Research and Publications
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Humans are the source of 84 percent of wildfires, and not all are intentional. Often they come from vehicle accidents in dry landscapes. In fact, over the last 20 years, 11 of the 50 largest wildfires in the U.S. have occurred in the Great Basin. From 2000 to 2018, approximately 15 million acres of sagebrush burned primarily in the Great Basin, and approximately 9 million of those acres burned from 2014 to 2018 alone, said Michele Crist, a landscape ecologist with the Bureau of Land Management at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.
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Overall, greater sage-grouse selected areas that were 1) distant from trees, paved roads, and powerlines; 2) high in elevation; 3) near treatment edges; and 4) consisting of gentle slopes. Post-treatment sage-grouse showed stronger selection for treatments and treatment edges than did pretreatment sage-grouse. Maps predicting probability of selection by brood-rearing sage-grouse showed increased use in and around mechanically treated areas. This altered pattern of selection by sage-grouse with broods suggests mechanical treatments may be a suitable way to increase use of mountain big sagebrush during the brooding period.
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Taken together, findings suggest that the response of stream chemistry to wildfires in the Sierra Nevada, California, can persist for years, varying with both fire severity and site-specific characteristics. These impacts may have important implications for biogeochemical cycles and productivity in aquatic ecosystems in fire-adapted landscapes.
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This study examines the differences in community level exposures to smoke from both wildfire and prescribed fire.
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Strategically placed landscape area fuel treatments in the Sierra Nevada were put to the test in this study when the American Fire burned through previously treated areas. Both fire effects and initial post-fire conifer regeneration were investigated.
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Our key findings concerning changing fuels and forest structure following a MPB epidemic in south-central Oregon lodgepole pine forests include: 1-h fuels and litter changed little over time, surface fuel loads changed dramatically between the standing snag and the regeneration stages, lodgepole pine remained dominant, and canopy bulk density was low throughout the chronosequence. These factors point to the perpetuation of a lodgepole pine dominated system with a mixed-severity fire regime well into the future.
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This study quantified relationships between annual climate conditions and regeneration of ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir, two ecologically and economically important conifer species in low-elevation forests of western North America. We found that regeneration exhibited a threshold response to annual climate conditions and the forests we sampled crossed these climate thresholds in the past 20 years, resulting in fewer recruitment opportunities through time. In areas that have crossed climatic thresholds for regeneration, stand-replacing fires may result in abrupt ecosystem transitions to nonforest states.
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Ecologist Charles Post travels across Nevada to explore how overpopulated wild horses effect native wildlife. A Wildlife Society film by Charles Post, Phillip Baribeau, and Ben Masters.
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Bristlecone pine has weathered many climate changes. They’ve been getting punched in the face their entire species history and even, in some ways, thrive in the face of adversity. But whether they can make those adjustments in their range fast enough to keep up with climate change, that’s the question.
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Large-scale encroached conifer removal is an increasingly widespread practice that benefits rangeland productivity and restores habitat quality for sagegrouse and other sagebrush-dependent wildlife. Recent studies show that after encroached conifers are removed, sage-grouse occupancy, nest survival, and brood success are greatly improved. Studies also show that sagebrush songbirds recolonize rapidly following encroached conifer removal.