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We continually hear that we are now living in a "Changing Time." There is no doubt that conditions are different than they were in the past. The direction of the perceived change is infl uenced by an individual's bias and beliefs. The rangelands are in better condition. The rangelands are in worse condition. The climate is drier than in the past. The climate is hotter than in the past. We know how to take care of the natural resources. We are ruining our natural resources. These may all be true depending upon where you live, your perspective, and your desires.There are some things that are defi nitely changing. A signifi cant portion of the area that used to be classifi ed as rangelands is being converted to suburban or ranchette living. Ranches are being used as hobby or part-time enterprises. More people that do not live on the rangelands want a say in how to manage them.The rangelands of the US, especially in the West, have long been the last frontier. You could go out and with a relatively low investment carve out a life. There is no doubt that many of the early settlers did not know how to use the land in a manner that permitted long-term sustainability. It was recognized early on that some of the lands needed to be controlled and managed in the public interest. This resulted in the formation of the US Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. Their early task was to manage the land in a sustainable usage manner with livestock grazing and logging and, in some areas, mining, all recognized as permitted uses. There were a few people that used the land for recreation, ie, hunting, fi shing, hiking, and camping.Times have changed. There is increasing pressure to limit livestock grazing, mining, and logging on the public lands. Large blocks of land are being set aside in a "Wilderness" classification that limits the use of the areas. There is increasing pressure to manage public lands for recreational use, especially near large urban localities. The potential disturbance to the natural resources, water, and soil from recreational activities in some places can be more signifi cant than was experienced in the past from livestock grazing, especially in riparian settings. The use of our rangelands has changed. The weekend camper, hiker, fi sherman, and hunter are changing the rangeland resources in a manner that could not be envisioned 10 to 20 years ago. The number of people who want to use the land for these activities grows every year. As a result, the public land management agencies have to place more and more resources, manpower, and money on recreational activities.With this issue's theme of "Recreation" we are presenting some papers that refl ect some of the changes that are occurring in management of rangelands and how they might affect your perspective of rangelands. Again, we are probably "preaching to the choir." We need to get the message out to our "suburban" neighbors.Many of our public land agencies are experiencing downsizing with respect to personnel available to manage the land. Yet the wor...

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Water-the essence of life. Without it, we cannot survive. The experts tell us that in much of the West, we have gone through a drought period of 3-5 years and maybe even longer in some areas. Will it continue? This, we do not know. Even in periods of drought, there can be too much water. In many instances, the water that we do get as precipitation is not distributed uniformly over the land, or else, it comes all at one time. As I write, I am listening to the news of massive amounts of rain and snow in California and Nevada. Another problem is that we sometimes have a short memory. All too frequently, we forget during the periods of adequate water how to cope with limited water supplies in other times. Some of our readers can probably remember the drought of the 1930s, the "Dust Bowl" years. That is before my time. I do remember the dry years of the 1950s. As a rancher or resource manager, it is very disheartening to look out across the land and see very little evidence of growing plants and to look at the sky and see no signs of moisture. If this continues over a large area for several years, we call it a drought. It makes the national news. Legislators spend time and money to "solve" the problem. As soon as it starts raining, the problem vanishes from the public's eye. That does not mean that we have solved the problem. History tells us that it will happen again. What does all this mean? To ensure that our rangeland resources are viable over a long term, we must always keep in mind that there will be periods of drought that reduce the plant resources. We must try to anticipate what the next year will bring. Many range plants have developed over a long period of time, which means that they have experienced droughts. Yet they have survived. This means that, even in good years, we must manage the rangelands resources on a conservative basis. Instead of saving for a "rainy" day, manage the resources so you can withstand a "dry" day. I have spent a career studying rangeland water management in semiarid and arid regions. One thing that I have learned is that there have been periods in the past when drought was much more severe than anything we have experienced in recent times. Viable civilizations have vanished when extended droughts occurred. Could these civilizations have survived if there had been a better understanding of how to manage the natural resources in times of limited water resources? I would like to think so. One thing I am sure of, droughts will occur in the future. Even in good years, there are usually areas where the rains are scarce. This issue of Rangelands has "Water and Drought" as its theme. There are several articles that show the impact of drought on rangeland management and also how to efficiently use water when it is limited. Let us not forget…