Research and Publications
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This report examined multiple climate change effects on cattle production for U.S. rangelands to estimate relative change and identify sources of vulnerability among seven regions. Climate change effects to 2100 projected (1) an increase in forage quantity in northerly regions, (2) a move toward grassier vegetation types overall but with considerable spatial heterogeneity, (3) a rapid increase in the number of heat-stress days across all regions, and (4) higher forage variability for most regions.
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This research brief is based on several studies that can inform decision making by fire managers. Knowing that fire occurrence, size, and severity are limited by recent wildfires should provide greater flexibility and confidence in managing fire incidents and managing for resource benefit. Specifically, the findings from this study can be used by fire managers to help predict whether a previous fire will act as a fuel treatment based on fire age, forest type, and expected weather.
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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.
Access past GBFSE newsletter content.
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This report provides an updated process for mapping relative habitat suitability and management categories for sage-grouse in Nevada and northeastern California.
Updates include:
- adding radio and GPS telemetry locations from sage-grouse monitored at multiple sites during 2014 to the original location dataset beginning in 1998
- integrating output from high resolution maps (1–2 m2) of sagebrush and pinyon-juniper cover as covariates in resource selection models
- modifying the spatial extent of the analyses to match newly available vegetation layers
- explicit modeling of relative habitat suitability during three seasons (spring, summer, winter) that corresponded to critical life history periods for sage-grouse (breeding, brood-rearing, over-wintering)
- accounting for differences in habitat availability between more mesic sagebrush steppe communities in the northern part of the study area and drier Great Basin sagebrush in more southerly regions by categorizing continuous region-wide surfaces of habitat suitability index (HSI) with independent locations falling within two hydrological zones
- integrating the three seasonal maps into a composite map of annual relative habitat suitability
- deriving updated land management categories based on previously determined cut-points for intersections of habitat suitability and an updated index of sage-grouse abundance and space-use (AUI)
- masking urban footprints and major roadways out of the final map products.
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Key findings highlighted in this brief:
- Community wildfire protection plans (CWPPs) are an effective way to reduce wildfire risk in the U.S. wildland urban interface (WUI), but most WUI communities have no such plan in place.
- Community support and involvement are necessary for CWPPs to succeed. WUI communities reflect a wide range of social characteristics, preventing an effective “one-size-fits-all” approach to CWPP creation.
- Scientists have identified four WUI community archetypes, which can be useful in working with individual communities to create effective CWPPs.
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In this study, researchers determined vegetation response to fuel reduction by tree mastication (shredding) or seeding and then shredding by measuring cover of shrub and herbaceous functional groups on shredded and adjacent untreated areas on 44 sites in Utah. Findings suggested that shredding or seeding and then shredding should facilitate wildfire suppression, increase resistance to weed dominance, and lead toward greater resilience to disturbance by increasing perennial herbaceous cover.
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This New York Times article reports on the lengthening fire season in the western US and beyond. From the article: Fires, once largely confined to a single season, have become a continual threat in some places, burning earlier and later in the year, in the United States and abroad. They have ignited in the West during the winter and well into the fall, have arrived earlier than ever in Canada and have burned without interruption in Australia for almost 12 months.
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This study investigated the effects of container volume and fertilization on the performance of nursery-grown Wyoming big sagebrush seedlings following outplanting. Researchers found that container volume may influence seedling morphology and optimize establishment, while field fertilization, especially during spring outplanting when planting sites have low moisture availability, may hinder first-year survival.
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.