Post-Fire Restoration
Fire greatly impacts the sagebrush steppe ecosystem, the FIRESs lab works to understand how we can best restore it
Exotic plant invasions and increasing wildfire have greatly impacted rangelands in the American West, particularly areas that normally support perennial shrub-steppe vegetation. The FIREss team produces science to inform proactive and reactive management of sagebrush steppe with the goal of increasing resistance to invasion and resilience to wildfire. Many on the team participate in fire suppression and advisory services during and following fire containment.
Mega-fires - fires that burn over 100,000 acres, are becoming more frequent in semi-arid lands globally. Mega-fires that burn through shrub-steppe rangelands create spaces for exotic plant invasions. Increases in exotic, fire-adapted plants are increasing fuels and wildfire occurrence, and their increases after fire are detracting from fire resilience and loss of native vegetation. We provide information that supports rangeland management, including:
Right Seed, Right Time, Right Place
The FIREss team evaluates ways to improve success of seeding of fire-adapted perennials across millions of acres of droughty rangelands. They also provide science on techniques to minimize the impacts of exotic invaders on seedings, and strategies for optimizing grazing to increase seeding success. This helps managers make efficient and effective restoration decisions.
Science for Adaptive Management
The FIREss team determines the degree of success of different land management treatment combinations, including method development. This information helps land managers monitor the results of their management actions, learn from and report the results, and adjust their actions to improve future outcomes.
Monitoring, Assessment, and Quantitative Thresholds
The FIREss team provides expertise to managers on how they can monitor and assess lands using remotely sensed data or to work within funding constraints. This support helps land managers make reliable and “structured” management decisions within the bounds of their budget and backed by science and quantitative criteria.
Look at the images below to see the FIREss team at work!
Planting grass seeds in a burned landscape.
Monitoring herbicide treatment effects.
Setting up experimental herbicide treatments.
Checking out cheatgrass invasion post-fire.
Using Vegetation Trends and Fire Risk Simulations to Prioritize Management Interventions on National Park Service Lands in Southern Idaho
Understanding the Sagebrush Steppe’s Threshold for Transitions Through Resistance and Resilience Models
Grazing Effects on the Annual Grass Fire-Cycle after Post Fire Management
Systematic Review and Analysis of Seeding and Herbicide Treatment in the Sagebrush Steppe
Wildfire Impacts, and Post-Fire Rehabilitation and Restoration
Integrating Science and Adaptive Land Management
Exotic plant invasions and increasing wildfire have greatly impacted rangelands in the American West, particularly areas that normally support perennial shrub-steppe vegetation. The FIREss team produces science to inform proactive and reactive management of sagebrush steppe with the goal of increasing resistance to invasion and resilience to wildfire. Many on the team participate in fire suppression and advisory services during and following fire containment.
Mega-fires - fires that burn over 100,000 acres, are becoming more frequent in semi-arid lands globally. Mega-fires that burn through shrub-steppe rangelands create spaces for exotic plant invasions. Increases in exotic, fire-adapted plants are increasing fuels and wildfire occurrence, and their increases after fire are detracting from fire resilience and loss of native vegetation. We provide information that supports rangeland management, including:
Right Seed, Right Time, Right Place
The FIREss team evaluates ways to improve success of seeding of fire-adapted perennials across millions of acres of droughty rangelands. They also provide science on techniques to minimize the impacts of exotic invaders on seedings, and strategies for optimizing grazing to increase seeding success. This helps managers make efficient and effective restoration decisions.
Science for Adaptive Management
The FIREss team determines the degree of success of different land management treatment combinations, including method development. This information helps land managers monitor the results of their management actions, learn from and report the results, and adjust their actions to improve future outcomes.
Monitoring, Assessment, and Quantitative Thresholds
The FIREss team provides expertise to managers on how they can monitor and assess lands using remotely sensed data or to work within funding constraints. This support helps land managers make reliable and “structured” management decisions within the bounds of their budget and backed by science and quantitative criteria.
Look at the images below to see the FIREss team at work!
Planting grass seeds in a burned landscape.
Monitoring herbicide treatment effects.
Setting up experimental herbicide treatments.
Checking out cheatgrass invasion post-fire.