Wildfire Impacts, and Post-Fire Rehabilitation and Restoration
Land use and unintentional (e.g., wildfire) disturbances are increasingly dominant factors affecting land-use planning and management of semiarid landscapes, particularly in sagebrush steppe rangelands. In the last 10-20 years, wildfires are occurring more frequently and increasingly in very large burn patches.
Major conservation investments are often directed towards stabilizing soils and promoting native or desirable perennial plant communities that support wildlife and sustain livestock values under current and future conditions. My research group is evaluating risks of soil erosion and exotic-plant invasions, and approaches for increasing the effectiveness of post-fire seeding, herbicide applications, and also effects of grazing-resumption timing. Our activities contribute to the information base needed by managers to preserve or restore resistance and resilience to burned rangeland landscapes. Research sub-topics include:
Post-fire seeding, planting, and herbicide spraying effectiveness; finding ways to improve success
Seed-source effects, determined from actual seedings and through common-garden studies
Post-fire wind erosion: causes, consequences, and management implications
Developing monitoring approaches for post-fire landscapes
Assessing bunchgrass maturity and readiness for grazing
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
If you are unable to access or download a data file online, we can provide it to you via other means. Please send an email to fresc_outreach@usgs.gov and include the citation for the publication of interest.
If a publication is not available online, we may be able to provide you with a reprint by request. Please send an email to fresc_outreach@usgs.gov and include the citation for the publication of interest.
Impact of unburned remnant sagebrush versus outplants on post-fire landscape rehabilitation
Postfire growth of seeded and planted big sagebrush - Strategic designs for restoring Greater Sage-grouse nesting habitat
Soil characteristics are associated with gradients of big sagebrush canopy structure after disturbance
Bunchgrass root abundances and their relationship to resistance and resilience of a burned shrub-steppe landscape
Landscape and organismal factors affecting sagebrush-seedling transplant survival after megafire restoration
Appropriate sample sizes for monitoring burned pastures in sagebrush steppe: How many plots are enough, and can one size fit all?
Thresholds and hotspots for shrub restoration following a heterogeneous megafire
A conservation paradox in the Great Basin—Altering sagebrush landscapes with fuel breaks to reduce habitat loss from wildfire
Plant community resistance to invasion by Bromus species: The roles of community attributes, Bromus interactions with plant communities, and Bromus traits
Challenges of establishing big sgebrush (Artemisia tridentata) in rangeland restoration: effects of herbicide, mowing, whole-community seeding, and sagebrush seed sources
Wind erosion from a sagebrush steppe burned by wildfire: measurements of PM10 and total horizontal sediment flux
Transport of biologically important nutrients by wind in an eroding cold desert
Land use and unintentional (e.g., wildfire) disturbances are increasingly dominant factors affecting land-use planning and management of semiarid landscapes, particularly in sagebrush steppe rangelands. In the last 10-20 years, wildfires are occurring more frequently and increasingly in very large burn patches.
Major conservation investments are often directed towards stabilizing soils and promoting native or desirable perennial plant communities that support wildlife and sustain livestock values under current and future conditions. My research group is evaluating risks of soil erosion and exotic-plant invasions, and approaches for increasing the effectiveness of post-fire seeding, herbicide applications, and also effects of grazing-resumption timing. Our activities contribute to the information base needed by managers to preserve or restore resistance and resilience to burned rangeland landscapes. Research sub-topics include:
Post-fire seeding, planting, and herbicide spraying effectiveness; finding ways to improve success
Seed-source effects, determined from actual seedings and through common-garden studies
Post-fire wind erosion: causes, consequences, and management implications
Developing monitoring approaches for post-fire landscapes
Assessing bunchgrass maturity and readiness for grazing
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
If you are unable to access or download a data file online, we can provide it to you via other means. Please send an email to fresc_outreach@usgs.gov and include the citation for the publication of interest.
If a publication is not available online, we may be able to provide you with a reprint by request. Please send an email to fresc_outreach@usgs.gov and include the citation for the publication of interest.