Articles

Researchers and collaborators developed a method for using field plot data and lidar to map fuel loads across the Kaibab Plateau in Arizona.

The Forest Service, in cooperation with University of Idaho College of Natural Resources and Air Burners, Inc., co-hosted a demonstration of the brand new CharBoss®. Representatives from federal, state, local, and Tribal organizations were on-site to see the CharBoss® in action.

Forest biomass utilization is linked with federal, state, and local policies that govern what is used, how much is used, and the fate of the end product.

The Rocky Mountain Research Station co-leads a major state-wide connectivity conservation initiative in the Southwest.

Last year’s precipitation can impact how plants respond to rainfall this year. To better understand the importance of legacies of past precipitation on plant performance, we tested the impact of year-to-year changes in precipitation on current plant responses with the candidate biofuel species Panicum virgatum (switchgrass).

Growing seasons on U.S. rangelands are projected to decrease substantially by mid-to-late century.

Should wilderness be understood as primarily untrammeled or primarily natural, and what are the implications of this for the role of wilderness in 21st century conservation?

Severe drought and wildfires lead to rapid decline in mature conifers in Sierra Nevada forests.

Development, physiological mechanisms, fitness consequences, and phylogenetic history offer different perspectives on why phenological differences between males and females exist.

Clonal growth of the invasive smooth brome is greater than the native western wheatgrass except under the most intermittent precipitation climate change scenario.

Herbicide resistance is most likely to develop in annual plant species with persistent seed banks occurring outside of riparian or wetland areas.

Understanding the public health benefits and costs of prescribed fire.

Microbiome approaches help untangle how microbes respond to post-fire organic matter inputs to saturated beaver pond sediments.

Models are only as good as their input data – and we developed better input data for modeling forest change effects on water supply.

Scientists examined extreme fire spread events and area burned under recent climates and future climate projections in the western U.S.

Managing wildfires for resource objectives diminished the likelihood of extreme fire events over time by making wildfire activity more predictable. Adding resource objective wildfire to the current rate of forest restoration expanded the area treated fivefold, and restoration objectives were achieved in 25 years when the rate of forest restoration was increased five times the current pace.

Using a database of post-fire assessments from over 600 archaeological sites and features within burned areas in the Jemez Mountains of northern New Mexico, we developed models to predict where and when fires may cause unwanted impacts, damage, and loss of important cultural information.

Giant sequoias are one of the most fire-resistant species on Earth, yet recent wildfires have caused high levels of mortality of these ancient, large trees.

Warmer and drier fire seasons contribute to increases in area burned at high severity in western U.S. forests.

Land use and natural disturbances constitute the fabric of the Black Hills forests. Over the last two decades (2000-2020), multiple disturbances (e.g., mountain pine beetle epidemic, wildfire) have changed forest characteristics of the Black Hills.Following several years of intensified and accelerated Forest Inventory & Analysis Program sampling in the Black Hills, Forest Service scientists ass...