Research and Publications
View synthesis.
This synthesis investigates the resistance and resilience differences among the cold and hot desert shrublands of North America. Differences are largely determined by spatial and temporal patterns of productivity but also are affected by ecological memory, severity and frequency of disturbance, and feedbacks among invasive species and disturbance regimes. Strategies for preventing or managing invasive plant/fire regimes cycles in desert shrublands include: 1) conducting periodic resource assessments to evaluate the probability of establishment of an altered fire regime; 2) understanding ecological thresholds associated within invasion resistance and fire resilience that characterize transitions from desirable to undesirable fire regimes; and 3) prioritizing management activities based on resistance of areas to invasion and resilience to fire.
View brief.
This brief produced by the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies displays the historic and current range of sage-grouse, identifies sage-grouse management zones, and provides breeding bird density maps.
View news release.
This USFS news release reports on the largest ever study of fuel treatment effectiveness, where USFS researchers found that intense thinning treatments leaving 50 and 100 trees/acre are the most effective in reducing the probability of crown fires in the dry forests of the western United States.
View guide.
This guide assimilates post-treatment vegetation and fuels data from Sagebrush Steppe Treatment Evaluation Project (SageSTEP) study sites across six Great Basin states into an assessment tool that can help managers better estimate percent cover, stem density and fuel loadings for post-treatment sites. The post-treatment Guide uses photographs and tables to provide the range of values for each vegetation type allowing users to quickly appraise a site by fuel stratum using an ocular estimate.
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This guide features 40 bird species that utilize sagebrush habitats and includes tips on species identification, biology, and conservation status. Because not all of these species require similar habitat types and not all sagebrush is managed for the same goals, this guide discusses how avian needs can be incorporated into land management plans.
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This research brief discusses the effects of fire and invasive species on biological, chemical, and physical properties of desert soils. Although soil may recover from the impacts of fire during succession, these changes are permanent under persistent invasive species. The most severe effects of fire occur under high temperatures with high fuel buildup and soil moisture that conducts heat downward.
View synthesis.
This synthesis addresses seven major conservation practices and two crosscutting issues: prescribed grazing, prescribed burning, brush management, range planting, riparian herbaceous cover, upland wildlife habitat management, herbaceous weed control, landscape analysis, socioeconomics and ecosystem services.
View chapter.
This synthesis chapter presents an assessment of the conservation effects of rangeland planting practices – both the assessment of the direct benefits of specific planting techniques recommended in the range planting standard, and assessment of specific conservation effects of alternative vegetation states.
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Three models were evaluated in this study: CALPUFF, DAYSMOKE and CMAQ during different prescribed burn and wildfire episodes occurring throughout the southeastern US. Results suggested that CALPUFF could not be determined to be a suitable model for simulating the air quality impacts of fires. Model evaluation indicated that DAYSMOKE can be turned into a reliable a short‐range smoke‐impact prediction tool for land managers. On a regional scale, PM2.5 impacts of prescribed burns and wildfires are best predicted by air quality models such as CMAQ.
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This is an online guide to legal and institutional resources intended to serve as a starting point to help public and private land managers figure out which considerations are most relevant to the implementation of vegetation treatments in Great Basin states.