Images

A field technician measuring plant cover at a monitoring plot at the site of the Martin Fire in northern Nevada. The plot is marked with a pin flag.

This landscape in Rabbit Valley in Colorado was burned and then invaded by the exotic annual grass cheatgrass. A formerly diverse plant community was replaced by a sea of highly flammable grass. 

A plot that was aerially seeded with native plants after the Martin Fire in northern Nevada. Aerial seeding is a method in which a helicopter or plane drops seeds across large regions.

A Project ROAM (Rapid and Other Methods for Assessment and Monitoring) crew collecting vegetation data at a complex plot with over 40 unique species. 

A Swainson's hawk perched on a power pole in the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area in southern Idaho.

A golden eagle perched on a power pole in southern Wyoming. In some parts of the Great Basin, power poles are the tallest structures available for perching and nesting.

A Swainson's hawk perched on top of a utility pole in southwest Idaho on a bright, sunny day.

A Swainson's hawk taking flight from a power pole in the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area in southern Idaho.

A prairie falcon perched on a utility pole in Colorado holding its prey, a Eurasian collared dove, in its talons.

A field of three-tip sagebrush at sunset in Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve in southern Idaho.

A red-tailed hawk perched on a power pole in the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area in southern Idaho.

A ferruginous hawk perched on a power transmission structure in the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area in southern Idaho.

This site south of Rock Springs in Wyoming represents an intact sagebrush ecosystem. It has not been burned or invaded by exotic annual grasses. Undisturbed sagebrush steppe has bare ground between shrubs which helps to limit the spread of wildfire. When cheatgrass invades fires can grow larger.

A fruiting spiney hopsage (Gravia spinosa) plant in a sagebrush steppe landscape in the Owyhee Mountains of Idaho. Project ROAM (Rapid and Other Methods for Assessment and Monitoring) plots are sampled across a variety of rangeland ecosystems. 

Paddle cactus and calochortus lily in a meadow full of native needle and thread grass in Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve in southern Idaho.

The Saline Lake Ecosystems IWAA Waterbird Movement Project began tagging American Avocets in March 2023 to track their movements across the landscape. Tracking data from these birds will help scientists better understand why these birds choose to use the terminal lake and wetland habitats they do in the Great Basin.

Lake Abert, Oregon is one of the 20 terminal lakes identified by USGS partners as priority ecosystems for study by the Saline Lakes Ecosystems IWAA.

American Avocet are a bird that relies heavily on the Saline Lakes ecosystem during their spring migration periods. Over 50% of these birds exist here. Part of their use includes using the terminal lakes there to breed. 

A large quadcopter drone rests on the tailgate of a truck waiting to fly with hyperspectral imagery to estimate vegetation cover. 

A quadcopter drone rests on the orange landing pad, ready to fly over Rapid and Other Methods for Assessment and Monitoring (ROAM) plots to collect data that will be used to generate cover and density estimates.

A meadow in City of Rocks National Reserve full of native shrubs and grasses, as well as penstemon (purple), paintbrush (orange), and hooker's balsam (yellow). This healthy meadow ecosystem is bordered by pinyon pine trees.