This map of rangelands of the world is a joint project of the Information & Education (I&E) and Remote Sensing & GIS committees of the Society for Range Management (SRM). The project was conducted by two professors from the Rangeland Ecology and Management Department at the University of Idaho, Karen Launchbaugh and Eva Strand, with input from the SRM I&E committee.

  • The map layers were created by the World Wildlife Fund's Conservation Science Program (CSP) to map and define terrestrial ecoregions.

  • The Terrestrial Ecoregions GIS Full Database can be downloaded from the World Wildlife Fund web site. This GIS database consists of 867 defined ecoregions.

  • Dr. Eva Strand combined all forested ecoregions into one category of "non-range" called "Forest."  Dr. Karen Launchbaugh examined each of the remaining ecoregions and assigned them to the following rangeland categories based on major plant growth forms:
       - Desert
       - Grassland
       - Shrubland
       - Wooldand and Savannah
       - Tundra

  • The final map was thus created though it is certainly not without interpretation and error. Suggestions and criticisms are invited by e-mail.

  • Download a high quality version of this map (19 Mb, .jpg)

  • Download a lower resolution version of this map (28 Kb, .jpg)