Publications

BackgroundWildfires are increasing in size and severity due to climate change combined with overstocked forests. Fire increases the likelihood of debris flows, posing significant threats to life, property, and water supplies.AimsWe conducted a debris-flow hazard assessment of the Santa Fe Municipal Watershed (SFMW) to answer two questions: (1) where are debris flows most likely to occur...

Traditionally, local-scale habitat-relationship models are developed over small spatial extents, limiting model transferability and inference outside the study area. Thus, habitat managers frequently lack fine-scale information regarding the influence of vegetation composition and structure on site suitability or species abundance. Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus (Pinyon Jay) represents one...

In this paper we provide a concise yet comprehensive examination of the importance and sustainability of trail networks, considering a diverse array of perspectives. Sustainability related to recreation infrastructure elements has been variously defined, with different disciplines often only considering one or two aspects of sustainability. In the context of trail networks, we suggest...

Severe fire on steep slopes increases stormwater runoff and the occurrence of runoff-initiated debris flows. Predicting locations of debris flows and their downstream effects on trunk streams requires watershed-scale high-resolution topographic data. Intense precipitation in July and September 2013 following the June 2011 Las Conchas Fire in the Jemez Mountains, New Mexico, led to...

Road networks and their associated vehicular traffic disturb many terrestrial systems, but inventories of roads used to assess these effects often focus on the ‘where’ (e.g., local road type and density) and neglect the ‘when’ (e.g., temporal disturbance) or ‘how much’ (e.g., traffic volume disturbance). We developed annual estimates of the ‘when’ (road age) and ‘how much’ (vehicular...

Hydrologic stress is increasing in Fremont cottonwood (Populus fremontii) forests across the southwestern United States because of increased temperature and streamflow diversion. The spatial variability of this stress is large yet poorly understood. Along the Yampa and Green Rivers in Colorado and Utah, vapour pressure deficit and flow diversions increase downstream. To investigate...

Community wildfire readiness includes actions taken by residents, including wildfire risk mitigation at the parcel level and evacuation preparedness. This report presents results from two data collection efforts in the Lake Wenatchee Fire & Rescue service district in Chelan County, Washington: parcel level rapid wildfire risk assessments and household surveys sent to the owners of...

Executive SummaryModern transportation and land-use planning efforts include information from many sources to address topics such as safety, efficiency, commercial, and social needs. This wide breadth of topics provides opportunities for collaboration and development of common tools for diverse users. In many cases, different information systems provide the spatial data and geographic...

Public lands across the United States are managed for multiple uses, resources, and values ranging from energy development to rare plant conservation. Intensified energy development and other land use changes across the Southwestern United States have increased the need for proactive management to mitigate impacts to rare plants. Habitat suitability models can inform decision-making and...

As of 2024, there are 32 National Scenic and Historic Trails (NSHTs) in the system administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), National Park Service, and U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service. The BLM administers, manages, and protects 19 of these trails as part of its system of national conservation lands. Various laws, regulations, and policies require that the BLM...

AimDue to the socioeconomic and environmental damages caused by invasive species, predicting the distribution of invasive plants is fundamental for effectively targeting management efforts. A habitat suitability model (HSM) is a powerful tool to predict potential habitat of invasive species to help guide the early detection of invasive plants. Despite numerous studies of the predictors...

Wildfires and climate change are having transformative effects on vegetation composition and structure, and post-fire management may have long-lasting impacts on ecosystem reorganization. Post-fire aerial seeding treatments are commonly used to reduce runoff and soil erosion, but little is known about how seeding treatments affect native vegetation recovery over long periods of time...