This paper presents a structured research design to achieve an economically viable and ecologically sustainable land use. It includes the major elements required to achieve a predictive capability at ranch, watershed and regional scales. A management protocol is proposed, incorporating client feedback to aid in producing relevant technology and information in a useable format. Sustainable land use depends on: (1) accounting for environment effects, (2) decreasing reliance on depletable and polluting non-renewable resources, and (3) maintaining ecosystem resilience.