From range condition to rangeland health: new perspectives in the qualitative assessment of mediterranean grasslands

The qualitative assessment of the rangelands has been and still is one of the greatest challenges of Rangeland Science. As a result, efforts were made in the USA to explore the scientific means, theoretical and technical ones, to assess and classify rangelands into qualitative classes. In this way, managers are provided with a valuable tool to plan their actions, i.e. to temporally and spatially monitor and sustain range resources. This research aims at: i) introducing the concept of rangeland health in the Greek rangeland practice, as an evolution of the concept of the range condition, ii) defining the particular characteristics that must be taken into account for Mediterranean rangelands, and iii) to introduce a novel methodology in rangeland health assessment that will include these characteristics. The new approach was applied in the qualitative assessment and classification of grasslands in Lagadas county. It was found that four grasslands were in good, three in medium, and one in bad rangeland health.