Research and Publications
View brief.
This brief highlights sustainable grazing practices and sagebrush treatments that enhanced herbaceous understory for sage grouse in years with average winters, but populations declined following severe winters. Sage grouse populations on the Deseret Land and Livestock (DLL) ranch increased for nearly 15 years when the ranch coupled deferred rest rotation grazing with small sagebrush removal projects. Birds responded positively as evidenced by lek counts that were higher and more stable on DLL than in nearby northeast Utah and western Wyoming. Total sagebrush removal cumulatively modified approximately 15% of DLL’s sage grouse habitat as individual small scale projects added up through time. Lek counts on DLL declined on the ranch and elsewhere following extreme winter and spring conditions. The cumulative effects of sagebrush removal may have contributed to declines on DLL due to less sagebrush food and cover for birds during severe weather.
View book.
This book adds to current knowledge about the regional status of the sagebrush ecosystem, the distribution of habitats, the threats to the ecosystem, and the influence of threats and habitat conditions on occurrence and abundance of sagebrush associated fauna and flora in the Wyoming Basins. As federal management agencies move toward management at regional scales through efforts such as U.S. Bureau of Land Management Rapid Ecoregional Assessments and U.S. Department of Interior Landscape Conservation Cooperatives, our ecoregional assessment approach and results for the Wyoming Basins can further advance a cohesive approach to management of the sagebrush ecosystem.
View report.
This report examines federal officials’ and stakeholders’ views on (1) factors that affect federal-nonfederal collaboration aimed at reducing wildland fire risk to communities and (2) actions that could improve their ability to reduce risk to communities.
View article.
This study evaluates the implications of ten twenty-first century climate scenarios for snow, soil moisture, and fuel moisture across the conterminous western USA. A decline in mountain snowpack, an advance in the timing of spring melt, and a reduction in snow season are projected for five mountain ranges in the region. The accelerated depletion of mountain snowpack due to warming leads to reduced summer soil moisture across mountain environments. Similarly, warmer and drier summers lead to decreases of up to 25% in dead fuel moisture across all mountain ranges. Collective declines in spring mountain snowpack, summer soil moisture, and fuel moisture across western mountain ranges will increase fire potential in flammability-limited forested systems where fuels are not limiting.
View analysis.
This meta-analysis was conducted to determine if there were consistent responses of understory vegetation to fire and thinning treatments in North American forests that historically experienced frequent surface fire regimes (<20 year fire-return interval, FRI). The most consistent effect of the treatments was the increase in non-native species following mechanical thinning and reduction in shrub cover following a burn. These differences suggest the two treatments may not be surrogates in the short-term (less than 5 years). Prescribed fire and thinning treatments can be used successfully to restore understory species richness and cover, but they can create different conditions and these potentially different outcomes need to be considered in the planning of a fuels reduction treatment.
View article.
This study investigated effects of fall grazing, spring grazing and not grazing on fuel characteristics, fire ignition and initial spread during the wildfire season (July and August) at five shrub steppe sites in Oregon, USA. Both grazing treatments decreased fine fuel biomass, cover and height, and increased fuel moisture, and thereby decreased ignition and initial spread compared with the ungrazed treatment. However, the probability of initial spread was 6-fold greater in the fall-grazed compared with the spring-grazed treatment in August. This suggests that spring grazing may have a greater effect on fires than fall grazing, likely because fall grazing does not influence the current year’s plant growth.
View article.
This study compared spring and fall prescribed fires at three sites (native-dominated, Bromus tectorum-dominated, and Juniperus occidentalis-dominated). There were higher plant survival rates following fall fires and native-dominated sites than in spring burns or where exotics dominated. These results show that burn season and prefire condition are important considerations when evaluating management alternatives in Artemisia tridentata ssp. vaseyana ecosystems.
View abstracts.
Abstracts of recent papers on climate change and land management in the West, prepared by Louisa Evers, Science Liaison and Climate Change Coordinator, BLM, OR-WA State Office.
View article.
This study analyzed existing permanent monitoring plot data collected between 1995 and 2010 to assess achievement of management objectives related to prescribed fire in ponderosa pine forests. Following first entry fire, ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa var. scopulorum) and Gambel oak (Quercus gambelii) overstory and midstory densities declined between 10% and 45% and effectively shifted the Gambel oak diameter distribution toward larger trees. Second entry fires had a greater effect, reducing ponderosa pine and Gambel oak overstory and midstory densities between 24% and 92%. Diameter distributions of both species shifted toward fewer, larger trees following second entry fires. Total fuel load was reduced by <20% in first entry fires and by half in second entry fires. Several objectives identified by the National Park Service (e.g., overstory ponderosa pine reduction) were not achieved with either fire entry; however, power analysis indicated that sample sizes were not adequate to fully detect long term changes following first entry fires.
View guide.
This guide, which includes the basic biology, life stages and habitat needs, habitat components, sagebrush monitoring, conservation planning in Wyoming, and predator impact, is intended to enhance understanding of sage-grouse conservation in Wyoming. Greater sage-grouse conservation, put simply, is understanding the needs of the sage-grouse for each life stage,knowing the life stage you provide habitat for, knowing what threats exist on the land, and implementing actions on the land to minimize or reduce the threats.