This precipitation record from Oakley, Idaho shows the variation in precipitation over 80 years. It also shows the drought threshold as defined by the Society for Range Management that defines drought as a year in which precipitation falls below 75% of the annual average. Implications for plant production and livestock management are that plants are highly susceptible to grazing impacts during dry and drought years and that stocking rates of livestock must be reduced or the land not grazed during these years, otherwise productivity in following years will be reduced. Long-term grazing in the West at constant numbers over a century as here in Idaho has resulted in the loss of ecosystem productivity described in the earlier examples.
