Monitoring
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Join this webinar and robust discussion about innovative collaborations and case studies developed through a partnership between Trout Unlimited and the Forest Service. We will share examples of successful projects, tools such as partnership agreements, and how this model of volunteer monitoring can be expanded across other resource areas and throughout the nation to connect communities to their public lands and waters.
Projects and tools include:
- Stream Restoration Collaboration
- Angler Science
- Trout Unlimited’s Citizen Science Framework
- TU and USFS Master Agreement
- Forest Service Citizen Science Toolkit and Fund
With remarks from Trout Unlimited and Forest Service leadership:
Keith Curley, Vice President for Eastern Conservation, Trout Unlimited
Chris French, Deputy Chief for National Forest System, USDA Forest Service
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ALERTWildfire is a consortium of three universities — The University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), University of California San Diego (UCSD), and the University of Oregon (UO) — providing access to state-of-the-art Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) fire cameras and associated tools to help firefighters and first responders: (1) discover/locate/confirm fire ignition, (2) quickly scale fire resources up or down appropriately, (3) monitor fire behavior through containment, (4) during firestorms, help evacuations through enhanced situational awareness, and (5) ensure contained fires are monitored appropriately through their demise.
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Long-term vegetation dynamics across public rangelands in the western United States are not well understood because of the lack of large-scale, readily available historic datasets. The Bureau of Land Management’s Soil-Vegetation Inventory Method (SVIM) program was implemented between 1977 and 1983 across 14 western states, but the data have not been easily accessible. This guide introduces the SVIM vegetation cover dataset in a georeferenced, digital format; summarizes how the data were collected; and discuss potential limitations and biases. It demonstrates how SVIM data can be compared with contemporary monitoring datasets to quantify changes in vegetation associated with wildfire and the abundance of exotic invasive species. Specifically, it compares SVIM vegetation cover data with cover data collected by BLM’s Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring (AIM) program (2011–2016) in a focal area in the northern Great Basin. Comparisons between historic SVIM data and recent AIM data documented significant declines in the occupancy and cover of native shrubs and native perennial forbs, and a significant increase in exotic annual forbs. Our study demonstrates that SVIM data will be an important resource for researchers interested in quantifying vegetation change through time across public rangelands in the western United States.
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The Nevada Rangeland Monitoring Handbook has been designed to provide a clear overview of the complex and often confusing world of rangeland monitoring. Included are a suite of short- and long-term monitoring methods.
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The Rangeland Analysis Platform (RAP) is an innovative online mapping tool that can be used by anyone—no fees or registration required. The tool provides quick snapshots of rangeland vegetation. It allows users to easily compare trends in rangeland resources through time at a ranch, county, or watershed scale.
The RAP includes a data layer of annual herbaceous cover across rangelands of the sagebrush biome.
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The Rangeland Analysis Platform (RAP) is a free, online tool that helps landowners and natural resource managers track vegetation through time and plan actions to improve America’s grazing lands. The RAP can be used to provide strategies to improve productivity of grazing lands, manage weeds, mitigate impacts of wildfire and drought, and benefit wildlife habitats. Powered by Google Earth Engine, RAP merges machine learning and cloud-based computing with remote sensing and field data to provide the first-ever annual cover maps of rangeland vegetation. This new platform allows people to view trends in rangeland resources at an unprecedented blend of space (from the Great Plains to the Pacific Ocean), time (1984 to present), and scale (at the ranch, watershed, or county level). Designed to be combined with local knowledge, the RAP helps users better understand vegetation change through time to aid in conservation planning and outcome evaluation. This webinar will describe the innovative breakthrough in mapping vegetation cover and demonstrate RAP applications.
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The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Office of Policy Analysis has invited LANDFIRE, to present a seminar, Foundational All-Lands Data for Improving Decisions in Land Management, on September 10, 2018, in Washington, D.C. as part of their Seminar Series. The presentation is open to the public via webcast; the recorded event will also be posted to the Office of Policy Analysis website.
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State-of-the-art mountaintop cameras from the University of Nevada, Reno, a new and expanding tool for fire mangers who oversee the wildland and wildland/urban interface, spotted or tracked 240 fires in Nevada and California in 2017, helping to keep firefighters more situationally aware and able to mount appropriate responses more rapidly over tens of thousands of square miles of forests and rangelands, including rural communities.
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This study informs researchers and practitioners seeking to optimize terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) sampling methods for vegetation monitoring in dryland ecosystems through three analyses. First, we quantify the 2D extent of occluded regions based on the range from single scan positions. Second, we measure the efficacy of additional scan positions on the reduction of 2D occluded regions (area) using progressive configurations of scan positions in 1 ha plots. Third, we test the reproducibility of 3D sampling yielded by a 5-scan/ha sampling methodology using redundant sets of scans. Analyses were performed using measurements at analysis scales of 5 to 50 cm across the 1-ha plots, and we considered plots in grass and shrub-dominated communities separately.
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This project inventoried 97 projects implemented by 32 organizations, most in the last 10 years. We found that beaver-related stream restoration projects undertaken mostly involved the relocation of nuisance beavers. The most common goal was to store water, either with beaver dams or artificial structures. Beavers were often moved without regard to genetics, disease, or potential conflicts with nearby landowners. Few projects included post-implementation monitoring or planned for longer term issues, such as what happens when beavers abandon a site or when beaver dams or structures breach. Human dimensions were rarely considered and water rights and other issues were mostly unresolved or addressed through ad-hoc agreements. We conclude that the practice and implementation of beaver-related restoration has outpaced research on its efficacy and best practices. Further scientific research is necessary, especially research that informs the establishment of clear guidelines for best practices.