Research and Publications
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The objective of this study was to determine the feasibility of restoring native plant species to crested wheatgrass-dominated rangeland by testing five suppression treatments. Results suggested that suppression treatments were not effective and therefore did not improve restoration of native species in crested wheatgrass stands. Native species establishment may require subsequent management to favor persistence of native species and retard crested wheatgrass.
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Results of this study indicate that native grasses more readily establish in synchrony with crested wheatgrass than native shrubs, but once established, native shrubs are more likely to coexist and persist with crested wheatgrass because of high niche differentiation (e.g., not limited by the same resource). Results also suggest that developing strategies to minimize interference from crested wheatgrass seedlings emerging from seed banks will enhance the establishment of native species seeded into crested wheatgrass–dominated communities.
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This paper provides a decision framework that integrates fire regime components, plant growth form, and survival attributes to predict how plants will respond to fires and how fires can be prescribed to enhance the likelihood of obtaining desired plant responses.
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This field guide is designed to help agricultural producers, land managers, homeowners, recreationists, and others to identify the noxious weeds of Nevada. All weeds listed by Nevada state law (as of 2010) are included, each with a brief description, color photographs, and recommendations for control.
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This synthesis contains 14 chapters that cover fire and forests, machinery, erosion processes, water yield and quality, soil and riparian impacts, aquatic and landscape effects, and predictive tools and procedures. These chapters provide an overview of our current understanding of the cumulative watershed effects of fuel management in the western United States.
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This study compared historical and prescribed fire regimes for different regions in the United States and synthesized literature on season of prescribed burning. In regions and vegetation types where considerable differences in fuel consumption exist among burning seasons, the effects of prescribed fire season appears to be driven more by fire-intensity differences among seasons than by phenology. Where fuel consumption differs little among burning seasons, the effect of phenology or growth stage of organisms is often more apparent.
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This document represents a synthesis of existing knowledge on wildlife responses to fire and fire-surrogate treatments, presented in a useful, management-relevant format. Based on scoping meetings and dialogue with public lands managers from throughout the United States, we provide detailed, species-level, summary tables for project biologists and fire managers trying to anticipate the effects of fire and fire-surrogate treatments on local wildlife species.
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This guide is based on vegetation and fuels data collected by Sagebrush Steppe Treatment Evaluation Project (SageSTEP) researchers at study sites in six states throughout the Great Basin for two years prior to implementing land management treatments. It is divided into four sub-guides (one sagebrush and three woodland) based on regional differences in site physiognomy and ecology: sagebrush steppe, pinyon-juniper, Utah juniper, and western juniper.
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This field guide is designed to help identify some of the common noxious and invasive weed species that are currently threatening Utah and have been identified on Utah’s state weed list.
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This field guide provides substantial evidence that pinon-juniper woodlands have experienced major expansion in their distribution since the late 1800s by encroaching into surrounding landscapes once dominated by shrubs and herbaceous vegetation. Both infilling and expansion affects soil resources, plant community structure and composition, water and nutrient cycles, forage production, wildlife habitat, biodiversity, and fire patterns across the landscape. Another impact is the shift from historic fire regimes to larger and more intense wildfires that are increasingly determining the future of this landscape.