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Project ID: 09-1-08-4

Year: 2009

Date Started: 09/01/2009

Ending Date:  08/31/2013

Title: Decision-Support Tools for Conserving Greater Sage-Grouse During Fire and Fuels Management Projects in Pinyon and Juniper Woodlands

Project Proposal Abstract: The configuration, species composition, and connectivity of sagebrush ecosystems across the Intermountain West is changing as a result of expansion of native pinyon and juniper trees, invasion by non-native plants, human land uses, and climate change. Prescribed fire and other fuels management treatments have been suggested as mechanisms to slow expansion of woodlands while increasing habitat quality and quantity for Greater Sage-grouse. This species well may be listed under federal and state endangered species acts in the near future, and already has been designated a species of special concern by the Western Governors Association, the state of Nevada, and other groups. We propose to develop a decision-support tool, an extension of ArcFuels, to assist managers in planning and implementing fire treatments in pinyon and juniper woodlands that will maximize maintenance of sagebrush systems and conservation of Greater Sage-grouse. Tools for optimization of these treatments or for examining tradeoffs among management objectives in pinyonjuniper woodlands are either lacking or are difficult to apply by local personnel. Our objectives are (1) to develop and evaluate graphical conceptual models that present clear hypotheses about responses to fire treatments of vegetation, Greater Sage-grouse, and other sensitive species of sagebrush-associated birds; (2) to develop a spatially explicit decision-support tool that optimizes fire treatments for multiple management objectives; and (3) to use two prescribed fire projects planned by the HumboldtToiyabe National Forest to evaluate application and projections of the decision-support tool. We will concentrate on two watersheds that have been selected for implementation of prescribed burns in 2010, Big Ten Hat Peak and Antelope Peak. Both are located south-central Nevada, in the southern Great Basin Sage-grouse Management Zone. We will expand on the existing capabilities of ArcFuels, a library of ArcGIS macros that is used to rapidly design and evaluate fuels treatments at stand and landscape scales. We will use ArcFuels to link (1) new layers on fire behavior derived with FlamMap, and existing spatial data on fire behavior; (2) high-resolution data on topography, fuels, and vegetation; (3) data on the distributions of Greater Sage-grouse, other sensitive species, and their habitat, and connectivity of those habitats; and (4) transferable rules sets about responses of vegetation and sensitive species to fire treatments. We will work with federal and state agencies during the planning process to develop burn plans based on the spatial analyses performed within ArcFuels. Burns will be designed to optimize targets including viable populations of Greater Sage-grouse, species richness and structural complexity of native vegetation, low probability of invasion of cheatgrass, and survival of older age-classes of woodland. We will use similar study designs and integrate sampling approaches for vegetation, Greater Sage-grouse, and other species of birds within treated and control watersheds. The study design will provide a systems-level understanding of how sagebrush ecosystems can be managed to reduce the probability of severe wildfires and invasion of non-native plants while recovering native understory, minimizing expansion of trees into shrubland, and maintaining viable populations of threatened and endangered species. The proposed project also provides a novel opportunity to extend ArcFuels to incorporate field data on vegetation and to address how different spatial arrangements of fire treatments affect diverse objectives. The information and products from this project will assist USFS, BLM, and other agencies in rapidly locating, designing, and analyzing the potential effects of fire treatments relative to multiple management targets.

Principal Investigator: Erica X. Fleishman

Agency/Organization: University of California-Davis

Branch or Dept: John Muir Institute of the Environment

Other Project Collaborators

Type	Name	Agency/Organization	Branch or Dept
Co-Principal Investigator	Jeanne C. Chambers	Forest Service	RMRS-Forestry Sciences Lab-Reno
Co-Principal Investigator	Brett G. Dickson	Northern Arizona University	School of Earth Sciences & Environmental Sustainability
Co-Principal Investigator	David Dobkin	High Desert Ecological Research Institute
Federal Cooperator	Jeanne C. Chambers	Forest Service	RMRS-Forestry Sciences Lab-Reno
Federal Fiscal Representative	Debra L Jensen	Forest Service	RMRS-Forestry Sciences Lab-Fort Collins

Project Locations

Consortium

Great Basin

Level	State	Agency	Unit
STATE	NV	FS	ALL

Project Deliverables

There is no final report available for this project.
There are no deliverables available for this project.

Supporting Documents

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