Fact Sheet / Brief

Presidential memorandum – Creating a federal strategy to promote the health of honey bees and other pollinators

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This presidential memorandum outlines federal efforts and steps to reverse pollinator losses and help restore populations to healthy levels. The steps include the development of new public-private partnerships and increased citizen engagement.

Biological soil crusts and fire in Utah’s west desert

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This brief highlights a study following fire in Utah’s Rush Valley, where researchers found that fire killed biological soil crust pretty thoroughly, which wasn’t a surprise. However, following the fire cyanobacteria, the helpful and essential ingredient in biocrusts, did not return soon after fire, but Firmicutes, another tenacious and aggressive bacteria, did move in.

Small mammals and cheatgrass

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This research brief highlights a study investigating whether on not deer mice could help combat the invasive weeds infiltrating desert landscapes after fire.

Greater sage-grouse space-use models inform surface use designations

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This brief summarizes a study that provides empirical support for distances between 5 and 7.5 km from leks for surface use designation. It is important to note that sage-grouse space use does not fully inform the extent of no-activity areas. Some industrial activities, such as those generating acoustic pollution, can contribute to negative impacts which extend beyond the physical footprint of each installation.

Saving sage-grouse from the trees: a proactive solution to reducing a key threat to a candidate species

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This scientific paper suggests that sage-grouse incur population-level impacts at very low levels of encroachment, and leks were less likely to be active where smaller trees were dispersed.

A summary of this study and a video were made available by the Sage Grouse Initiative.

Wildland fire fact sheet for the public and media

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This brief summarizes fire ecology and management issues in California mixed-conifer forests for an audience without a background in fire, including the general public and media.

Do carbon offsets work? The role of forest management in greenhouse gas mitigation

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In this synthesis of the latest available science, authors challenge the underlying assumptions used to establish most carbon-trading mechanisms, including the notion that lightly managed or unmanaged forests will be more effective at sequestering carbon over long periods than would a combination of managed forests and efficiently produced wood products. They take issue with the measurement systems used to determine trading parameters and find validity in the concerns that many market experts have expressed about additionality and leakage. This report details reasons to look for other solutions to greenhouse gas emission challenges.

Rapid lesson sharing – Smokejumper para-cargo burnover, Citadel fire

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This brief shares information about the Citadel fire incident and lessons learned by and from the Great Basin Smokejumpers.

Fire history of a mixed conifer woodland at the ecotone between the southern Great Basin and Mojave desert

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This research brief reports that the cessation of fire use by Indians and a shift to climatic conditions less favorable to fire are both explanations for decreased fire frequency over the past century and a half in the southern Great Basin and Mojave desert ecotone.

 

Effect of leaf beetle herbivory on the fire behavior of invasive tamarisk

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This brief evaluates the potential effects of Diorhabda herbivory on tamarisk fire behavior at Great Basin and a Mojave Desert sites.

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