Management Tools

As public, tribal, and military lands continue to experience rapid change brought on by fire, invasive species, and drought, there is a growing need for science-management partnerships to apply innovative research and technologies to support decision-making at an accelerated pace.

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists are working with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP) to advance efforts to deploy next generation fire behavior models through a research-to-operations transition to enable land managers to use advanced modeling tools for real-time decision making. As part of this effort, USGS is leading an...

Land and resource managers are increasingly aware of the contribution of biocrusts to ecological functions and have expressed interest in training and resources to recognize biocrusts in the field. This knowledge will help enable managers to address biocrusts in carrying out analyses under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). WERC scientists have drafted a single page, easy guide to...

Land and resource managers are increasingly interested in up-to-date information for biocrust conservation and management. To facilitate the use of evolving science by land managers, WERC scientists are compiling a synthesis of recent work on biocrusts related to their ecology and management. This knowledge will help enable managers to address biocrusts in carrying out analyses under the National...

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...

The USGS has initiated a new collaboration effort with Department of War (DoW) in the sagebrush biome. The goal of this effort is to establish a network with DoW resource managers to define pervasive natural resource issues facing DoW installations and to identify existing innovative USGS science and tools that support DoW resource managers. Through this effort, the USGS will provide subject...

The USGS Southwest Biological Science Center is coordinating the Southwest Fire Innovation Landscape Network to prepare fire and natural resource managers for rapidly changing fire landscapes by conducting research and building science-management partnerships. The network develops advanced tools and technologies to assess fuel loads and the effectiveness of fuel treatments, understand wildfire...

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...

The USGS Fire Science Support for DOI Lands project is a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) effort to address key aspects of recent legislation concerning wildland fire on Department of the Interior (DOI) lands. The project was initiated in 2023, and work will continue through 2025. The project is comprised of four separate but interrelated tasks and is guided by the input of DOI bureau representatives...

Managing wildland fuels and post-fire environments are key strategies to reduce the risk and negative impacts of wildfire, and can even promote beneficial effects of wildfire. Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey are reviewing, summarizing, and analyzing what is currently known about fuel treatment and post-fire treatment effectiveness in the United States. Monitoring and evaluating the...

Greater sage-grouse ( Centrocercus urophasianus) are at the center of state and national land use policies largely because of their unique life-history traits as an ecological indicator for health of sagebrush ecosystems. Researchers within the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Colorado State University (CSU) worked with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and state wildlife agencies to develop a...

USGS researchers are using remote-sensing and other broadscale datasets to study and predict recovery of sagebrush across the sage-grouse range, assessing influence of disturbance, restoration treatments, soil moisture, and other ecological conditions on trends in sagebrush cover. The results will be used to inform conservation prioritization models, economic analyses, projections of future...