Land degradation in the dry Mediterranean regions is the result of the more or less prevalent influence of physical, socio-economical and biological factors. Their combined action generates an ecological imbalance which is translated by a decrease in the available pastoral resources, causing, thus, a process of desertification very often speeded up by the anthropogenic pressure and the overexploitation of natural resources. The High Office of Steppe Development HCDS )Haut-Commissariat au Développement de la Steppe) has put into practice a new method for implementing developmental projects, particularly those relating to plantations of fodder plants. This technique is very interesting as for valuing the much degraded spaces where the vegetation cover cannot regenerate either by implementing an exclusion period or by natural regeneration. Our work was carried out in the region of Laghouat (Algerian Steppe) and was aimed at the study of the characteristics of managed and un-managed floristic rangelands. The analysis of the rangelands managed by planting Atriplex canescens and un-managed rangelands shows that the planted rangelands present the best values at the floristic level (floristic richness, rate of recovery) in relation to the un-managed rangeland, what impels to multiply this action for the restoration of degraded rangeland. This study reveals the success of the rehabilitation degraded rangelands in steppic regions.

Keywords: Algerian Steppe , Managing, planting of Atriplex canescens,