Location: Great Basin Rangelands Research
Project Number: 2060-21500-001-028-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Jul 1, 2025
End Date: Jun 30, 2028
Objective:
The Sagebrush Steppe Treatment Evaluation Project (SageSTEP) is a long-term ecological study on management-scale fuel treatments, which provides land managers with long-term perspectives on fuel treatments in the Intermountain West related to cheatgrass invasion, pinyon and juniper woodland encroachment, climate change, and resulting changes in fire regimes. For more than 18 years, we have evaluated fuel treatment (prescribed fire, mechanical tree removal, and herbicide) effects on soil, water, plant, and animal communities, in order to determine the ecosystem’s ability to recover from disturbance and prevent future wildfire. Understanding ecosystem responses assures forage production, wildlife habitat, species diversity, and air and water quality, in order to sustain local human communities.
This project will conduct ecological monitoring for SageSTEP field study sites, as well as participate in project-wide outreach activities. These funds will be used to continue research on the effectiveness of fuel treatments for reducing the dominance of invasive species in sagebrush steppe communities and to communicate research findings to researchers, land managers, stakeholders, and other interested individuals or organizations.
Approach:
We will monitor vegetation and fuels at SageSTEP sites that have been treated to reduce juniper encroachment or cheatgrass invasion. Continued monitoring will allow for the collection and analysis of long-term, post-treatment data that will aid in better understanding the consequences of management treatments to vegetation, fuels, and wildlife habitat. Tasks may include field data collection, data management, data analysis, report writing, manuscript preparation, and website management. Deliverables may include datasets, scientific publications, and outreach materials.