Interdisciplinary partners lay the groundwork for a multiyear study supporting a key landscape in Utah
The project team met in the Pine Valley Ranger District for ground truthing of potential pinyon-juniper treatment sites that will simultaneously serve as research sites.
An interdisciplinary team has begun a multiyear treatment and monitoring study to support pinyon-juniper core woodland vulnerable to intensifying wildfire. Scientists from the USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station, the University of Nevada Las Vegas, and Utah State University are working alongside managers from the Dixie National Forest to study this woodland landscape and explore approaches for fuels reduction and improving ecological resilience and resistance to invasion. “Everyone is participating in terms of developing the overall project,” said collaborating emeritus scientists Jeanne Chambers. “I believe it will really help in making it applicable to management and areas that are facing similar issues.”
The project supports research on pinyon-juniper core woodlands experiencing increased drought and fire risk and will ultimately provide tools to inform future management decisions for this ecosystem. Researchers and forest specialists met together in May 2024 to visit the field sites, develop the experimental design, and solidify plans for future data collection.
Within the research plots, scientists will monitor the effects of the different thinning treatments on understory fuels and plant communities. The experimental thinning treatments are part of a larger regional initiative known as the Pinyon-Juniper Adaptive Silviculture Project, which first began in southwestern Colorado. “We’re looking at how to thin pinyon-juniper woodlands in ways that will promote wildlife use and maintain woodland function,” said Forest Service scientist Sarah Barga. “Those treatments are applied in order to minimize fire risk for surrounding communities and to protect the existing woodland resources.”
The team is collecting pre-treatment data on existing plant communities and fuels. Understory seeding treatments within the thinned woodland areas are also in progress. Complementary research will investigate the population dynamics of non-native plants as they move across the landscape. These interdisciplinary approaches will support future management decisions on the ranger district and beyond.
Forest Service scientist Ali Urza is looking at how novel thinning treatments will impact these woodlands as a whole. She explained that, “one of the questions that hasn’t really been addressed experimentally is whether we can go in and proactively reduce the density of these stands and give the remaining trees a little more ability to tolerate drought conditions.”
Research synergy: A forest soil scientist and Rocky Mountain Research Station researcher collaborate on soil data collection in a freshly dug soil pit.
The team’s sampling design accounts for the variability of fire behavior and precipitation expected in this forest type over the next few years. Careful analysis of the survey areas will also help inform future seeding treatments. Through this research, Barga will be looking at ways to identify native plants that increase plant community resilience to fire, particularly in the woodland understory.
In addition to the wildland seeding treatments, the team will be performing complementary greenhouse experiments. As Barga explained, “we’ll be implementing similar treatments in more controlled settings to identify particular traits associated with the species that make them potentially more successful in this environment.” These findings will guide the plans for localized plant recovery.
The goal of this collaborative study is to provide land managers with the best tools and frameworks for local-level management of pinyon-juniper communities and ways to adapt to future climate and fire conditions. The findings also will offer a wider range of options for protecting wildlife habitat, maintaining resilient plant communities, and sustaining multiuse landscapes within pinyon-juniper woodlands.
The Forest Service is proud of our longstanding culture of collaboration in managing 193 million acres of national forests and grasslands for present and future generations. Threats like catastrophic wildfire do not respect boundary lines or jurisdictions. Through working together to develop joint priorities for shared landscapes, the scale of our work will match the scale of the challenge.
Partners
- Brian Van Winkle - Fire Ecologist, Intermountain Region
- Scott Abella - Associate Professor, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
- Lindsay Chiquoine - Research Associate, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
- Peter Adler - Professor, Utah State University
- Joe Rechsteiner - Pine Valley District Ranger, Dixie National Forest
Location
- Intermountain Region, Dixie National Forest, Grass Valley and Pinto field sites