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This guide provides information about stakeholder groups to assist managers as they deal with issues facing these systems. The guide was created for land managers to consult as they plan and carry out projects, particularly on public land where groups often have conflicting interests.
Webinar recording.
Science to support the Wildfire Crisis Strategy
Land management-focused panel discussion with smoke experts
Hosted by the USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station
View Chapter 9 of the book, Exotic brome-grasses in arid and semiarid ecosystems of the western US: causes, consequences, and management implications.
A prominent goal of invasive plant management is to prevent or reduce the spread of invasive species into uninvaded landscapes and regions. Monitoring and control efforts often rely on scientific knowledge of suitable habitat for the invasive species. However, rising temperatures and altered precipitation projected with climate change are likely to shift the geographic range of that suitable habitat. Here, we review experimental and modeling studies of climatic limits to exotic annual Bromus distribution in the Intermountain West in the context of projections of future climate change.
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This report found that treating low infestations across all three levels of forage production yields a financial gain, ranging from 21 cents to $4.94 per acre. However, treating highly infested areas showed a financial loss of $3.76 to $5.43 per acre, despite the level of forage production. Moderate infestations showed a financial gain with treatment only on sites producing 1,000 or 1,500 pounds per acre of forage.
Seed enhancement technologies such as seed priming and seed coating, developed by the agricultural seed industry, are standard procedures for the majority of crop and horticultural seeds. However, such technologies are only just being evaluated for native plant seeds despite the potential benefits of such treatments for improving restoration effectiveness. Key approaches applicable to native seed include: (1) seed priming, where seeds are hydrated under controlled conditions, and (2) seed coating, in which external materials and compounds are applied onto seeds through a diversity of treatments. These technologies are commonly employed to accelerate and synchronize germination and to improve seed vigor, seedling emergence, establishment, and to facilitate mechanized seed delivery to site, through standardizing seed size and shape. Seed enhancement technologies have now been tested on native seeds to overcome logistical and ecological barriers in restoration. However, further research is needed to extend the application of seed enhancements to a broader array of species, ecosystems, and regions as well as to evaluate new and innovative approaches such as the incorporation of beneficial soil microorganisms and plant growth regulators in the coatings. As techniques in native seed enhancement develop, these approaches need to be capable of being scaled‐up to provide the tonnages of seed required for global restoration.
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Four case studies shared at the 2020 Invasive Annual Grass workshop provide lessons learned and opportunities to advance future management efforts to inform the direction for new science. Tackling the complex problem of invasive annual grass management will require an expansion of science-based case studies of real-world management efforts, strong science and management partnerships, and a platform for continuous learning and communication, such as a comprehensive database to document management outcomes along with Open Access journals that allow publishing of negative and null outcomes.
Visit conference webpage.
Life from the Ashes explored the positive and negative impacts of prescribed and natural fire related to insects and other invertebrates in landscapes across North America. The symposium provided research and practical insights to inform natural areas professionals as they manage landscapes with fire.
This program was provided in a collaboration between the Natural Areas Association (NAA) and the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation (Xerces). NAA serves those dedicated to the management and restoration of biologically important natural areas in North America. Xerces is an international nonprofit organization that protects the natural world through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitats. Protecting nature requires reliable science to inform practices on-the-ground and a network of stewards who work tirelessly to protect, manage and restore land and water biodiversity.
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Millions of acres of fuels reduction treatments are being implemented each year in the fire adapted forests of the US. Typical these fuel reduction treatments target small diameter trees for removal producing large amounts of unmerchantable woody material and elevating surface fuel loadings. Often this material has no market value and is piled by hand or with heavy machinery and burned on site. We studied replicated experimental pile burns from two locations (Wenatchee, WA and Santa Clara, NM) over three years. We examined the effects of time since construction (i.e., pile age) and burn season (fall and spring) on fuel bed properties, combustion dynamics, fuel consumption, and charcoal formation for hand-constructed piles in thinned ponderosa pine-dominated sites. The webinar will also touch on pile decomposition rates and unplanned fire in areas with piled fuels.
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Scientists at the Southern Research Stations of the US Forest Service combined the hydrometeorological and fire data for 168 fire-affected areas in the contiguous United States collected between 1984 and 2013. This enabled them to determine when wildland fires can affect the annual amount of flow in rivers, and to create a suite of climate and wildland fire impact models adapted to local conditions.