Land Management

FORT researchers provide sound science to support the Department of Interior in its efforts to preserve American heritage, streamline species listing decisions and promote species recovery, manage wild horses and burros using efficient, cost-effective tools, and sustain hunting and fishing on public lands. This research is developed in partnership with resource managers from local, State, Federal...

Wildlife movement and distribution can be influenced by local conditions like topography and landscape features, and the distances within which species respond to their landscape – scales of effect – can vary over space and time. We are estimating scales of effect for wildlife population trends to help land managers determine the distance within which wildlife will respond to landscape change.

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists are working with the U.S. Department of War (DoW) Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP) to demonstrate and improve how next-generation fire behavior models inform land management decision-making for partners within the National Innovation Landscape Network (Innovation Landscapes Network). Specifically, this project looks to...

Planning and managing outdoor recreation on public land and water entails a series of choices, many of which are economic in nature. Economics is useful for informing a wide range of decision-making processes in the context of outdoor recreation management, including why people choose to engage in recreation and where, how people substitute between different types of recreation activities and...

Habitat models can provide critical information on the current and potential distribution of plant species, as well as help target and support conservation efforts. Despite their potential utility in public land management, model use may be constrained by a variety of factors including staff access to and trust in models. In this project, we seek to bring together model users and model developers...

The Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, as amended, states that, "It is the policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death; and to accomplish this they are to be considered in the area where presently found, as an integral part of the natural system of the public lands (PL 92-195, Sec. 1331, Congressional...

Federal investments in land management projects protect Federal trusts, ensure public health and safety, and preserve and enhance the benefits provided by ecosystems to people. These investments also generate business activity and create jobs. However, limited information often exists on the costs and associated economic impacts of public land management activities.

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.

This interdisciplinary project combines expert judgment on treatment costs with spatially explicit ecological modeling to estimate the financial resources needed to address the threat of invasive annual grass across the entire sagebrush biome. Results of the assessment will provide economic insights that can inform cost-effective resource allocation to efficiently achieve sagebrush conservation...

Public lands provide many important resources, values, and uses to the American people. For example, many lands offer abundant recreational opportunities while also conserving habitat for iconic wildlife species and delivering stunning scenic views. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manages the largest area of public lands in the United States and is committed to using science to inform their...

Through a collaborative effort with multiple state and federal agencies, university researchers, and individual stakeholders, we are producing a set of predictive seasonal habitat maps for greater sage-grouse ( Centrocercus urophasianus) spanning the entirety of the species’ U.S. distribution. This is the largest habitat modeling effort of its kind for the species and uses a large, compiled...

FORT aquatic scientists analyze rings of riparian trees relating tree growth and establishment to historical flow. They then use the tree rings to reconstruct the flow in past centuries. Flow reconstructions discover the frequency and magnitude of past droughts and floods—information that is essential for management of rivers and water supplies. They have pioneered the use of cottonwood, a...