Research and Publications
View synthesis.
This synthesis includes 9 chapters covering: the current status of climate change science; the importance of fire regimes for understanding climate change impacts; the interrelationships among ecosystems, climate and fuels; the importance of understanding variability, change, scale and pattern for interpreting climate-fire interaction; fire history and climate change from an ecosystem perspective; scientific progress we can expect in the upcoming decade; some recommendations for managers for using fire history to inform their decision making under 21st Century climate change, and concluding thoughts.
View report.
In this report 38 federal, state, university, and nongovernmental experts collaborated to produce new scientific information about greater sage-grouse populations, sagebrush habitats, and relationships among sage-grouse, sagebrush habitats, and land use.
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This report provides managers with the current state of knowledge regarding the effectiveness of fuel treatments for mitigating severe wildfire effects. A literature review examines the effectiveness of fuel treatments that had been previously applied and were subsequently burned through by wildfire in forests and rangelands. A case study focuses on WUI fuel treatments that were burned in the 2007 East Zone and Cascade megafires in central Idaho. Both the literature review and case study results support a manager consensus that forest thinning followed by some form of slash removal is most effective for reducing subsequent wildfire severity.
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This paper predicts moderately more frequent drought for the Great Basin with climate change.
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This study compared mechanical and chemical treatments to control crested wheatgrass and found that effective control can require secondary treatments to reduce the seed bank and open stands to dominance by seeded native species. Manipulation of crested wheatgrass stands to restore native species carries the risk of weed invasion if secondary treatments effectively control the wheatgrass and native species have limited survival due to drought.
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This paper provides a historical perspective on fire in the Pacific Northwest. A warmer climate could bring more fire to the westside of the Cascade Range where summers are typically dry and will probably become drier. We can also expect longer fire seasons. The biggest concern for the future will be an increase in extreme weather events, which can lead to conditions that produce large and rapidly spreading wildfire.
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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.
View field guide.
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.