by Owen Hablutzel
Landscape Function Management is not only the name of our company but is at the same time the key method or approach we use to enhance life, ensure profitability, ecosystem vitality and a host of other benefits for our clients.
So what’s in a name? Let’s break it down a bit further.
The term Landscape in Landscape Function Management refers foremost to “areas of interconnected ecosystems.” (Tongway & Ludwig, 2011) Where communities of organisms interact with one another and their physical environment we have an ecosystem. Where different kinds of ecosystems link up—a wetland meadow downslope of a perennial grassland—the landscape is that area including both.
Source: Owen Hablutzel
People often think of a ‘landscape’ as some wide natural vista in an oil painting or postcard, but it is important for us to recognize that landscapes exist at many scales, all at once. There are landscapes at very tiny scales (the soil micro-environment underfoot), along with the familiar human scale (a typical ranch property) and also at very large scales (entire grassland biome). So when we talk about managing Landscape Function effectively we benefit from attention to several scales of the ‘Landscape.’
Next, although every client manages a landscape unique to their context a human dimension will always be a key element. This cannot be overlooked. As a critical component of the landscapes we manage our human decisions and activities inevitably influence the function and health of those landscapes. The proven human capacity to influence the functioning of their landscapes is the fundamental opportunity and basis for our approach.
So a Landscape may include more-or-less the ‘whole enchilada’ of what you are directly managing and influencing. Well then, what about Function? What does the word mean to Landscape Function Managers?
To get a quick sense of this just think about what is happening in a landscape when it is fully “functioning.” Energy, water and nutrient enter the landscape. They are welcomed, encouraged to stick around. They are repeatedly cycled and put into productive working modes. All of this provides increasing opportunities over time for a growing number of other populations of living organisms (plants, animals, fungi, micro-organisms). A landscape that is truly functioning well is one we can sense is healthy and can be measured to be reliably performing near the top of its bio-physical capacity.
We can think about Landscape Function for any given landscape as existing along a spectrum, ranging from “fully functional” to “totally dysfunctional.” (Tongway & Hindley, 2004) The more fully functional our landscapes, the better their performance, the more likely our own quality of living within that landscape is also at its best—high levels of material, economic, cultural and spiritual well-being.
Within our landscapes humans are the decisive elements. As a keystone species we possess the capacity to strongly influence basic ecosystem processes in a direction able to deliver high-performing Landscape Function. For this reason Management of landscape function becomes the key activity that delivers a multitude of cascading desirable benefits for us.
For our clients and our team at Landscape Function Management the word Management is very strongly a verb. This means movement, action, direct involvement--not only hard thinking or planning but also the hard work of taking actions in a hands-on way (remembering the Latin root of the word ‘manage’ is manus, meaning hand ).
To manage Landscape Function requires effectively managing the essential ecosystem processes of the land (flows of water, energy and nutrient as well as biodiversity). The actions and interactions of these manageable and measurable processes provide us with the Landscape Function we need to support a truly regenerative agricultural operation.
It is our mission at Landscape Function Management to work with producers to implement management for consistently improving Landscape Function on the landscapes they manage. Our reliable methods ensure the best results. We have the process down to a science--both proven and profitable—that will work in your environment.
Our unique package of management methods guarantees regenerative success through a unique blend of attention and emphases on several crucial variables:
- Animals---genetics/adapted phenotypes/selection & breeding
- Infrastructure design---cost-sensitive fencing & water layouts that support optimum/high-density grazing & proper plant recovery time
- Low-Risk profile---lowering input costs, increasing reliable profitability, enacting no-risk experimental trials & amplifying every success
- Monitoring critical feedback guideposts---BCS, gut-fill & dung-scores… & Soil surface monitoring for key Landscape Function indicators
Managing this living dashboard of key interrelated variables with dedication and consistent attention will rapidly provide the Landscape Function and high level of performance we need to achieve reliable profits, human well-being and overall health of our land and our animals. These, in turn, are key indicators of every strongly regenerative landscape, regenerative business and way-of-life.