What is Outcome Based Land Management?

A management strategy that focuses on achieving outcomes framed across landscapes that include ecological, economic, and social goals. Outcome-based land management approaches are aimed at maintaining viable and sustainable working landscapes that provide diverse goods and services.

• Built on collaboration among land owners, land managers and other willing and engaged partners in a specific area to accomplish mutually agreed upon goals, management plans, and monitoring approaches.
• Grounded on a foundation of scientific knowledge, credible evidence and local experience.
• Not a traditional, prescriptive management approach that assumes linear ecological succession, stable productivity and static economic conditions. Outcome-based management strives to describe and unite social, economic and ecological outcomes in a dynamic and highly variable environment.
• Occurs “at scales that matter.” Outcome-based land management focuses on activities and decisions at the scale of ranches, allotments, or conservation units because these are levels at which management decisions are made. Outcome-based management is also best when it occurs across landscapes and watersheds at scales relevant to wildlife, weeds, water, and wildfire. The spatial extent will vary depending on the challenges, resources, concerns, and people involved.
• Requires nimble and adaptive tactics by land managers and livestock operators to review seasonal and yearly changes, in addition to long-term trends, on the landscape, and adjust land management plans in a timely manner to better achieve desired outcomes. Greater flexibility to manage adaptively will also necessitate clear systems of accountability.
• Will rely on monitoring approaches that are appropriate and transparent to all land managers and stakeholders in a landscape.
• It is not about favoring one set of outcomes (social, economic, ecologic) over another. It is about sustainably managing for all agreed-upon outcomes.
• Should not impose or mandate new requirements on private lands. Outcome-based management will build on voluntary participation that benefits all who choose to be involved.