Science for productive rangelands
2026-01-14 10:00 - 11:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Webinar registration.
Rocky Mountain Research Station is pleased to announce the first in our 2026 webinar line up: Science for Productive Forests and Rangelands. These webinars will dive into science about productive rangelands, forest products, regeneration after wildfire, forest measurements, and pollinators. Expect three short presentations followed by Q&A each day.
Science for Prescribed Fire in the Great Plains presented by Jacqueline Ott, Research Ecologist
The Climate Smart Restoration Tool v2.0: A Guide to Seed Transfer in a Changing Climate presented by Elizabeth Milano, Research Biological Scientist
Learning from Long-Term Studies at the Desert Experimental Range: How Grazing, Drought, and Invasive Species Alter Rangelands presented by Robert Heckman, Research Botanist

Lecture series: Fuel treatment effects and effectiveness in CA forests
2026-01-14 15:00 - 16:30
Learn more and register.

Jan 14 What works, where, and for how long with Katharyn Duffy
Jan 28 Navigating the chaos: Risk analysis, decision support, and community hardening with Matt Thompson
Feb 12 A 34-year retrospective assessment of USFS post-fire reforestation with Solomon Dobrowski

Working together through agreements and contracts
2026-01-15 09:00 - 10:00
Webinar registration.
The Montana Forest Collaboration Network, in partnership with The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, is offering this webinar to support people collaborating on forest management and restoration in using agreements and contracts to leverage resources for project implementation. Our panel will:

Provide background on stewardship authorities and the variety of other agreements that bring outside capacity to agencies to achieve work on the ground, with an emphasis on Shared Stewardship, co-stewardship, and stewardship contracts and agreements.
Describe opportunities for collaboratives to engage in stewardship.

We will allow ample time for questions and discussion following the presentations.

Collected writings on land conservation and public policy from late NRCS chief 1993-1997, Paul Johnson
2026-01-20 10:00 - 11:00
Webinar registration.
Paul Johnson was a forester by training who became a farmer, Iowa state legislator, and a national leader in sustainable agriculture and private lands conservation. As chief of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service from 1993 to 1997, he helped develop and implement the conservation title of the 1996 Farm Bill, established the Environmental Quality Incentive Program, and implemented the Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program to help landowners develop and improve high quality wildlife habitat for species of local and national significance. Upon his death in 2021, the NRCS reminded employees of “Chief Johnson’s inspiring call to remember the deep connections between America’s private farm, ranch, and forest lands and the health and prosperity of the whole nation.” Join conservationist and historian Curt Meine, author of a new book about Johnson (We Can Do Better: Collected Writings on Land, Conservation, and Public Policy), for a conversation about his work and legacy.

Forest measurements and pollinators
2026-01-21 10:00 - 11:00
Webinar registration.
Rocky Mountain Research Station is pleased to announce the first in our 2026 webinar line up: Science for Productive Forests and Rangelands. These webinars will dive into science about productive rangelands, forest products, regeneration after wildfire, forest measurements, and pollinators. Expect three short presentations followed by Q&A each day.

The Value of Forests and Forest Management to Insect Pollinators presented by Justin Runyon, Research Entomologist
Bee Nutritional Ecology: How Insect Behavior, Plant Communities, and Conservation Fit Together presented by Anthony Vaudo, Research Biological Scientist
Using FIA Data and the Forest Vegetation Simulator to Estimate Timing of Peak Forest Growth presented by John Shaw, Research Forester and Analyst

Social science perspectives on the Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework
2026-01-22 12:00 - 13:00
Webinar registration.
The RAD (Resist-Accept-Direct) framework helps managers navigate transforming ecosystems by defining a broad decision space that includes not only resisting ecological trajectories, but also consciously accepting such change and/or directing trajectories towards preferred new conditions. RAD is intended to help managers intentionally expand their thinking beyond traditional conservation approaches. Recent interdisciplinary and cross-agency research has integrated the social sciences to explore how and why managers are making RAD decisions. This webinar will highlight findings and implications from panelists at the forefront of RAD research, including how RAD:

fits within broader agency adaptation planning
can inform wilderness management
is being used by managers within and across jurisdictions
raises ethical questions

Northwest weed biocontrol in changing environments
2026-01-27 12:30 - 13:30
Webinar registration.
We will begin with a brief overview of weed biocontrol, and then discuss how climate change may impact biocontrol systems at different stages of planning and implementation. Our speakers will highlight as examples the control agents and their host dynamics for Hypericum perforatum, Lythrum salicaria, and Reynoutria spp.
This event will also serve as the launching point for a working group to address knowledge gaps around Northwest biocontrol in a changing climate, including modeling population dynamics and geographic distributions of agents under different climate scenarios and developing a framework for collecting data to disentangle climate impacts from other drivers of population dynamics. Other potential working group topics include disruption in the phenological synchrony of agent and host and evolutionary changes in response to climate change.

Replanting and regeneration for productive forests in the future
2026-01-28 11:00 - 12:00
Webinar registration.
Rocky Mountain Research Station is pleased to announce the first in our 2026 webinar line up: Science for Productive Forests and Rangelands. These webinars will dive into science about productive rangelands, forest products, regeneration after wildfire, forest measurements, and pollinators. Expect three short presentations followed by Q&A each day.

Regenmapper: A Web-Based Tool for Assessing Post-Fire Regeneration Potential in the Western U.S. with Zack Holden, Research Ecologist
How Post-Fire Regeneration of Jeffery Pine Relates to Wildfire Severity with Stephanie Yelenik, Rangeland Scientist
Planting Trees to Bolster Forest Recovery After Wildfire with Paula Fornwalt, Research Ecologist

Lecture series: Fuel treatment effects and effectiveness in CA forests
2026-01-28 15:00 - 16:30
Learn more and register.

Jan 28 Navigating the chaos: Risk analysis, decision support, and community hardening with Matt Thompson
Feb 12 A 34-year retrospective assessment of USFS post-fire reforestation with Solomon Dobrowski

EXPLORE Act
2026-02-03 13:00 - 14:00
Webinar join information.
The Idaho Forest Restoration Partnership is hosting a webinar on the EXPLORE Act, a landmark piece of bipartisan legislation designed to improve and expand outdoor recreation opportunities on America’s public lands. The act aims to streamline permitting, modernize infrastructure, and increase access for all Americans, including veterans, children, and people with disabilities.
Join us for a presentation and discussion on what this new law means for public lands and recreation in Idaho. Our speaker, Elizabeth Townley, the EXPLORE Act Program Manager, will provide an overview of the act’s key provisions, followed by a Q&A session.

Timber outputs, valuation, and supply chains
2026-02-04 10:00 - 11:00
Webinar registration.
Rocky Mountain Research Station is pleased to announce the first in our 2026 webinar line up: Science for Productive Forests and Rangelands. These webinars will dive into science about productive rangelands, forest products, regeneration after wildfire, forest measurements, and pollinators. Expect three short presentations followed by Q&A each day.

An Overview of the Timber Products Output Program from Forest Inventory and Analysis presented by Kristen Pelz, Analysis Team Leader (Forest Inventory and Analysis), and Michael Wilson, Program Manager (Forest Inventory and Analysis)
Engineering Advanced Supply Chains for Difficult Markets presented by Nate Anderson, Research Forester
Timber Supply Dynamics on High-Risk Landscapes presented by Jesse Henderson, Research Economist

Finding and defending grassland cores using spatial covariance
2026-02-06 11:00 - 11:30
Webinar join link (11 PST)
Grasslands are an imperiled ecosystem, and grassland bird abundance is declining across North America. One of the strongest drivers for these declines is woody plant encroachment of grasslands. In the Great Plains and Sagebrush biomes of North America, spatial covariance—a remote sensing metric for tracking boundaries between vegetation types—is emerging as a new method to identify and strategize conservation of grassland cores in the face of woody plant encroachment. Here, we use spatial covariance to predict responses of six declining grassland species, including the iconic upland game bird Northern Bobwhite (Colinus virginiana) responded to spatial covariance at three scales (0.81ha, 7.29ha, and 65.61ha) and tree cover in fragmented grasslands of Arkansas, USA. Tree cover alone was poor predictor of grassland bird occupancy compared to models that included spatial covariance at the 0.81ha and 7.29ha scales. Grassland bird occupancy declined at tree‑grass boundaries (negative spatial covariance at the 0.81ha scale) and increased in grassland cores (near‑zero or slightly positive spatial covariance at the 0.81ha scale). Our results suggest that identifying grassland cores empowers defending core grasslands from woody plant encroachment and then growing cores via active restoration.

Society for Range Management Annual Meeting 2026
2026-02-07 - 2026-02-11
Conference website.
Join us in Monterey, California, February 7-11, 2026
The 2026 Society for Range Management annual meeting theme “Herd ’round the World” aims to elevate global awareness about the critical importance of healthy rangelands ecosystems and their contribution to economic prosperity, sustainable livelihoods, and food security throughout the world. “Herd ‘round the World’ celebrates the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists. Covering approximately 40% of the Earth’s land surface, rangelands support the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people through pastoralism, a livestock management system evolved over millennia to work with natural ecosystems. Meeting symposia, presentation and poster sessions, and workshops will highlight how pastoralists worldwide steward these vast landscapes, drawing upon generations of ecological wisdom and adaptive management techniques. Traditional knowledge of pastoralist provides insights to address contemporary challenges including climate change, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable land management.

Fuel break effectiveness: What have we learned so far?
2026-02-10 10:00 - 11:30
Webinar registration.
Forest Service Research and Development is proud to announce an upcoming series of virtual Deep Dive Panel Discussions intended for fire, fuels and land managers on critical topics associated with fuels and fire management. These panel discussions will provide big picture and synthetic looks at the current state of knowledge and management considerations. Each panel is comprised of expert practitioners and researchers. Sessions will be 90 minutes in length and recorded. Pre-registration is required.
Panelists:
Jen Croft, National Applied Fire Ecologist Fire and Aviation Management
Stephen Filmore, Fuels Operations Specialist – Pacific Southwest Region
Mark Finney. Research Forester – Rocky Mountain Research Station
Kit O’Connor, Research Ecologist – Rocky Mountain Research Station
Brad Pietruszka, Fire Management Specialist – Rocky Mountain Research Station
Erin Belval, Research Forester – Rocky Mountain Research Station

Science for safe wildfire operations
2026-02-11 10:00 - 11:30
Webinar registration.
This is a webinar presented by Forest Service Research and Development, organized by the Rocky Mountain Research Station. It is one of five webinar sessions in a series about Fire Science You Can Use. This webinar event will include the following presentations:
“GeoLCES: Geospatial Support for Evaluating Wildland Firefighter Lookouts, Communications, Escape Routes, and Safety Zones” presented by Dan Jimenez, Research Engineer
“Containment Lines, Fuel Breaks, PODs, and Suppression Success: A Case Study of the 2021 Schneider Springs Fire” presented by Jesse Young, Research Economist/Forester

US drought monitor 101
2026-02-12 12:00 - 13:30
Webinar registration.
Duration: 1 hour – 35 minute presentation with 25 minutes for questions and answers
As part of a virtual webinar participants will learn about the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM), the process behind how it is made and how they can be part of the process. The USDM is a weekly map showing the location and intensity of drought across the U.S. Unlike weather forecast maps that are looking forward in time, the USDM is a “snapshot” and assessment of current conditions up to and including the current week. Each week a pool of 9 lead authors of the map start by reviewing data on precipitation, temperature, soil moisture, streamflow, drought indices, and other indicators of the water cycle to determine areas which may need to be changed. It is not a cookbook or black box process as the map is made manually each week. Utilizing a network of local experts, such as state climatologists and National Weather Service meteorologists who help to interpret how physical conditions are affecting people and places across the country, the authors utilize their expert assessment but also incorporate observations from citizen scientists and crowdsourcing through platforms like CMOR or CoCoRaHS.
During the webinar, you will learn:
• More about the USDM process
• How you can contribute
• How state assessment teams can coordinate input to the USDM authors.

Lecture series: Fuel treatment effects and effectiveness in CA forests
2026-02-12 15:00 - 16:30
Learn more and register.

Feb 12 A 34-year retrospective assessment of USFS post-fire reforestation with Solomon Dobrowski

Science to support post-fire restoration: Planning and planting for success
2026-02-17 10:00 - 11:30
Webinar registration.
Forest Service Research and Development is proud to announce an upcoming series of virtual Deep Dive Panel Discussions intended for fire, fuels and land managers on critical topics associated with fuels and fire management. These panel discussions will provide big picture and synthetic looks at the current state of knowledge and management considerations. Each panel is comprised of expert practitioners and researchers. Sessions will be 90 minutes in length and recorded. Pre-registration is required.
Panelists:
Stephen Calkins, Burned Area Reforestation Planner – Washington Station Department of Natural Resources
Morris Johnson, Research Fire Ecologist – Pacific Northwest Research Station
Bryce Richardson, Research Geneticist – Rocky Mountain Research Station
Kyle Rodman, Research Scientist – Northern Arizona University
Kimberley Davis, Research Ecologist – Rocky Mountain Research Station

Improving wildfire detection and monitoring capabilities through new satellite technology
2026-02-18 07:30 - 14:00
All-day webinar registration.
Get updates about new data available, satellite instrument development progress, various applications of satellite data for wildfire detection and monitoring, and provide feedback on your changing needs and challenges. Hosted by Andy Latto, Mike Pavolonis, Robyn Heffernan, Dan Lindsey, and Andy Heidinger.

Tools for pre-fire planning and fuel treatments
2026-02-18 10:00 - 11:30
Webinar registration.
This is a webinar presented by Forest Service Research and Development, organized by the Rocky Mountain Research Station. It is one of five webinar sessions in a series about Fire Science You Can Use. This webinar event will include the following presentations:
“New Fuels Data and Fire Models for Prescribed Fire” presented by Russ Parsons, Research Ecologist
“From Research to Operations: The Interagency Fuel Treatment Decision Support System (IFTDSS)” presented by Wendy Detwiler, Fire Management Specialist
We are currently seeking to make webinars eligible for continuing education credits through the Society of American Foresters and the Society for Range Management.

Intermountain West snow drought and water supply briefing
2026-02-19 10:00 - 11:00
Webinar registration.
This special briefing of the Intermountain West Drought Early Warning System (DEWS) will highlight the unprecedented snow drought in the region and will provide early warning on potential impacts to spring runoff and regional water supply. Information presented will include an update on current snowpack and drought conditions and forecasts for regional water supply.
These webinars provide the region’s stakeholders and interested parties with timely information on current and developing drought conditions, as well as climatic events like El Niño and La Niña. Speakers will also discuss the impacts of these conditions on things such as wildfires, floods, disruption to water supply and ecosystems, and impacts to affected industries such as agriculture, tourism, and public health.
Featured presentations
Snowpack and Drought Conditions and Outlook: Dan McEvoy, Desert Research Institute
Regional Water Supply Status and Forecasts: Paul Miller, NOAA National Weather Service Colorado Basin River Forecast Center
Potential Impacts to Wildfire Activity: Tim Brown, Desert Research Institute

Fire Adapted Nevada Summit
2026-02-23 - 2026-02-24
Learn more and register.
Join community leaders and wildfire partners from across Nevada and beyond for the 2026 Fire Adapted Nevada Summit, a two-day event dedicated to advancing wildfire resilience through collaboration, innovation, and action.

2026 National Native Seed Virtual Conference
2026-02-25 - 2026-02-26
Learn more and register.
The National Native Seed Conference is an annual gathering that connects Research, Industry, Land Management, and Restoration professionals dedicated to strengthening the native seed supply chain.

Exploring fire impacts and land management tradeoffs
2026-02-25 10:00 - 11:00
Webinar registration.
This is a webinar presented by Forest Service Research and Development, organized by the Rocky Mountain Research Station. It is one of five webinar sessions in a series about Fire Science You Can Use. This webinar event will include the following presentations:
“Using Fire Risk Mapping and Treemap to Estimate the Impacts of Fuel Treatments on Carbon, Smoke Emissions, and Fire Severity” presented by Karin Riley, Research Ecologist
“From Maps to Management: Using ForSys to Navigate Land Management Tradeoffs” presented by Michelle Day, Biological Scientist

Contrasting LANDFIRE with fractional vegetation cover data (RCMAP and RAP)
2026-02-25 10:00 - 11:00
Webinar registration.
Presenters: Matthew Rigge, Josh Picotte, Jon Dewitz, Sarah McCord
The use of Landsat remote sensing-based vegetation classifications has expanded in recent years as product accuracy and accessibility have increased. With the proliferation of available datasets, users often face questions such as 1) the “best” or most appropriate dataset to use for a particular application, 2) differences in project objectives, 3) how to consider discrepancies among datasets, and 4) the reliability of a product within a specific local study area. We will consider these questions in the context of commonly used datasets from LANDFIRE, RCMAP (Rangeland Condition Monitoring Assess. & Projection), and RAP (Rangelands Analysis Platform).

From data to decisions: Using co-production and Ecological Site Groups to build State-and-Transition Models for management in pinyon-juniper ecosystems of the Colorado Plateau
2026-02-25 11:00 - 12:00
Webinar registration.
Webinar flyer.
Presenter: Tara Bishop, Utah Valley University
Panelists: Mike Duniway and John Severson, U.S. Geological Survey
Summary: Managing fire and fuels in Colorado Plateau pinyon-juniper woodlands and shrublands remains challenging as land managers navigate complex questions about where treatments will be most effective and what outcomes to expect under different conditions. In this webinar, speakers from Utah Valley University and the U.S. Geological Survey will present outcomes from a Joint Fire Sciences Program project that used a collaborative co-production approach with land managers to develop data-driven State-and-Transition Models for fire-prone Ecological Site Groups in the Upper Colorado River Basin. By integrating 37 years of Landsat imagery with extensive federal monitoring data and new field-collected fuel measurements, the team mapped ecological states through time and quantified how fire severity, drought, and other drivers influence vegetation trajectories across the landscape. The presentation will show how these Ecological Site Group State-and-Transition Models, along with the publicly available datasets and reproducible workflows developed through this project, can inform landscape-scale planning decisions from identifying priority treatment areas to understanding likely post-fire outcomes, supporting more strategic approaches to fire risk reduction, fuels treatments, and post-fire restoration across western rangelands.

Insights from wildfire research: Air quality, monitoring technologies, and post-fire soils
2026-03-03 11:00 - 12:00
Webinar registration.
Webinar flyer.
Summary: Graduate students will have 15 mins each to present their research on three topics from the Desert Research Institute’s Harnessing the Data Revolution for Fire Science (HDRFS) project, followed by discussion. The topics and presenters are:
Individual presentations and presenters:
Air quality and wildfire smoke – Bianca Martinez
This talk shares results from experimental burning of Great Basin vegetation, including the type and amount of air pollutants released, and combustion conditions. The findings of this research are relevant to prescribed fire and fuel treatment planning, and improving smoke management and public warnings.
Technology for real-time monitoring over large distances – Jehren Boehm
This work focuses real-time monitoring of air, snow, and soil conditions with greater spatial resolution and lower cost. By leveraging existing fire camera networks with robust power systems and reliable internet connectivity, widely distributed low-cost wireless sensors can fill knowledge gaps that would otherwise rely on modeling.
Post-fire soils and water repellency – Conor Croskery
This research is focused on determining if water repellent soils are present in sagebrush ecosystems before wildfire, how the distribution of these soils changes after fire, and if there is a relationship between how much water can be stored in the soil if water repellent soils are present after fire.

Adapting Together: Shaping the Future of Fire in the Northwest
2026-03-04 - 2026-03-06
Workshop website.
As new fire policies and adaptation strategies have grown across the Northwest, it is essential that we work together to learn, share and craft actionable visions. ADAPTING TOGETHER focuses on diverse approaches to place-based wildfire adaptation within and across this region.
By bringing people together from diverse sectors, geographies, and cultures, we will delve into the following questions:
What kinds of place-based adaptation are happening around the broader Northwest, and what capacity and resources do they require?
How do we maintain and grow a focus on fire’s ecological and cultural roles while protecting communities?
What kinds of local partnerships, economic strategies and policies will help us become more fire-adapted?
In the next five and ten years, who needs to work together and how so that we can collectively coexist with fire?
Fire adaptation is a big puzzle with many pieces. This workshop explores these questions through selected topics to offer reframings, new conversations, creative ideas and meaningful connections.
Participants will…
Share their personal experiences, perspectives, and ideas on the workshop’s themes and guiding questions.
Build relationships, learn with peers, and leave with new connections.
Contribute to fire adaptation practice in the region by visioning the future of how we live with wildfire.
The workshop begins at 1:30 p.m. on March 4th and ends around noon on March 6th. Expect a mix of panels, learning circles, case studies, interactive activities and informal time to connect.

Emerging insights in fire ecology
2026-03-04 10:00 - 11:00
Webinar registration.
This is a webinar presented by Forest Service Research and Development, organized by the Rocky Mountain Research Station. It is one of five webinar sessions in a series about Fire Science You Can Use. This webinar event will include the following presentations:
“How Fire Shapes Carnivore Behavior on a Landscape and Implications for Managing Habitat” presented by John Squires, Research Wildlife Biologist, and Justin Crotteau, Research Forester
“’Living Maps’ for Fishers: A Cutting-Edge Tool to Inform Habitat Management After Wildfire-Induced Habitat Decline” presented by Jody Tucker, Biological Scientist and Deputy Program Manager of the Wildlife Ecology Science Program

Geospatial applications to visualize science and support decision-making across scale
2026-03-06 11:00 - 12:00
Webinar information and join link (11 PST).
Presenters:

Dan Jones, Physical Scientist, USGS Utah Water Science Center
Brianna Williams, Geographer, USGS New Jersey Water Science Center
Stephanie Gordon, Physical Scientist, USGS Eastern Ecological Science Center
