Table 1 Indicators, or signs, used by expert herders to evaluate rangeland condition and inform folk management decisions (only indicators with majority agreement among elders (>3) or appeared in verification interviews are shown)

Forage/vegetation

Key forage species (including increasers/decreasers)

Identifies trends in the presence/absence and/or relative abundance of important fodder species for livestock.

“It is the best for cows, opareshi, irikarro, and emunuwa, as well as empalakai”…“These are the best for us as Maasai.”

“A new plant has come here, it is called orkikoi. The shoats graze it, but it is increasing.”

Grass height

A qualitative estimate of relative grass height, often clumped categorically: this includes identifiers such as ‘touchable’ (accessible to sheep/goats) and ‘erashe’ (a measure of forage stubble)

Grass colour/condition

An observation of ‘greenness’, indicating moisture (wetness) and nutrient (fatness) content.

“When it is wet season, you can be able to identify the color of the grass, you can get the yellowish or green grasses. The only grass that is pure green is emuruwa [boma grass] and empalakai (found in fig tree forests). In the wet season, the whole area is green, but if you look in detail, you can see the variation in greenness. Emuruwa is perfect [for livestock] when it is green, but empalekai is not good for cows.”

Herders use grass colour to age the fodder:

 Black; unusable, (fire), but will soon be a green flush and highly desirable

 Green; fresh shoots very desirable

 Brown; unburned, old, dirty, full of ticks and disease

“Fresh grass has no germs, but old grass has malaria and disease. It is the same with humans- if you drink stagnant water, you get malaria, but if you drink clean flowing water, no disease.” Mzee T

Forest condition

Presence of particular species and overall canopy cover (relative to memory)

Soil

Colour

Provides information on suitability of grazing and sensitivity to erosion and helps in locating homestead sites: classified as black, red and white soils

“If God sees narok [black] soils, it rains. God doesn’t like to see that color- everything will become fat if they go to those areas just burned.” Interview participant

“The black soil- if you drive through it, or drive cattle through, they sink into and grass can’t grow.” Interview participant

Texture

A secondary classification that is used to identify salt licks and soil quality (smooth and rough)

Bare patches

Areas of exposed soil with no vegetation: often differentiated between human (livestock) induced versus nonhuman-induced (soil characteristics, divine influence)

Livestock

Rumen fill

Visual measure of forage intake, indicating forage quantity/availability and livestock health

Forage behaviour

Inspection of how livestock forage - providing insights on quantity and quality of roughage.

“I can’t rest under a tree to watch the cows, I must be in the cows, watching how they are grazing, seeing if they are grazing in a good manner, to see if they are getting enough grass. If not I drive them to another area. We can see if the grass is enough depending on if they graze with their teeth, or with their tongue. If they graze with their tongue then you know they are getting enough grass.” Transect Walk participant

Posture behaviour

Indicates range condition based on particular cattle behaviours, such as when cattle lower their head to the ground the shepherd takes note of the interval (timing) between lowering the head to feed and raising the head to chew and swallow.  If the cow takes a 'long' time between forage and swallow, the range can be interpreted as in poorer shape.

Small stock presence/density

Shoats (sheep and goats) often exclude cattle indicate different range conditions

“The land is healthy here, but shoats can’t let the grass to grow.” Interview participant

Health/performance: (milk yield, fur quality, mating frequency)

Used to determine the forage condition, where cattle health correlates with milk production (amount of milk collected from heifers)

Suggests forage is healthy with increasing mating frequency, cows tired (not sleeping) indicates a night of mating a common indicator of disease or unhealthy livestock; fur stiff and erect - unhealthy; flat and smooth - healthy

“As Maasai, we look to the fur to see if it is standing upright, to know if the area we are grazing is not good for cows. So first we see the fur in the morning and evening and if the belly is full or not.”

“We see the cows are getting enough grass, but still not good milk. We must move from here because its not a good place. This area is cold for our livestock; the species of grass growing right there is not good for cows. Maybe the grass is tall, but its cold.”

Environmental

Wildlife presence/use

Informs herders of predation risk, risk of disease (MCF) and grass condition

Herders are conscious of how cattle relate to the ‘smell’ of grass, often indicating the presence of a predator (lion) or disease.

Cattle trails

Indicates the level of use by livestock in a given area

“Cattle trails cause soil erosion, it washes the good soil away and takes two years to grow back.”

Disease

Certain diseases can indicate poor range conditions, especially diseases relating to ticks.

Drought severity/season

Morning dew, orange sunsets: indicates moisture in the air, suggesting the dry season has not come yet suggests a drought season is coming and rain is far away

Landscape classification

Defines important, seasonal grazing movement patterns classified as highlands (osopuko), lowlands (olpurkel), marshes (agarata or oyarata), plains (ongata), riparian (ewaso), rocky outcrops (shenai opir)

“The reason grass stays longer in a mountain area is because the grass grows between the stones, and its very difficult for cattle to uproot them. They will just graze the tops, but they can’t uproot it. In the plains, the grass can be uprooted. Also the rocks don’t allow the cows to step on the grass. And in the forest, there is more shade, which allows the grass to last longer.”

Water access/quality

Determines the movement of livestock. Water is surveyed for quality (turbidity, colour and smell) and quantity (qualified differently for cattle and shoats).

Socio-political

Boma density/population

Indicator of use - also helps to consider and rate forage potential - a resource-rich hotspot, specific species composition and history of place

PA boundaries

Determines movement and routes taken by herders and livestock; monitor ranger behaviour/leniency and other herders’ behaviour