Our Vision 

Open Range Consulting develops innovative, patented rangeland assessment technologies grounded in more than 40 years of hands-on land management experience. By integrating practical field knowledge with advanced remote sensing and geospatial technologies, we have a unique advantage in producing highly accurate land-cover maps that are directly relevant to on-the-ground management decisions.

Rangelands cover approximately 50% of Earth’s terrestrial surface, yet they have historically been difficult to measure at meaningful scales. Their inherent variability, complex plant communities, and strong dependence on annual climatic conditions have limited the usefulness of traditional assessment methods.

Over the past 25 years, advances in remotely sensed imagery, precision GPS, and computing hardware and software have enabled us to develop relevant information that provides context for managers as it relates to rangeland conditions across the western United States. We begin with highly accurate 1-meter resolution maps (r2 between .7-.9) that can be scaled to entire watersheds and compared across time to evaluate current, historical and future conditions. This combined spatial and temporal insight allows land managers to know current conditions understand what has changed on the landscape, where it has changed, and by how much, helping make plans, evaluate plans and distinguish between climate-driven and management-driven change.

Using these technologies, we have mapped more than 60 million acres across the American West—including high-elevation rangelands, grass-dominated prairies, Southwestern deserts, California annual grasslands, and the Great Basin sagebrush biome. Our clients include land management agencies, private landowners, and conservation NGOs.

Our land-cover mapping technologies support a wide range of applications, including: 

  • Assessing current land condition relative to site potential

  • Assessing carbon and water cycle function

  • Mapping weed presence, origins, spread risk, and treatment effectiveness

  • Evaluating tree cover expansion, treatment outcomes, volume estimates, fuel loads, watershed potential

  • Assessing habitat conditions for sensitive species

  • Quantifying riparian condition and change over time

To further support decision-making, we have developed an interactive analytical platform that allows managers to query data, perform customized analyses, and automatically generate written reports summarizing findings and management implications.