Research and Publications
View synthesis.
This synthesis describes what is known about the cumulative impacts of historic livestock grazing patterns and short-term effects of livestock grazing on fuels and fire in sagebrush ecosystems. Over years and decades grazing can alter fuel characteristics of ecosystems. On a yearly basis, grazing can reduce the amount and alter the continuity of fine fuels, potentially changing wildlife fire spread and intensity. However, how grazing-induced fuel alterations affect wildland fire depends on weather conditions and plant community characteristics. As weather conditions become extreme, the influence of grazing on fire behavior is limited, especially in communities dominated by woody plants.
View synthesis.
This review of the literature found that in general long-term rest and modern properly managed grazing produce few significant differences. However, some topic areas have not been adequately studied to accurately predict the influence of long-term rest compared to managed grazing. In some situations, not grazing can cause an accumulation of fine fuels that increase fire risk and severity and, subsequently, the probability of sagebrush steppe rangelands converting to exotic annual grasslands. Shifts in plant communities (i.e., exotic annual grass invasion and western juniper encroachment), caused in part from historical improper grazing, cannot be reversed by long-term rest.
View review.
In this paper, authors review state-of-the-art methods and models that can be used to evaluate ranch-level decisions and land-use policy impacts.
View article.
This study found that growth rate of cheatgrass increased in both warming and snowmelt treatments. Largest increases occurred in warming plots during the wettest year, indicating that the magnitude of response to warming depends on moisture availability. Results indicate that increasing temperature will exacerbate cheatgrass impacts, especially where warming causes large reductions in the depth and duration of snow cover.
View brief.
This research brief from the California Fire Science Consortium discusses that detrimental consequences from future fires under changing climates could be reduced by recognizing diverse adaptions to fire in different forest types and by preparing forests and people for larger and more frequent fires.
View brief.
This brief summarizes a study that provides empirical support for distances between 5 and 7.5 km from leks for surface use designation. It is important to note that sage-grouse space use does not fully inform the extent of no-activity areas. Some industrial activities, such as those generating acoustic pollution, can contribute to negative impacts which extend beyond the physical footprint of each installation.
View report.
This review synthesizes the state of knowledge on fire effects on vegetation and soils in semi-arid ecosystems in the Great Basin Region. It identifies knowledge gaps and presents a framework for predicting plant successional trajectories following wild and prescribed fires and fire surrogate treatments. Possibly the three most important ecological site characteristics that influence a site’s resilience (ability of the ecological site to recover from disturbance) and resistance to invasive species are soil temperature/moisture regimes and the composition and structure of vegetation on the ecological site just prior to the disturbance event.
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This review examines the effects of disturbances, such as grazing, and changes in climate on resilience and resistance of cold desert shrublands that span temperature and precipitation gradients across the western United States. It demonstrates how to use information about cold desert resilience and resistance to help manage this ecosystem and describes the benefits of using protection, prevention, restoration, and monitoring strategies to determine priority management areas and appropriate management actions.
View abstracts.
Abstracts of recent papers on fire and fuels management in the West. Prepared by Craig Goodell, Fire Ecologist, USFS Pacific Northwest Region, Portland, OR.