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09-1-08-4
2009
09/01/2009
12/11/2013
Decision-Support Tools for Conserving Greater Sage-Grouse During Fire and Fuels Management Projects in Pinyon and Juniper Woodlands
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.
Erica Fleishman
Oregon State University
College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences

Other Project Collaborators

Other Project Collaborators

Type

Name

Agency/Organization

Branch or Dept

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

Co-Principal Investigator

Jeanne C. Chambers

Forest Service

RMRS-Forestry Sciences Lab-Reno

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

Project Locations

Fire Science Exchange Network

Great Basin

Level

State

Agency

Unit

STATE

NV

FS

ALL

Final Report

Project Deliverables

Title
 
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Incorporating natural history into models of occupancy and connectivityView
Projecting connectivity in the Great Basin as land use and climate changeView

Supporting Documents