Award winning rangeland-fire research by Forest Service scientist Bill Elliot
Sagebrush in Bodie Hills Preserve
The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers awarded USDA Forest Service Emeritus Research Engineer Bill Elliot a 2025 Superior Paper Award for his publication, “Runoff and Erosion Following a Prescribed Fire on a Sagebrush-Steppe Rangeland in Idaho, USA.” Rangelands provide water filtration, biodiversity, and are vital for wildlife and livestock. This research can help managers in planning grassland restoration projects and prescribed fire.
Elliot works in Moscow, Idaho studying erosion processes and prediction. Over the course of his long career, he has developed models to predict erosion on forest roads and in ecosystems disturbed by fire or that have received treatments, including the first online interface to predict erosion in watersheds. These tools are critical in post-fire emergency stabilization efforts and used to help maintain water quality while planning forest management projects. Reflecting on this award, Elliot says, “To me, the award is validation that my peers value my research.”
Elliot’s winning publication describes a six-year study of runoff and erosion from a prescribed fire site on the Caribou-Targhee National Forest in Southeast Idaho. He found that although erosion rates were high during the year immediately following the prescribed burn, they were offset by lower erosion rates during following years. His study highlights the complex interactions among the factors affecting runoff and erosion, including natural variability of soil properties across landscapes, ground cover, vegetation regeneration, snowfall and snowmelt, wildlife grazing, and insects. He employed the same experimental methods measuring the impacts of fuel management on northern Idaho forests and expects to publish that work in the coming year.
This publication exemplifies the strength of applied research conducted in collaboration with forest managers. Forest Service Region 4 and the Rocky Mountain Research Station have been working together for over two decades to advance our knowledge about impacts of prescribed burning. In 2002, Region 4 soil scientist Jeff Bruggink and Rocky Mountain Research Station scientist Debbie Page-Dumroese initiated a study to determine the impacts of a prescribed burn on rangeland soil quality. They asked Elliot to add his expertise studying runoff and erosion and give the team insight into the bigger picture of ecosystem impacts. Page-Dumroese unexpectedly discovered termites on the study site and expanded the research team to include an entomologist and a leading expert on termites.
Scientists installing an unburned plot in Red Mountain, Idaho in 2004.
Elliot notes the challenges the team experienced in publishing a comprehensive study incorporating all aspects of the research highlight a deeper issue — many journals lack the breadth of knowledge needed to review interdisciplinary manuscripts. While this meant that a paper encompassing the full breadth of this study was not published, the team found other ways to ensure the knowledge was shared. Page-Dumroese and the entomologists’ portion of the study is included in “Prescribed burning alters insects and wood decay in a sagebrush-steppe rangeland in southwestern Idaho, United States.”
Elliot appreciates the considerable contributions of Sue Miller, retired Rocky Mountain Research Station hydrologist, and acknowledges the numerous summer students, former hydrologist Brandon Glaza, Forest Service employees Jeff Bruggink, John Lott, Kara Kleinschmidt, Ashelee Rasmussen, Jane Rushane, Dylan Johnson, Fred Wells, Richard Loetscher, Brooke Timothy, and K. C. Roberts, and engineer Sarah Lewis-Scholes for their assistance.
The Journal of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers publishes hundreds of papers every year on topics that advance “the engineering of agricultural, food, and biological systems.” Elliot will be honored during the upcoming American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers Annual International Meeting in Toronto, Canada, where collaborators will accept the award on his behalf.
Forest Service science ties closely with multi-use management, including conservation to help improve our capability to protect, manage, and use forests and rangelands to benefit people and ecosystems.