February 24, 2016 | 1:00 PM
Goal: Provide land managers with a practical understanding of how ecosystem resilience and resistance concepts can be applied from landscape to site scales to reduce detrimental impacts of fire and invasive species.
Background: Ecosystem resilience and resistance concepts have rapidly emerged as an ecologically-based framework for coping with persistent threats in the sage steppe, such as, wildfire and invasive annual grasses. Agencies have begun applying these concepts to assess risks, prioritize management activities, and select appropriate treatments from landscape to site scales. This session is designed to increase land managers' awareness and understanding of how "R&R;" applications can help them better maintain desired sagebrush communities.
Session Chairs: Jeremy Maestas and San Stiver Jeremy Maestas, USDA - Natural Resources Conservation Service, 625 SE Salmon Ave., Suite 4, Redmond, OR 97756; Phone 541-923-4358 x 109; jeremy.maestas@or.usda.gov San Stiver, Western Association of Wildlife Agencies; 522 Notre Dame Ct. Cheyenne, WY 82009; Phone: 928-443-5158; stiver@cableone.net
Speakers Include:
The scientific foundation for resilience and resistance in sagebrush ecosystems
Jeanne Chambers, Research Ecologist, USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Reno, NV; jchambers@fs.fed.us
Jeanne Chambers is a research ecologist with the Grassland, Shrublands, and Deserts Program of the USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, and she is located at the Great Basin Ecology Lab in Reno, NV. Her current research focuses on understanding the effects of climate, invasive species, and altered disturbance regimes on sagebrush ecosystems and riparian areas, and on using that information to develop effective management strategies for increasing their resilience and resistance.
Using resilience and resistance concepts to triage fire and invasive threats at the landscape scale.
Mike Pellant, J. Chambers, and J. Maestas. Mike Pellant, Great Basin Ecologist, Boise, ID; mpellant@blm.gov
Mike has worked 40 years with the BLM and is currently focusing on Sage-grouse habitat issues including habitat assessment (Fire and Invasive Assessment Tool and Interpreting Indicators of Rangeland Health), habitat restoration, and targeted grazing to reduce fuels. He is the co-lead of a team implementing three targeted livestock grazing Action Items in the Implementation Plan for the Department of Interior's Rangeland Fire Executive Order (3336). He was previously the Coordinator for the BLM's Great Basin Restoration Initiative, Great Basin Native Plant Program, and the Intermountain Greenstripping and Rehabilitation Project.
Evaluating resilience and resistance and predicting vegetation response pre- and post-fire at the site scale
Rick Miller, Professor Emeritus of Range Ecology and Fire, 112 Withycombe Hall, Oregon State University, Corvallis OR 97331; richard.miller@oregonstate.edu
Rick is Professor Emeritus from Oregon State University who has worked in plant and fire ecology of sagebrush and juniper woodland ecosystems in the Intermountain Region for nearly 4 decades. He continues to work for the Great Basin Fire Exchange Program and Joint Fire Science Program and is also working on a synthesis on pinyon and juniper woodlands. His work includes; a) determining key factors that influence plant succession, resilience and resistance to invasives as they relate to fire and other disturbances; b) evaluating the impacts of disturbance on the composition and structure on wildlife habitat; c) and developing fire histories that have occurred across these landscapes for the past several centuries.
Tapping soil survey information to inform resilience and resistance assessments.
Jeremy Maestas and S. Campbell.
Jeremy Maestas, Sagebrush Ecosystem Specialist, USDA-NRCS, West National Technology Support Center, Portland OR; jeremy.maestas@por.usda.gov
Jeremy works with NRCS staff and partners to put science into practice through strategic habitat conservation delivery in sagebrush ecosystems across the West. He grew up in Nevada and went on to earn B.S. and M.S. degrees in Wildlife Biology from Colorado State University. Much of his career has focused on sustaining working landscapes in the Great Basin, where contributions have included implementation of large-scale strategic approaches to reducing conifer encroachment, wildfire and invasive species threats to sagebrush ecosystems.
Panel discussion with Questions and Answers from all speakers