Treesearch

In 2009, the U.S. Congress designated Fossil Creek as a wild and scenic river (WSR), making it one of 209 rivers across 40 states and Puerto Rico with such a designation.1 It became a component of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System through the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act in 2009 (Public Law 111-11). This designation amended the 1968 Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (WSRA) (Public Law 90-542), which states: “It is hereby declared to be the policy of the United States that certain selected rivers of the Nation which, with their immediate environments, possess outstandingly remarkabl...

This draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) documents the environmental effects analysis of six alternatives (including a “no action” alternative) that were developed for the draft Comprehensive River Management Plan (CRMP) for the Fossil Creek Wild and Scenic River. To meet the requirements of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, this project proposes a CRMP that formally designates the boundaries of the Fossil Creek Wild and Scenic River; describes Fossil Creek’s river values (free flow, water quality, and outstandingly remarkable values); addresses user capacities; provides programmatic...

Background: Crown fires are often intense and fast spreading and hence can have serious impacts on soil, vegetation, and wildlife habitats. Fire managers try to prevent the initiation and spread of crown fires in forested landscapes through fuel management. The minimum fuel conditions necessary to initiate and propagate crown fires are known to be strongly influenced by four stand structural variables: surface fuel load (SFL), fuel strata gap (FSG), canopy base height (CBH), and canopy bulk density (CBD). However, there is often a lack of quantitative data about these variables, especially...

This report focuses on the dynamic geologic processes that affect a travertine system within the Fossil Creek Wild and Scenic River (WSR) corridor, and the geologic hazards and mineral potential within the larger watersheds to assist in the establishment of management directions and site-specific improvements for protecting and enhancing river values of Fossil Creek. The National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act created by Congress in 1968 is notable for protecting the special character of designated rivers, and identifying appropriate use and development that does not adversely affect those...

Expanding the footprint of natural fire has been proposed as one potential solution to increase the pace of forest restoration programs in fire-adapted landscapes of the western USA. However, studies that examine the long-term socio-ecological trade-offs of expanding natural fire to reduce wildfire risk and create fire resilient landscapes are lacking. We used the model Envision to examine the outcomes that might result from increased area burned by what we call “restoration” wildfire in a landscape where the ecological benefits of wildfire are known, but the need to suppress high-risk...

As climatic conditions shift in coming decades, persistence of many populations will depend on their ability to colonize habitat newly suitable for their climatic requirements. Opportunities for such range shifts may be limited unless areas that facilitate dispersal under climate change are identified and protected from land uses that impede movement. While many climate adaptation strategies focus on identifying refugia, this study is the first to characterize areas which merit protection for their role in promoting climate connectivity at a continental extent. We identified climate...

Scarlet globemallow is the most widely distributed globemallow species (Sphaeralcea) in North America (Pendery and Rumbaugh 1993). It occurs from British Columbia to Manitoba and south to Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Chihuahua, Mexico (La Duke 2016). It is more common in the Great Plains than in the Intermountain region (Pendery and Rumbaugh 1993). Variety coccinea is found throughout the species range but elata occurs only in New Mexico, Texas, and northern Mexico (La Duke 2016).

There is enormous interest in applying connectivity modelling to resistance surfaces for identifying corridors for conservation action. However, the multiple analytical approaches used to estimate resistance surfaces and predict connectivity across resistance surfaces have not been rigorously compared, and it is unclear what methods provide the best inferences about population connectivity. Using a large empirical data set on puma (Puma concolor), we are the first to compare several of the most common approaches for estimating resistance and modelling connectivity and validate them with...

In Phase III of the North American Forest Dynamics (NAFD) study an automatic workflow has been developed for evaluating forest disturbance history using Landsat observations. It has four major components: an automated approach for image selection and preprocessing, the vegetation change tracker (VCT) forest disturbance analysis, post-processing, and validation. This approach has been applied to the conterminous US (CONUS) to produce a comprehensive analysis of US forest disturbance history using the NASA Earth Exchange (NEX) cloud computing system. The resultant NAFD-NEX product includes...

Recent studies of the Forest Service’s National Visitor Use Monitoring data show a wide disparity in racial and ethnic use of national forests. For example (assuming a direct connection between the number of people who filled out forms and overall national forest visitation numbers), Blacks or African Americans, who make up about 13 percent of the U.S. population, accounted for about 1 percent of national forest visits in 2010. Hispanics or Latinos, who make up about 17 percent of the U.S. population, accounted for less than 7 percent. Researchers at the Rocky Mountain Research Station in...