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In Alaska, recent research has identified particular areas of the state where both a lack of soil moisture and warming temperatures increase the likelihood of wildfire. While this is an important finding, this previous research did not take into account the important role that melting snow, ice, and frozen ground (permafrost) play in replenshing soil moisture in the spring and summer months. This project will address this gap in the characterization of fire risk using the newly developed monthly water balance model (MWBM). The MWBM takes into account rain, snow, snowmelt, glacier ice melt, and the permafrost layer to better calculate soil moisture replenishment and the amount of moisture that is lost to the atmosphere...
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In the North Central region, invasive species and climate change are intricately linked to changing fire regimes, and together, these drivers can have pronounced effects on ecosystems. When fires burn too hot or too frequently, they can prevent slow-growing native plants from regrowing. When this happens, the landscape can transform into a new type of ecosystem, such as a forest becoming a grassland. This process is known as “ecosystem transformation”. This project will explore key management priorities including native community resilience and management of invasive species, wildfire, and ecosystem change, in a collaboration of researchers working directly with land managers and other stakeholders through the...
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FY2013The increase in large wildfires at a time when habitat for Greater Sage Grouse and other species dependent on big sagebrush has also increased has led to substantial needs for big sagebrush seeds. Significant decisions on which sagebrush seed to use and on management treatments that affect competing herb layers on the same restoration sites affect the trajectory of habitat.This project will evaluate how seed source, specifically genotype and climate-of-origin, interact with landscape-scale and replicated treatments (fencing, herbicide application, mowing, and seeding).
Categories: Data, Project; Types: Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: 2013, 2014, 2015, Academics & scientific researchers, Cheatgrass, All tags...
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FY2017Removal of livestock grazing is a common prescription to promote ecosystem recovery after wildfire (and subsequent emergency site rehabilitation efforts). Ecosystem recovery is typically considered from a terrestrial perspective, but wildfire and grazing can strongly influence aquatic ecosystems as well, especially smaller and fragmented stream networks, which are prevalent in the Great Basin (Minshall et al. 1989[1]; Dunham et al. 2003[2]; Luce et al. 2012[3]). Understanding these influences is essential for managing fire and grazing. Examples include identifying timeframes for resuming livestock grazing following wildfire, and the interactions between livestock grazing, fuels, and recovery of stream-side...
Categories: Data, Project; Types: Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: Data Acquisition and Development, Federal resource managers, Generalized Random Tesselation Stratified, Generalized Random Tesselation Stratified, Generalized Random Tesselation Stratified, All tags...
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Wildfires are one of the greatest threats to human infrastructure and the ecosystem services humans value in the western US, but are also necessary in fire-adapted ecosystems. Wildfire activity is widely projected to increase in response to climate change in the Northwest, but we currently lack a comprehensive understanding of what this increase will look like or what its impacts will be on a variety of ecological and hydrologic systems. This project addressed one critical part of those impacts: the islands of unburned vegetation within wildfires. Unburned islands occur naturally as wildfires burn across landscapes, and are important habitat refuges for species -- places where plants and animals survive the fire...
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FY2011Increasingly large wildfires in the Great Basin and Columbia Plateau have led to large dust storms in areas historically without them. Large dust storms have adversely affected human health, energy production operations, soil fertility, and mountain snowpack hydrology. USGS research efforts have investigated the causes and consequences of post-fire dust storms. Publications from this work are being used by managers with the Bureau of Land Management, Department of Energy, and other land managers to develop management practices that will minimize dust production.
Categories: Data, Project; Types: Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: Academics & scientific researchers, Aeolian transport, Data Acquisition and Development, Federal resource managers, Great Basin, All tags...
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Fire in the western U.S. poses one of the greatest threats to human and ecological communities alike. In fact, fire management is the largest single expenditure of land management funds on federal lands. Now, climate change is altering wildfire patterns. Climate change in the West is creating warmer and drier conditions, resulting in an increase in the amount of dead vegetation available to fuel fires. This project sought to assess the vulnerability of forests in the southwestern U.S. to climate change and wildfire, in order to understand how these ecosystems might become altered as a result. Researchers (a) examined how climate change impacts wildfires in the region, to better understand fire risk; (b) identified...
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Aspen is a highly valued tree species in western forests, but it has been declining due to drought, herbivory, and fire suppression. Fire suppression has contributed to aspen’s decline because post-fire environments provide more opportunities for aspen to regenerate, both by resprouting and by seed. Regeneration from seed in these post-fire settings is particularly valuable because it increases aspen population genetic diversity and resilience. However, natural seeding events are not common, and mortality rates for seedlings are quite high. Nursery-grown seedlings provide a promising alternative and an opportunity for assisted migration, but planting protocols have not been well developed and mortality rates for...
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Northern Arizona University will build upon the U.S. Forest Service Four Forest Restoration Initiative in Northern Arizona to investigate how restoration efforts can affect the water volume available in the snowpack and soil moisture in the Desert LCC. This project will result in a tool that can be used to predict the water volume in snowpack and soil moisture response to various forest treatments.
Categories: Data, Project; Types: Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: 2013, AL-04, AZ-01, Academics & scientific researchers, Applications and Tools, All tags...
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In California, increased wildfire activity has been linked to decreasing snowpack and earlier snowmelt. Not only has this translated into a longer fire season, but reduced snowpack has cascading effects that impact streamflow, water supplies, agricultural productivity, and ecosystems. California receives 80% of its precipitation during the winter, so mountain snowpack plays a critical role in replenishing the state’s water supply. One factor that affects the amount of winter precipitation (and therefore snowpack) in California is the North Pacific Jet (NPJ)—a current of strong, high altitude winds that occur over the northern Pacific Ocean. Winters when the NPJ is located further north than normal are drier than...
Categories: Project; Types: Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service, Report; Tags: 2013, CA, CA-wide, CASC, Completed, All tags...
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FY2011Aspen populations are in decline across western North America due to altered fire regimes, herbivory, drought, pathogens, and competition with conifers. Aspen stands typically support higher avian biodiversity than surrounding habitats, and maintaining current distributions of several avian species is likely tied to persistence of aspen on the landscape. We are examining effects of climate change on aspen and associated avian communities in isolated mountain ranges of the northern Great Basin, by coupling empirical models of avian-habitat relationships with spatially-explicit landscape simulations of vegetation and disturbance dynamics (using LANDIS-II) under various climate change scenarios. We are addressing...
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Soil moisture is a critical variable for understanding the impacts of drought on ecological, hydrological, and agricultural systems. Yet, key research gaps currently prevent existing soil moisture measurements from being used to assess drought conditions and mitigate drought impacts such as wildfire outbreaks, lost agricultural production, and degraded wildlife habitat. In fact, most scales used to characterize the severity of drought, known as “drought indices”, don’t include soil moisture measurements, relying instead on atmospheric data. Current barriers to the incorporation of soil moisture data include a lack of consensus regarding how to best construct soil moisture-based drought indices, the challenges associated...
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Rocky Mountain Research Station scientists initiated a study in the 1990s on avian distribution and habitat associations within the Sky Islands. By re-measuring vegetation and bird populations following wildfires and applying climate change models, they will assess the singular and synergistic effects of climate change and wildfire and provide strategies for managing resilient forests and conserving the avian community structure. They will also continue and expand citizen science efforts to develop a long term avian monitoring plan, as well as simulation studies to provide optimal monitoring designs for avian species to detect changes from large-scale stressors.


    map background search result map search result map The Vulnerability of Forests to Climate Change and Wildfire in the Southwestern U.S. The Influence of the North Pacific Jet Stream on Future Fire in California Disappearing Refugia: Identifying Trends and Resilience in Unburned Islands under Climate Change Predicting Snow Water Equivalence (SWE) and Soil Moisture Response to Restoration Treatments in Headwater Ponderosa Pine Forests of the Desert LCC Assessing Large-Scale Effects of Wildfire and Climate Change on Avian Communities and Habitats in the Sky Islands, Arizona Effects of Genotype and Management Treatments of Native and Invasive Herbs on Success of Sagebrush Restoration Soil Moisture-Based Drought Monitoring for the South Central Region Improving Characterizations of Future Wildfire Risk in Alaska Wildfire, grazing and availability of water in sage steppe ecosystems Quantifying vulnerability of quaking aspen woodlands and associate bird communities to global climate change in the northern Great Basin Dust Erosion Following Wildfires and Drought Managing Ecological Transformation to Enhance Carbon Storage and Biodiversity Assessing Post-Fire Aspen Seedling Success on the Colorado Plateau Wildfire, grazing and availability of water in sage steppe ecosystems Assessing Large-Scale Effects of Wildfire and Climate Change on Avian Communities and Habitats in the Sky Islands, Arizona Predicting Snow Water Equivalence (SWE) and Soil Moisture Response to Restoration Treatments in Headwater Ponderosa Pine Forests of the Desert LCC Quantifying vulnerability of quaking aspen woodlands and associate bird communities to global climate change in the northern Great Basin Disappearing Refugia: Identifying Trends and Resilience in Unburned Islands under Climate Change The Influence of the North Pacific Jet Stream on Future Fire in California Effects of Genotype and Management Treatments of Native and Invasive Herbs on Success of Sagebrush Restoration Dust Erosion Following Wildfires and Drought Assessing Post-Fire Aspen Seedling Success on the Colorado Plateau Soil Moisture-Based Drought Monitoring for the South Central Region The Vulnerability of Forests to Climate Change and Wildfire in the Southwestern U.S. Managing Ecological Transformation to Enhance Carbon Storage and Biodiversity Improving Characterizations of Future Wildfire Risk in Alaska