The Sagebrush Steppe Treatment Evaluation Project (SageSTEP): a test of state-and-transition theory

James D. McIver; Mark Brunson; Steve C. Bunting; Jeanne C. Chambers; Nora Devoe; Paul Doescher; James Grace; Dale Johnson; Steve Knick; Richard Miller; Mike Pellant; Fred Pierson; David Pyke; Kim Rollins; Bruce Roundy; Eugene Schupp; Robin J. Tausch; David Turner

doi:10.2737/RMRS-GTR-237

Treesearch

The Sagebrush Steppe Treatment Evaluation Project (SageSTEP): a test of state-and-transition theory

Informally Refereed

Authors:

James D. McIver, Mark Brunson, Steve C. Bunting, Jeanne C. Chambers, Nora Devoe, Paul Doescher, James Grace, Dale Johnson, Steve Knick, Richard Miller, Mike Pellant, Fred Pierson, David Pyke, Kim Rollins, Bruce Roundy, Eugene Schupp, Robin J. Tausch, David Turner

Year:

2010

Type:

General Technical Report

Station:

Rocky Mountain Research Station

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.2737/RMRS-GTR-237

Source:

Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-237. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 16 p.

Download (PDF 1.62 MB)

Download (PDF 1.62 MB): https://research.fs.usda.gov/download/treesearch/34893.pdf

Abstract

The Sagebrush Steppe Treatment Evaluation Project (SageSTEP) is a comprehensive, integrated, long-term study that evaluates the ecological effects of fire and fire surrogate treatments designed to reduce fuel and to restore sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) communities of the Great Basin and surrounding areas. SageSTEP has several features that make it ideal for testing hypotheses from state-and-transition theory: it is long-term, experimental, multisite, and multivariate, and treatments are applied across condition gradients, allowing for potential identification of biotic thresholds. The project will determine the conditions under which sagebrush steppe ecological communities recover on their own following fuel treatment versus the communities crossing ecological thresholds, which requires expensive active restoration.

Keywords

fire surrogates, fire regimes, thresholds, resilience

Citation

McIver, James D.; Brunson, Mark; Bunting, Steve C.; Chambers, Jeanne; Devoe, Nora; Doescher, Paul; Grace, James; Johnson, Dale; Knick, Steve; Miller, Richard; Pellant, Mike; Pierson, Fred; Pyke, David; Rollins, Kim; Roundy, Bruce; Schupp, Eugene; Tausch, Robin; Turner, David. 2010. The Sagebrush Steppe Treatment Evaluation Project (SageSTEP): a test of state-and-transition theory. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-237. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 16 p.