Wildlife and Vegetation Management

In response to more severe and widespread wildfires in forests and rangelands in the western United States, land management agencies have increased fuels reduction and restoration activities. However, the effects of these activities on wildlife such as Canada lynx, Mexican spotted owl, woodpeckers and other birds are a concern. Rocky Mountain Research Station science is addressing this overlap of forest and wildlife management.

Featured Work

• To best support lynx populations and their habitats, Rocky Mountain Research Station scientists have found that maintaining a mosaic of forest stands that are actively and passively managed, and in different age classes, is key.
• Scientists with Rocky Mountain Research Station along with partners have developed a methodology for tracking long-term trends in Mexican spotted owl habitat in the southwestern United States.
• Rocky Mountain Research Station researchers created a series of models to determine whether pinyon-juniper woodland removal will result in a loss of habitat for associated bird species to the benefit of sagebrush associated bird species. Read more in Balancing Bird Habitat and Conifer Removal in the Great Basin.
• FIRE-BIRD is an ArcGIS spatial tool for applying habitat suitability models to generate maps that inform forest management planning. This tool focuses on disturbance-associated woodpecker species of conservation concern.
• Rocky Mountain Research Station researchers and collaborators are asking whether prescribed fires can maintain ecosystems for use by birds while reducing fuels. The Birds and Burns study confirmed that the prescribed fires limited wildfire burn severity, but the reduction in burn severity didn’t change patterns of bird responses to wildfire. Species that normally move into burned areas and those that move away from burned areas were the same whether or not the site was treated with prescribed fire.