Rangeland restoration and the RAD framework at Capitol Reef National Park

By Kaylin Thomas, NPS Climate Change Response Program, 2024

Monitoring vegetation in Capitol Reef National Park helps track climate change-driven shifts in composition and diversity of species as a result of climate change and rehabilitation after grazing. NPS

At Capitol Reef National Park in southern Utah, staff are applying the RAD framework in cattle grazing allotments in the Upper South Desert area and an active allotment in the southern portion of the park. Two allotments were designated in the Upper South Desert when the park was established in 1971, and the impacts of livestock grazing and climate change on the grass-shrubland ecosystems have manifested in decreased soil condition, species loss, and increased abundance of invasive plants. Capitol Reef National Park stewardship here focuses on ecosystem restoration in response to land use impacts, as well as a forward-looking approach to ongoing and anticipated climate change impacts.

Most of the retired grazing allotment area in the Upper South Desert is healthy; native species are dense and diverse, nonnative vegetation is largely absent, and the earth is blanketed by biological soil crust, which provides essential nutrients and water for vascular plants as well as resistance against erosion. Park managers can comfortably accept autonomous dynamics in these areas while continuing to monitor ecosystem conditions and processes.

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Click here to learn more about the RAD framework

Park managers today face growing challenges. As climate change interacts with other stressors such as land use change, increases in visitation, pollution, and nonnative species, ecosystems and park infrastructure are changing beyond the bounds of historical variability. These changes are increasingly difficult to resist. Thus, managers are thinking more broadly about how to effectively conserve resources in this rapidly changing world. In this context, the **resist–accept–direct (RAD) framework **helps decision makers make informed, purposeful, and strategic choices. This tool is simple and flexible, complements other important climate change adaptation approaches, and applies to a wide range of decisions that managers must make as they steward transforming environments.

Understanding the RAD Framework

The RAD framework consists of three strategies:

• Resist: Working to maintain existing conditions or slow the rate of change based upon historical or acceptable current ecosystem conditions. This often involves direct interventions to counteract environmental changes.
• Accept: Allowing the system to change without intervention.
• Direct: Actively steering changes toward desired outcomes, which may involve redesigning or repurposing systems to function under new conditions.

Where this belongs

• Capitol Reef National Park

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