Images

A Berlese-Tullgren funnel system that is used for studying soil invertebrates. This laboratory technique causes soil invertebrates to move away from the soil surface as it is being warmed and dried by the lights above. The invertebrates are caught in jars of ethanol below the funnels, counted, and identified under a microscope.

Willamette River near Corvallis, Oregon

An example of mowed linear fuel breaks along both sides of a gravel road in southwestern Idaho

Willamette River side channel, Snag Boat Bend, Finley Nat'l Wildlife Refuge near Corvallis, Oregon

A USGS scientist spreads moss fragments for a study to test the restoration potential of moss, an important component of biological soil crust. A jute net, foreground, helps stabilize the moss fragments as they adhere to the soil.

The Alsea River in the Oregon Coast Range

The Snake River is the largest tributary of the Columbia River. It drains over 108,000 square miles in mainly Idaho and portions of Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming. The climate of much of the Snake River watershed is arid or semi-arid and spring snowmelt contributes substantially to the river’s flow.

Metolius River, Smiling River Campground, Deschutes National Forest

Western purple martins require abundant snags for nesting. Retaining snags after timber harvest is one solution to help this declining species recover.

This image taken at the site of the 2015 Soda Wildfire shows the effect of aspect on plant communities in the sagebrush steppe. Aspect refers to the direction in which a landform, like these hills, is oriented in relation to the sun's path across the sky.

The sagebrush steppe of the western U.S., including the site of the 2015 Soda Wildfire pictured here, is vast and encompasses landscapes with variable elevation, weather, water availability, aspect, soil type, and more.

Looking out over a red alder forest with evergreen trees at Cascade Head Preserve in Oregon.

PTT, or platform transmitter terminal, recovered from 22.83 year old male osprey. 

A western purple martin on a snag - or dead tree- in western Oregon. Purple martins require snags for nesting.

Researchers examine a bat (Myotis sp.) to test for the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome.

A field technician taking a soil core sample at Wildcat, a field site in southwest Idaho. Scientists are studying the effects of herbicides used to control exotic annual grasses on soil.

The Wildcat experimental treatment site in southwest Idaho at the base of the Owyhee Mountains. The brown square was treated with pre-emergent herbicide and is free of cheatgrass, a few native perennial bunchgrasses were able to establish. This image was taken the first Spring after treatment.

The USGS is researching how trees and epiphytic lichens are affected by nitrogen deposition in temperate forests.

Cover photo for Shinneman, D.J., Welty, J.L., Arkle, R.S., Pilliod, D.S., Glenn, N.F., McIlroy, S.K., Halford, A.S., 2018, Fuels guide and database for intact and invaded big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) ecological sites—User manual: U.S. Geological Survey Data Series Report 1048, p.

This remote area along the southern Idaho-Oregon border was affected by the 2015 Soda Fire, which burned nearly 400 square miles of sagebrush habitat important to many species of wildlife, as well as federal and private ranchlands.

This auger is used to collect 1 meter deep soil cores for a carbon budget study associated with the SageSTEP project. SageSTEP is a long-term, multi-disciplinary experiment evaluating sagebrush restoration methods in the Great Basin.