Research and Publications
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This purpose of this article is to outline how weather and climate information can be used to facilitate Ecologically-Based Invasive Plant Management (EBIPM) and adaptive management planning. The discussion follows the eight steps to adaptive management outlined in EBIPM planning guides.
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This guide describes the benefits, opportunities, and trade-offs concerning fuel treatments in the dry mixed conifer forests of northern California and the Klamath Mountains, Pacific Northwest Interior, northern and central Rocky Mountains, and Utah. It provides (1) exhaustive summaries and links to supporting guides and literature on the mechanics of fuel treatments, including mechanical manipulation, prescribed fire, targeted grazing and chemical use; (2) a decision tree to help managers select the best mechanical method for any situation in these regions; (3) discussion on how to apply prescribed fire to achieve diverse and specific objectives; (4) key principles for developing an effective monitoring plan; (5) economic analysis of mechanical fuel treatments in each region; and (6) discussion on fuel treatment longevity.
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This study evaluated restoration efforts applied to grasslands dominated by an invasive plant, sulfur cinquefoil, 6 yr after treatments. Of the five herbicides evaluated, picloram continued to provide the best control of sulfur cinquefoil over 6 yr. Plots with picloram applied in the fall had greater native forb cover. Seeding resulted in a 20% decrease in exotic grass cover. Successful establishment of native perennial grasses was not apparent until 6 yr after seeding. Our study found integrating herbicide application and the addition of native grass seed to be an effective grassland restoration strategy, at least in the case where livestock are excluded.
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This Nature article discusses large, severe fires, climate change, insect outbreaks, and recovery of western forests with USGS scientist, Craig Allen and WERC scientist, Nate Stephenson. on the conversion of forest ecosystems due to climate change and altered fire regimes.
Climate change, forests, fire, water, and fish: building resilient landscapes, streams, and managers
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This report describes the framework of how fire and climate change work together to affect forest and fish communities. Learning how to adapt will come from testing, probing, and pushing that framework and then proposing new ideas. The western U.S. defies generalizations, and much learning must necessarily be local in implication. This report serves as a scaffold for that learning. It comprises three primary chapters on physical processes, biological interactions, and management decisions, accompanied by a special section with separately authored papers addressing interactions of fish populations with wildfire.
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In this study, seeds from 106 collection locations from the southwestern United States were established in common gardens and four phenological traits, six production traits, and eight morphology traits were measured in 2007 and 2008. Analyses of variance revealed that all basic garden traits differed among source locations (P < 0.01), indicating widespread genetic variation. Using regression models between traits and climate, a map with 12 seed zones was developed representing much of the southwestern United States. The seed zone map is recommended to guide and broaden germplasm collection and utilization for Indian ricegrass restoration.
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The results of this study suggest that mowing, as a standalone
treatment, does not restore the herbaceous understory in degraded Wyoming big sagebrush plant communities. Mowing should not be applied in Wyoming big sagebrush plant communities with degraded understories without additional treatments to limit exotic annuals and promote perennial herbaceous vegetation.
Visit the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy website.
See also the National Cohesive Strategy’s Western Region website.
The National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy is a strategic push to work collaboratively among all stakeholders and across all landscapes, using best science, to make meaningful progress towards the three goals:
- Resilient Landscapes
- Fire Adapted Communities
- Safe and Effective Wildfire Response
Vision: To safely and effectively extinguish fire when needed; use fire where allowable; manage our natural resources; and as a nation, to live with wildland fire.
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This study sampled cheatgrass endophytes and found many fire-associated fungi, including Morchella in three western states (New Mexico, Idaho, and Washington). In greenhouse experiments, a New Mexico isolate of Morchella increased both the biomass and fecundity of its local cheatgrass population, thus simultaneously increasing both the probability of fire and survival of that event, via more fuel and a greater, belowground seed bank, respectively.
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This technical report reviews existing climate models that predict species and vegetation changes in the western United States, and it synthesizes knowledge about climate change impacts on the native fauna and flora of grasslands, shrublands and deserts of the interior American West. Species’ responses will depend not only on their physiological tolerances but also on their phenology, establishment properties, biotic interactions, and capacity to evolve and migrate.