992 | 1936 | 1966 | 1975 | 1986 | 1999 | |
| percentage of rangeland acreage | |||||||||||
| Excellent | 5 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 5 | |
| Good | 15 | 28 | 30 | 30 | 34 | 14 | 17 | 15 | 30 | 30 | |
| Fair | 40 | 42 | 45 | 47 | 44 | 48 | 52 | 50 | 41 | 38 | |
| Poor | 40 | 18 | 16 | 14 | 15 | 36 | 30 | 33 | 18 | 12 | |
| Unclassified | na | na | 5 | 6 | 1 | na | na | na | na | 15 | |
Sources: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, National Resources Inventory (USDA, NRCS, Washington, DC, 1977, 1982, 1987, and 1992).
U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Public Land Statistics (DOI, BLM, Washington, DC, annual).
Notes: na = not available. Rangeland condition refers to the present state of the vegetation at a rangeland site in relation to the climax (natural potential) plant community for that site. It is expressed as the degree of similarity of present vegetation to the climax plant community: Excellent (equivalent to Potential Natural Community) = 76-100% similarity; Good (Late Seral) = 51-75% similarity; Fair (Mid Seral) = 26-50% similarity; and Poor (Early Seral) = 0-25% similarity. Unclassified includes rangeland for which data and estimates are not available, dry lakebeds, rock outcrops, and other areas for which data cannot be gathered. NRI is conducted every five years; data from the 1997 NRI are currently being revised. BLM data are updated annually to reflect new information and changes in rangeland condition classes. NRI and BLM data are not strictly comparable because of different survey methodologies.
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