Home – Kansas
Rangeland Production Lost to Tree Encroachment
Report updated November 10, 2023. See the changelog for details.
Rangeland Production Losses Map
Click any county on the map below to access its report.Rangeland Production Losses Plots
The plots below show herbaceous production lost to tree cover expansion on an annual (left) and cumulative (right) basis for years 1990 - 2022. The annual plot displays the same information as the map above. Rangeland production may increase when tree cover has declined due to disturbance or management.
Rangeland Production and Tree Cover Summary
Rangeland production in 2022 | 22,578,414 tons |
Rangeland production losses in 2022 | 968,908 tons (4.11%) |
Cumulative rangeland production losses since 1990 | 20,997,982 tons |
Tree cover in 2022 | 1,470,119 acres |
Tree cover change since 1990 | +988,133 acres |
Tree cover percent in 2022 | 6.76% |
Supporting Information
Tree encroachment is the most commonly used scientific term internationally to describe the increase of tree plants at the expense of herbaceous plants in grass-dominated ecosystems. We therefore use this term in this report, but we acknowledge the importance of local and regional terminology that may better contextualize this process in rangelands. Around the world, expansion, invasion, infill, encroachment, colonization, state transitions or regime shifts are used to characterize this biological process. Ultimately, this model characterizes production losses in rangelands due to increases in trees - irrespective of the regional distinctions used to describe the process.
Vegetation productivity is the most fundamental and important metric in rangelands and measuring losses in rangeland production to tree encroachment at multiple scales has been one of the major knowledge gaps in the rangeland discipline. Wildlife, livestock, and many ecosystem services rely on herbaceous production (i.e., the combined production of grasses and forbs) that is being displaced by tree encroachment.
The production loss statistics and figures presented in these reports are derived from the analysis in Herbaceous production lost to tree encroachment in United States rangelands. In this report, estimates of production losses are directly related to tree cover change based on a 1990 baseline, and changes are not the result of climatic or land use factors (which the analysis accounts for). In short, the values presented in these reports represent the difference between the production that would have been achievable given stable tree cover since 1990 vs. observed production estimated using a satellite-derived dataset. This is referred to as a yield gap, as depicted in the plot below.
Areas analyzed in these reports
These reports estimate rangeland production losses on lands that historically functioned as rangelands. Within historical rangelands, areas heavily modified by row-crop agriculture and the built environment are excluded. We provide additional information regarding rangeland classification below. Report statistics include:
- Total area: The total area of the state or county covered by the report.
- Analysis area: The land area used to generate the data found in this report. All land cover classes were included in this analysis except lands labeled as 1) "cultivated" in the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Cropland Data Layers, 2) "developed" in the 2016 National Land Cover Database (NLCD), and 3) "historically forested" in the LANDFIRE Biophysical Settings (BpS).
- Area excluded from analysis: The land area removed from this analysis. Specifically, this is the total area labeled as 1) cultivated (NASS), 2) developed (NLCD), and 3) historically forested (BpS).
Analysis area summary for Kansas
Analysis area map for Kansas
Supplemental data resources:
- View tree cover data in the Rangeland Analysis Platform web application.
- Download the data table used to produce this report.
Supplemental information about tree encroachment on rangelands:
- Read the manuscript that describes the modeling process for these reports.
- Learn new guidance on how to better manage tree encroachment and reduce the risk and vulnerability to rangeland production.
- Learn more about the NRCS Working Lands for Wildlife strategy on Woodland Expansion in the Great Plains and Sagebrush biomes.
2023-11-10: Major model revision to incorporate data from the Rangeland Analysis Platform V3, ensuring reports are up-to-date through 2022. Included in this update is a revised land use mask from NLCD 2021, resulting in a slight reduction of the analyzed acreage due to ongoing agricultural conversion. Consequently, this revision may cause discrepancies in production loss estimates compared to the original reports, affecting data even from years prior to 2020. Please note that the 2022 data is provisional and subject to refinement in future updates.
Report generated on 2023-11-10.