Management and Restoration of Priority Western Landscapes

In order to break the annual grass fire-cycle in the sagebrush steppe, land managers use pre-emergent herbicides to reduce annual grass populations and seeding to increase fire-tolerant perennials. These tools must be applied to the same soils in ways that are not counterproductive, and their application must therefore be staggered in time, which we refer to as layering. Livestock grazing can also...

Management partners have identified a major need to understand the short and long-term consequences of altered wildfire patterns, vegetation change, climate, and management actions for the carbon cycle. This project aims to quantify carbon storage and greenhouse gas emissions in sagebrush rangelands. Researchers will link findings to the Sagebrush Conservation Design Framework and provide...

Seeding and herbicide treatments are a key aspect of the strategy used to break the annual grass-fire cycle in sagebrush steppe. However, past studies report considerable variability in the effectiveness of seeding and herbicide treatments. To generate a more consistent interpretation of post-fire herbicide and seeding effects, we are compiling, reviewing, and synthesizing findings from past...

The Elwha River – located on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington - is home to an iconic dam removal and ecosystem restoration project. The Elwha offers a unique setting to explore the ecosystem level effects of dam removal and river restoration because of its prominence, such as large sediment volume, several salmon populations, and pristine wilderness.

The Wildland Fire Trends Tool (WFTT) is a data visualization and analysis tool that calculates and displays wildfire trends and patterns for the western U.S. based on user-defined regions of interest, time periods, and ecosystem types. Users can use the tool to easily generate a variety of maps, graphs, and tabular data products that are informative for all levels of expertise. The WFTT provides...

The Issue: Streamflow permanence refers to the probability that a stream will lose surface flow (become a dry channel), as well as the timing, duration, and frequency of drying. Patterns of streamflow permanence drive important decisions regarding forest management and other land uses. The Colville National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan (2019), for example, specifies riparian management...

Birds are excellent indicators of ecosystem condition because they are responsive to environmental change, have important ecological functions – such as seed dispersal and insect consumption, and are easy to observe.

Recent popular news has implied that Weed-Suppressive Bacteria (WSB) holds promise for cheatgrass control, yet a lack of peer-reviewed research exists to support this claim. USGS researchers stepped up to the challenge of objectively and rigorously evaluating the effectiveness of WSB for controlling exotic annual grasses, such as Cheatgrass and Medusahead, while also examining its impact on native...

Fire rehabilitation programs have existed within federal agencies since the early 1960s. The U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management are the largest users of emergency stabilization and rehabilitation (ES&R) funds, but these agencies only sporadically implement proposed monitoring and rarely use common protocols. As a result, it is impossible to draw scientifically credible conclusions...

The Land Treatment Exploration Tool provides a practical resource for managers who are planning restoration and rehabilitation actions on public lands. The tool generates a variety of spatial products while being user friendly for all levels of GIS expertise, even to those with little or no experience.

Increases in summer stream temperature may exceed the thermal tolerances of aquatic biota that are adapted to colder environments. Information on thermal patterns can aid in the conservation of cold-water aquatic organisms such as Pacific salmon and help identify important habitat for restoration.

Plant communities are the foundation for terrestrial trophic webs and animal habitat, and their structure and species composition are a result of biological and physical drivers. Additionally, they have a major role in geologic, geomorphic and soil development processes. Several global and regional stressors (for example, climate change, atmospheric and precipitation chemistry, introduced pests...