Decision Support
The Great Basin Fire Science Exchange and Nevada Partners for Conservation and Development co-hosted this workshop that addressed maintenance of intact sagebrush communities in the face of multiple ecological stressors.
Workshop presentations available in pdf format:
- Needs assessment synthesis and workshop intro – Génie MontBlanc, University of Nevada, Reno
- Vegetation resilience and the importance of the herbaceous understory –Jeanne Chambers, US Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station
- Vegetation monitoring and issues of scale – Pat Shaver, USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service
- Defining an intact sagebrush community – Brad Schultz, University of Nevada Cooperative Extension
- Current status of ungulates in sagebrush systems and managing for healthy populations – Tony Wasley, Nevada Department of Wildlife
- Wildlife/habitat relationships within the intact sagebrush-grass continuum – Kent McAdoo, University of Nevada Cooperative Extension
- Managing habitats for sage-grouse: do we need a sagebrush management decision support tool? – Clinton McCarthy, USDA Forest Service
- Collaboration in restoration – Lee Turner, Nevada Partners for Conservation and Development, Nevada Department of Wildlife
- Go big or go home: planning and implementing vegetation management projects at a meaningful scale – Paul Briggs, Bureau of Land Management
- Development and use of forbs in restoration – Scott Jensen, USDA Forest Service
- Synergistic monitoring project results and management implications – John Swanson, University of Nevada, Reno
Meeting presentations.
Presentations in pdf format from the 2017 winter meetings and workshops focused on the difficulties facing the restoration/rehabilitation of Great Basin rangelands.
In this webinar, Jerry Tagestad, Sr. Research Scientist with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, presents an overview of tools to aid rangeland managers in deriving information from the abundant geospatial data available today. Particular emphasis was placed on a recently developed pre-season fire risk model that could be adapted for the Great Basin.
Webinar recording
This webinar describes tools for using geospatial technologies to focus management in those areas that will most contribute to the conservation of sagebrush communities important to sage-grouse given anticipated landscape changes.
Presented by Chris Balzotti, Stan Kitchen, and Clint McCarthy, and hosted by the USFS Rocky Mountain Research Station.
In this webinar, Bryce Richardson, Research Geneticist, USFS RMRS, discusses the climatic considerations for sagebrush subspecies and what native plants could potentially fill the void left by sagebrush in the upcoming decades as parts of the Great Basin transition to Mojave desert. He also discusses how understanding the subspecies composition of seed used in restoration could aid in improving restoration outcomes.
This webinar presented by Holly Prendeville, Research Geneticist, USFS PNW, explains provisional and empirical seed zones using and discussing tools available that allow us to use seed zones to select genetically appropriate plant materials for restoration, which is goal one of the National Seed Strategy.
Producing native plant materials for restoration: 10 rules to collect and maintain genetic diversity
In this webinar, Andrea Kramer, Conservation Scientist with the Chicago Botanic Garden, describes each potential production step where genetic diversity can be lost and outline 10 rules to assist in the collection and production of native plant material for restoration, providing justification for, and examples of why, each rule is important.
In this webinar, Heidi Newsome, Wildlife Biologist, USFWS, Hanford Reach National Monument, discusses the performance (survival, health) and economic costs of using seedling planting as a method to rehabilitate habitat impacted by wildfire.
View article.
This study identifies a broader set of objectives, decisions and constraints to be integrated into the next generation operational research models. Including these changes would support evaluation of a suite of response options and the efficient resource packages necessary to achieve response objectives, aiding decision maker’s ability to minimize responder exposure while reducing the social, ecological and economic impacts of wildfires. Researchers follow with a proposed framework for expanding current large fire decision support systems, and conclude by briefly highlighting critical research needs and organizational changes necessary to create and implement these tools and overcome the negative consequences of positive feedbacks derived from historical and current wildfire management policies and strategies.
View paper.
This study compared resultant travel rates to LiDAR-derived estimates of slope, vegetation density and ground surface roughness using linear mixed effects modelling to quantify the relationships between these landscape conditions and travel rates. The best-fit model revealed significant negative relationships between travel rates and each of the three landscape conditions, suggesting that, in order of decreasing magnitude, as density, slope and roughness increase, travel rates decrease. Model coefficients were used to map travel impedance within the study area using LiDAR data, which enabled mapping the most efficient routes from fire crew locations to safety zones and provided an estimate of travel time.