Research Database
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Reliability of satellite-based vegetation maps for planning wildfire-fuel treatments in shrub steppe: Inferences from two contrasting national parks
Year: 2025
Protecting habitat threatened by increasing wildfire size and frequency requires identifying the spatial intersection of wildfire behavior and ecological conditions that favor positive management outcomes. In the perennial sagebrush steppe of Western North America, invasions by fire-prone annual grasses are a key concern, and management of them requires reliable maps of vegetation cover, fuels, and wildfire behavior. We compared commonly used, publicly available vegetation cover and fuels maps, specifically the Rangeland Analysis Platform (RAP) and LANDFIRE, with field-based assessments at…
Publication Type: Journal Article
Changing fire regimes in the Great Basin USA
Year: 2025
Wildfire is a natural disturbance in landscapes of the Western United States, but the effects and extents of fire are changing. Differences between historical and contemporary fire regimes can help identify reasons for observed changes in landscape composition. People living and working in the Great Basin, USA, are observing altered fire conditions, but spatial information about the degree and direction of change and departure from historical fire regimes is lacking. This study estimates how fire regimes have changed in the major Great Basin vegetation types over the past 60 years with…
Publication Type: Journal Article
Not all Fuel-Reduction Treatments Degrade Biocrusts: Herbicides Cause Mostly Neutral to Positive Effects on Cover of Biocrusts
Year: 2019
In response to increasing fire, fuel-reduction treatments are being used to minimize large fire risk. Although biocrusts are associated with reduced cover of fire-promoting, invasive grasses, the impact of fuel-reduction treatments on biocrusts is poorly understood. We use data from a long-term experiment, the Sagebrush Steppe Treatment Evaluation Project, testing the following fuel-reduction treatments: mowing, prescribed fire, and the use of two herbicides: one commonly used to reduce shrub cover, tebuthiuron, and one commonly used to combat cheatgrass, imazapic. Looking at sites with high…
Publication Type: Journal Article