Ecosystem Change and Disturbance

USGS is working closely with partners in the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and the Intermountain West Joint Venture (IMJV) to collect and summarize spatial datasets that describe measurable aspects of invasive annual grasses (e.g., biomass or presence) across the western United Stated and beyond. The products developed through this project provide...

USGS researchers, in collaboration with the Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative and other partners, are developing a statistically based prioritization tool that will aid agencies in their management decisions.

Assessing vulnerability to climate change is a key step in anticipating climate impacts on species.

USGS and Colorado State University researchers are conducting analyses and predictions of sagebrush recovery in the Great Basin and Wyoming and assess the role of weather, soils, and reseeding treatments.

Prioritizing landscapes for sage-grouse habitat conservation is complicated by long-term changes in climate.

USGS and Colorado State University scientists are modelling multispecies connectivity through intact and disturbed areas of the sagebrush landscape.

USGS and Colorado State University scientists will use data about sage-grouse and mule deer population data across Wyoming to evaluate the effectiveness of disturbance thresholds and investigate the efficacy of other disturbance metrics.

USGS researchers and partners are working to investigate how transportation activities may drive changes in sage-grouse populations, using annually time-stamped transportation from the Wyoming Department of Transportation and sage-grouse population data from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

Invasive annual grasses (fine fuels) are a significant challenge for land and wildlife management.

Resistance and resilience concepts provide an important framework for sagebrush habitat management. Existing spatial products have been developed using NRCS soil data; models using new data and methods can improve these products.

Ecological impacts of drought have been rarely considered compared to agricultural or municipal water supply effects.

In recent decades, wildfires have increased in size and intensity, and the fire season has lengthened. This and other factors have increased wildfire suppression costs and risks to human health and safety. SEA economists investigate numerous aspects of wildland fire, its impacts, and how to mitigate the risk wildfire poses to people, resources, and property.