Treesearch

Machine learning models are typically data-hungry algorithms that require large data inputs for training. When they produce wall-to-wall remote sensing products, model validation also requires large sets of temporally harmonized field observations. Crowdsourcing may offer a potential solution for the collection of photo interpretations for the training and validation of spatial models of tree canopy cover (TCC), as it harnesses the power of a large anonymous crowd in the completion of repetitive discrete analyses or human intelligence tasks (HITs). This study explores the factors that...

Using mark-resight data, we investigated fidelity to territory and mate as well as breeding dispersal rates and the causes and consequences of breeding dispersal in a 20-year study of American goshawks (Astur atricapillus) in Arizona, USA. Generalized Additive Mixed Models were used to identify the relative contributions of four prominent explanatory variables (eggs laid, nest failed, nest successful, mate loss) and 21 individual and environmental variables in a machine learning Conditional Inference Forest to predict breeding dispersal. Ninety-five percent of males and 92% of females...

Earth Observation (EO) data can provide added value to nations’ assessments of vegetation aboveground biomass density (AGBD) with minimal additional costs. Yet, neither open access to global-scale EO datasets of vegetation heights or biomass, nor the availability of computational power, has proven sufficient for their wide uptake in climate policy-related assessments. Using Mexico as an example, one of the primary obstacles to enhancing their National Forest Inventory (NFI) with such global EO datasets is the lack of statistically defensible methodologies that do so, while addressing the...

This assessment of South African wildland fire management is part of a broader effort from the International Programs Office of the U.S. Forest Service to assess the wildland fire situation across Africa. The assessment was guided by an Integrated Fire Management approach, which incorporates a holistic understanding of fire on the landscape and the many trade-offs of management actions. This assessment is based on a survey administered from June – July 2023 and captures the diverse perspectives of 108 survey respondents. Findings from this assessment reveal the following: (1) a perception...

During 2022–2024, the Wildfire Research (WiRē) Center partnered with the West Region Wildfire Council (WRWC) to learn more about parcel-level wildfire risk in Montrose County, Colorado. This research project was part of a larger, sustained collaboration between WiRē and WRWC, moving the focus from areas typically characterized as fire-prone due to heavily treed and steep topography, into an area with relatively gentle topography and lighter fuels. The study area borders and includes northern portions of Ouray County that fall within the service area of Montrose County Fire Protection...

Outdoor recreational wood burning, such as fire pit use, can produce large amounts of smoke which contains fine particulate matter (PM) and other air pollutants. Recently, purported “smokeless”, or low-smoke, fire pits have become widely available. Motivated by the apparent public desire for low-smoke options and the prospect of reducing PM pollution, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, collaborated with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to measure air pollutant emissions from low-smoke fire pits. We measured emission factors (EF) for PM (EFPM), carbon monoxide,...

The work environment for a wildland firefighter on an incident is both physically and mentally demanding, and for some requires a high level of caloric intake from quality food sources provided by meal catering services. The aim of this study is to explore wildland firefighter perceptions of meal catering during wildfire incidents. We conducted seven, in-depth one-hour interviews with wildland firefighters with over four decades of wildland fire experience, during the months of May through June 2024. Exploratory qualitative findings from seven interviews revealed the following themes:...

To reverse range-wide population declines, managers of black-tailed and mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) require information on the vital rates and life stages most influential to population growth to target effective management actions. We extracted black-tailed and mule deer vital rates from a range-wide literature review and used hierarchical models to summarize vital rates, their variability, and how they correlate with one another. We then used matrix models and life-stage simulation analysis to determine the individual vital rates that contributed most to annual population growth rate...

Introduction: Outcomes of ecological restoration treatments can be highly variable and challenging to generalize, even for the same treatment type applied in similar ecological communities at different times and places. Notable examples are the herbicide and seeding treatments that have been extensively applied across the perennial sagebrush steppe of the United States to reduce impacts of fire-promoting exotic annual grasses (EAGs) such as Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum). Objectives: We asked if statistically based generalizations about the effects of pre-emergent herbicide and drill seeding...

Community-based conservation (CBC) emerged in the 1980s as part of a paradigm shift from unpeopled protected areas to people-centered efforts to connect conservation and development. Although well intentioned, the change prompted a focus on communities as either passive subjects or secondary participants of mostly top-down, externally-initiated interventions - many which framed people as separate from nature and, therefore, as a threat to it. As conservationists embrace a new paradigm first characterized by geologists as the "Anthropocene," conservation priorities and successes increasingly...