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Interactions between fire and nonnative, annual plant species (that is, 'the grass/fire cycle') represent one of the greatest threats to sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystems and associated wildlife, including the greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus…
Author(s): Douglas J. Shinneman, Cameron L. Aldridge, Peter S. Coates, Matthew J. Germino, David S. Pilliod, Nicole M. Vaillant
Year Published:

We conducted bird surveys in 10 of the first 11 years following a mixed-severity fire in a dry, low-elevation mixed-conifer forest in western Montana, United States. By defining fire in terms of fire severity and time-since-fire, and then comparing…
Author(s): Richard L. Hutto, David A. Patterson
Year Published:

Abundance, size, and spatial distribution of standing dead trees (snags), are key indicators of forest biodiversity and ecosystem health. These metrics represent critical habitat components for various wildlife species of conservation concern,…
Author(s): Angeles Casas, Mariano Garcia, Rodney B. Siegel, Alexander Koltunov, Carlos Ramirez, Susan L. Ustin
Year Published:

Habitat alterations may improve and expand wildlife habitats, and bolster waning wildlife populations. We used global positioning system (GPS) locations to monitor 38 bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis Shaw) that were translocated to the Seminoe…
Author(s): Justin G. Clapp, Jeffrey L. Beck
Year Published:

Prescribed fire is applied widely as a management tool in North America to meet various objectives such as reducing fuel loads and fuel continuity, returning fire to an ecosystem, enhancing wildlife habitats, improving forage, preparing seedbeds,…
Author(s): William M. Block, L. Mike Conner, Paul A. Brewer, Paulette Ford, Jonathan Haufler, Andrea Litt, Ronald E. Masters, Laura R. Mitchell, Jane Park
Year Published:

Wildfires are increasing in frequency and severity as a result of climate change in many ecosystems; however, effects of altered disturbance regimes on wildlife remain poorly quantified. Here, we leverage an unexpected opportunity to investigate how…
Author(s): Johanna Varner, Mallory S. Lambert, Joshua J. Horns, Sean Laverty, Laurie Dizney, Erik A. Beever, M. Denise Dearing
Year Published:

Sagebrush shrubland ecosystems in the Great Basin are prime examples of how altered successional trajectories can create dynamic fuel conditions and, thus, increase uncertainty about fire risk and behavior. Although fire is a natural disturbance in…
Author(s): Douglas J. Shinneman, David S. Pilliod, Robert S. Arkle, Nancy F. Glenn
Year Published:

This document is an assessment of the FS Northern Region's key water resources, tree species, wildlife species, and disturbances, which includes descriptions of the species' current condition, existing stressors, sensitivity to and expected effects…
Author(s): Northern Region Adaptation Partnership
Year Published:

Information about status and trend of wildlife habitat is important for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service to accomplish its mission and meet its legal requirements. As the steward of 193 million acres (ac) of Federal land, the…
Author(s): Mary M. Rowland, Christina D. Vojta
Year Published:

In the Northern Rockies, forests that have escaped fire are rare. In the Crown, fire is just as important as rainfall and sunlight are to plants and animals. For the vast majority of forest types within the region, the predominant fire regime is one…
Author(s): Richard L. Hutto
Year Published:

The increased frequency and severity of large wildfires in the western United States is an important ecological and management issue with direct relevance to amphibian conservation. Although the knowledge of fire effects on amphibians in the region…
Author(s): Blake R. Hossack, David S. Pilliod
Year Published:

Public land managers are asked to minimize fuel levels after fires, including using techniques such as salvage logging. They are also responsible for maintaining suitable wildlife habitat, especially for species of concern to state and federal…
Author(s): Victoria A. Saab
Year Published:

The High Five symposium is devoted to exchanging information about a small group of pines with little commercial value but great importance to the ecology of high-mountain ecosystems of the West. These High Five pines include the subalpine and…
Author(s): Diana F. Tomback, Peter Achuff, Anna W. Schoettle, John W. Schwandt, Ron J. Mastrogiuseppe
Year Published:

The primary weakness in our current ability to evaluate future landscapes in terms of wildlife lies in the lack of quantitative models linking wildlife to forest stand conditions, including fuels treatments. This project focuses on 1) developing…
Author(s): Samuel A. Cushman, Kevin S. McKelvey
Year Published:

This paper synthesizes available information on the effects of hazardous fuel reduction treatments on terrestrial wildlife and invertebrates in dry coniferous forest types in the West. We focused on thinning and/or prescribed fire studies in…
Author(s): David S. Pilliod, Evelyn L. Bull, Jane L. Hayes, Barbara C. Wales
Year Published:

Snags create nesting, foraging, and roosting habitat for a variety of wildlife species. Removal of snags through postfire salvage logging reduces the densities and size classes of snags remaining after wildfire. We determined important variables…
Author(s): Robin E. Russell, Victoria A. Saab, Jonathan G. Dudley, Jay J. Rotella
Year Published:

Most prescribed fire plans focus on reducing wildfire hazards with little consideration given to effects on wildlife populations and their habitats. To evaluate effectiveness of prescribed burning in reducing fuels and to assess effects of fuels…
Author(s): Victoria A. Saab, Lisa Bate, John F. Lehmkuhl, Brett G. Dickson, Scott Story, Stephanie Jentsch, William M. Block
Year Published:

Fire is a dominant and highly visible disturbance in sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystems. In lower elevation, xeric sagebrush communities, the role of fire has changed in recent decades from an infrequent disturbance maintaining a landscape mosaic…
Author(s): Steve Knick, Aaron L. Holmes, Richard F. Miller
Year Published:

Information about avian responses to fire in the U.S. Rocky Mountains is based solely on studies of crown fires. However, fire management in this region is based primarily on studies of low-elevation ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forests…
Author(s): Victoria A. Saab, Hugh D. W. Powell, Natasha B. Kotliar, Karen R. Newlon
Year Published: