DEVELOPMENT OF A SCIENCE-BASED DECISION MAKING MODEL FOR RESTORATION OF SAGEBRUSH AND PINYON-JUNIPER ECOSYSTEMS

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: NRI COMPETITIVE GRANT
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 0213964
• Grant No.: 2008-55101-19069
• Proposal No.: 2008-00776
• Project Start Date: Jun 15, 2008
• Project End Date: Jun 14, 2013
• Grant Year: 2008
• Program Code: [23.1]- Managed Ecosystems

Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO
(N/A)
BOULDER,CO 80309

Performing Department
(N/A)

Non Technical Summary
Ecosystems dominated by species of pinyon (e.g., Pinus edulis) and juniper (e.g., Juniperus osteosperma) trees represent one of the predominant vegetation types administered by federal land-management agencies in the West and provide numerous ecosystem services including livestock forage, wildlife habitat, fuel wood, and recreational opportunities. Historic changes have occurred in the structure (thickening woodlands) and extent (tree establishment in adjacent grasslands and shrubsteppe) of pinyon-juniper (P-J) ecosystems, with resulting impacts on fire risk, forage production for livestock, wildlife habitat, and watershed conditions. These changes and impacts have caused concern among managers, leading to a sharp increase in acreages treated to remove overstory trees and restore understory vegetation communities and associated values. Treatment success has been highly variable, yet tremendous investments of fiscal and human resources continue to be devoted to treatment programs without scientific information about constraints to restoration success and ecological risks associated with various treatment alternatives. This lack of information has serious implications for the efficiency of resource use as well as the long-term sustainability of these important ecosystems and associated values. We propose to address this situation through an integrated research, extension, and education project. Our research objectives are 1) to identify the P-J treatment strategies that are most effective in overcoming constraints to understory restoration and 2) evaluate the impacts of P-J treatment strategies on important ecosystem attributes and functions. By understanding the important constraints to restoring understory vegetation and the potential risks associated with different treatment strategies, we expect that the long-term outcome of this research will be more effective restoration of understory vegetation communities in combination with improved ecosystem conditions. Knowledge gained from research will inform our extension activities through 1) development of a series of science-based decision making models and 2) training of land managers and other stakeholders in using these models to plan and implement future projects. Training land managers and other stakeholders to use science-based decision making models that are grounded in fundamental principles of ecology should lead to increased awareness of ecological processes and how these processes function across managed landscapes. Our educational objectives are to provide both classroom and field-based training to undergraduate and graduate students in methods of adaptive ecosystem management. This will be accomplished by developing an Ecosystem Management course for undergraduates, directing a summer undergraduate research and management internship program and training graduate students to direct their research to address the needs of land management goals. Our ultimate goal in this research program is to improve decision making, treatment success, and enhance societal benefits from ecosystem services provided by sustainable management of pinyon-juniper ecosystems.

Animal Health Component

50%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

20%

Applied

50%

Developmental

30%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
102	0720	1070	30%
121	0720	1070	50%
122	0720	1070	20%

Knowledge Area
102 - Soil, Plant, Water, Nutrient Relationships; 122 - Management and Control of Forest and Range Fires; 121 - Management of Range Resources;

Subject Of Investigation
0720 - Pinyon-juniper;

Field Of Science
1070 - Ecology;

Keywords

pinyon

juniper

pinus edulis

juniperus osteosperma

fire mitigation

fuels reduction

colorado plateau

bureau of land management

adaptive management

regression tree models

seed application

herbivory

understory restoration

machine mastication

woodland thinning

pile burning

soil nutrient availability

plant productivity

soil erosion

Goals / Objectives
The focus of this integrated research program is the development of approaches and tools for restoration and long-term sustainable management of pinyon-juniper (P-J) ecosystems that are based on principles of adaptive ecosystem management. Our research objectives are 1) to identify the P-J treatment strategies that are most effective in overcoming constraints to understory restoration and 2) evaluate the impacts of P-J treatment strategies on important ecosystem attributes and functions. By understanding the important constraints to restoring understory vegetation and the potential risks associated with different treatment strategies, we expect that the long-term outcome of this research will be more effective restoration of understory vegetation communities in combination with improved ecosystem conditions. Building on the research program, our extension objectives are 1) to use the results of our research to develop a series of science-based decision making models and 2) to provide training to land managers and other stakeholders in using these models to plan and implement future projects. Training land managers to use science-based decision making models that are grounded in fundamental principles of ecology should lead to increased awareness of ecological processes and how these processes function across managed landscapes. Follow this, application of such models to managing P-J woodlands should lead to more scientifically defensible management plans and protection from litigation, which is always a management concern when working with a range of stakeholders that differ in how they believe these landscapes should be managed.Our educational objectives are to provide both classroom and field-based training to undergraduate and graduate students in methods of adaptive ecosystem management. This will be accomplished by developing an Ecosystem Management course for undergraduates, directing a summer undergraduate management internship program and training graduate students to direct their research to address the needs of land management goals. Our goal in providing these educational opportunities to students is to forge stronger ties between future ecologists and land managers with the outcome of bridging the knowledge gap between academic science and applied management issues.

Project Methods
Research Activities-To meet our research objectives, we have outlined two broad research goals that examine the short-term effectiveness and long-term sustainability of treatments in upland pinyon-juniper (P-J) ecosystems. Hypotheses on short-term treatment effects on understory vegetation and soils will be tested under three treatment levels: 1) machine mastication + mulch, 2) hand thin+burn or 3) untreated controls. To better understand the longer term impacts of past P-J treatments on understory vegetation and ecological function, we will conduct extensive surveys of past treatments in P-J woodlands in southwestern Colorado, and eastern and southern Utah. Outputs from the research component include research publications and undergraduate and graduate student training. Development of Science-Based Decision Making Models-Results from our research will be used to develop science-based decision making models to support extension activities. We will develop regression tree models, which are graphical binary decision trees, to integrate the multiple constraints that may be impacting successful restoration of understory vegetation. Regression tree models have only recently been used by ecologists and provide a novel way not only to analyze complex data but also generate products that are easily understood by a non-science audience. Regression tree models can be used to integrate a broad range of ecological measurements and environmental variables to both evaluate site level responses to treatments and develop predictive models to use in support of land management decisions. Extension Activities: Management Training In Support of Science-Based Decision Making-Over the past several decades the demands on land managers to manage for multiple resources has increased, but the delivery of scientific information that is required to manage ecosystems is this manner has generally been slow to respond to these increased demands. In response to this need we have developed a science-based management framework that will serve as organizational framework for a series land manager workshops which will be held in the final year of our project. Our research team will convene two workshops on restoration and management of pinyon-juniper ecosystems to support managers in future project planning and implementation. Each workshop will follow a general format covering 6 action items: 1) Identify treatment objectives and goals, 2) stratify each of the treatment sites based the USDA-NRCS ecological site approach, 3) compare current site conditions to ecological site descriptions to create target plant communities and soil conditions, 4) create conceptual models to clearly illustrate the potential constraints to meeting these targets, 5) establish a range of treatment options based on current site conditions, hypothesized responses treatments, and current financial budgets, and 6) create an effective assessment and monitoring program to monitor the long-term efficacy of treatments.

Progress 06/15/08 to 06/14/13

Outputs
Target Audience: Outreach to state (i.e. Utah Division of Wildlife) and federal land managers (i.e. Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service) within the state of Utah and the Canyon Country region was a central component of our efforts on this project. The Canyon Country region encompasses most of southern Utah and parts of southwestern Colorado. Over the past 5 years, I traveled to Utah 2-3 times per year to meet with BLM fire specialists to discuss our research and how the relevance of our findings may help to plan future projects. I also gave on average of 2 research talks per year during the time period from 2009-2013 to different stakeholders (see presentations section). In my capacity as a member of the Science and Management Advisory Council for the Canyonlands Research Center (CRC) in Utah, I had the opportunity to share our research results from this project in an invited talk in May 2013. The CRC encompasses 840,000 acres of public and private lands within the Canyon Country region of eastern Utah and is managed by three federal partners and The Nature Conservancy. At that time the BLM Monticello field office was in the planning phase for restoration treatments on their lands and our research on treatment responses informed managers of the potential plant community and soil erosional responses they could expect with the different treatment strategies. A second important target audience in this project was undergraduate students at the University of Colorado. In my department there are limited opportunities, but keen interest, in doing science to support land management. Following this, I developed an Ecosystem Management course that took an innovative approach to teaching. The course was structured as a series of ecosystem management ‘workshops’ where we, as a group, were involved in a 15-week study and evaluation of management of terrestrial ecosystems. In this course, I developed an evidence-based approach to teaching. This approach was an adaptive style of teaching in which the use of research-based best teaching practices, which are centered on the learning needs of the student, was coupled with assessment of student learning gains and experiences. My teaching practices were improved and refined over time based on the knowledge gained in these assessments. To adopt this new approach to teaching required a complete restructuring of the course. In the Spring 2011 semester, I began to experiment with the inverted or ’flipped’ classroom structure. A flipped classroom is one in which classroom time is devoted to working on problems in collaborative small student groups with little to no time spent lecturing, while background content (e.g. PowerPoint lectures, videos, readings) is covered by students outside of class. In this class my students participated in mock public hearings based on the NEPA process to address controversial land management topics, developed written evidence based arguments to support or refute a current land management issue, and conducted group projects to evaluate the ecological, social, and economic impacts of a management decision. Final products of the group projects were presented in a poster session at the end of the semester. While teaching Ecosystem Management, I developed 5 in-depth case studies, one of which was based on this project. This case study is currently in preparation for submission to the peer-reviewed NSF funded National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science (http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/). During the spring 2012 semester of Ecosystem Management, I mentored a master’s student (Anastasia Maines) in developing and in-depth case study of her research on invasive species. She ran this case study over two, 75-minute class periods in the spring of 2012 and 2013. This case study was recently published in the NCCS (Maines 2013). Changes/Problems: The major change to our experimental approach came early in the project. We realized in our first year that only one site could be implemented by the BLM each year. In our proposal we had planned to implement treatments at both the Shay and Wray research sites. Due to significant time it took to implement the tree removal and schedule the prescribed fires, Shay Mesa was treated in the summer of 2009 and Wray Mesa was implemented in the following summer of 2010. We also originally proposed a broad scale survey of the long-term effects of past treatments. We realized that a group led by Neil Cobb from Northern Arizona University (NAU) had received extensive funding by the BLM to build a database to document pinyon-juniper treatments across the Colorado Plateau from the 1950s through 2000. Using these data we documented the spatial extent and treatment costs on BLM lands over the last half-century (Redmond et al. in review in Rangeland Ecology and Management). This same group also shared their data on longer-term treatment effects on plant communities in southern Utah. My Ph.D. student recently published an article in Forest Ecology and Management on the longer-term effects of chaining treatments in pinyon-juniper woodlands (Redmond et al. 2013). We were pleased to initiate this collaboration with NAU investigators and utilize existing data to address the questions we originally set out in our proposal on the longer-term effects of treatments on plant communities in pinyon-juniper woodlands. Our goal to direct a summer management internship program was also scaled back due to the extensive amount of work that needed to be completed each field season by our undergraduate field crews. Our field crews were in the field each season for 27 - 40 days camping under fairly primitive conditions. Once the field season was over all of the students were ready to return home and there was little interest in staying out in the field for an additional period of time. As a result, I had our BLM partners participate in informal questions and answer sessions to our students while in the field. For example, we would take an afternoon off of fieldwork in the extreme heat of the day and have discussions about the challenges in making land management decisions. There were also many opportunities during the field season for students to interact informally with out BLM partners. The fire and fuels technicians were often in the field implementing treatments in other location, checking on the status of our project, or conducting their own long-term monitoring of treatments. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Training and professional development activities on this project focused primarily on undergraduate and graduate student. Since we were funded in 2008 a total of 25 undergraduates worked directly on this project in a range of different capacities. I advised 3 undergraduate honors theses (Ross, Peoples, Clingan), one of which received highest honors (Summa Cum Laude) and was published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Aridland Environments (Ross et al. 2012). I supervised 3 undergraduate independent study projects and 8 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Projects (UROP) in which all of the research was related to this project. In addition, 1 high school volunteer conducted her senior science fair project on changes in soil nutrient availability with fuels reduction treatments. Undergraduates gained valuable field experience on this project and we provided training to 12 undergraduates in plant community and soil erosion monitoring. An addition 13 students worked in the laboratory and were trained in analytical lab techniques. Two graduate students (one M.A. and one Ph.D.) were trained in both field and analytical laboratory techniques. One graduate student presented results from this project at the Canyon Country Science Symposium in Moab, Utah in March 2012. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? We realized early in the project that the best way to communicate our research results was to meet frequently with our BLM partners in Moab, Utah and to attend annual meetings held by fire and fuel specialists. As a result, our outreach activities to state (i.e. Utah Division of Wildlife) and federal land managers (i.e. Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service) within the state of Utah and the Canyon Country region focused on presentations of our results at their annual meetings. The Canyon Country region encompasses most of southern Utah and parts of southwestern Colorado. Over the past 5 years, I traveled to Utah 2-3 times per year to meet with Bureau of Land Management fire specialists to discuss our research and how the relevance of our findings may help to plan future projects. I also gave at least 1 research talks per year during the time period from 2009-2013 to different stakeholders (see presentations section). In my capacity as a member of the Science and Management Advisory Council for the Canyonlands Research Center (CRC) in Utah, I had the opportunity to share our research results from this project in an invited talk in May 2013. This talk was attended by two field office managers of the BLM, BLM fuel and rangeland specialists, two members of a local ranching family, the district ranger for the U.S. Forest Service, the Conservation Science director for The Nature Conservancy, a habitat manager for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, and the Natural and Cultural Resource Manager for the National Park Service. In addition to frequent presentations to state and federal managers I also co-led 2 field trips to our research sites to discuss our findings in March and May of 2011. Finally, a technical report of our research results was given to the BLM in January 2013. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Over the past decade, millions of acres of fuels reduction treatments have been implemented across a range of western U.S. forest types, with the goal to reduce the risk of catastrophic fire while restoring forest and rangelands to their historical structure, function and diversity. In this project we evaluated both the potential ecological benefits (i.e. increased understory plant cover) and risks (i.e. post-disturbance colonization by invasive plants, soil erosion) to different fuels reduction strategies in upland pinyon-juniper woodlands. The major activities completed on this project were implementation of 3 common fuels reduction treatments in two upland pinyon-juniper sites in Canyon Country, Utah (Shay Mesa and Wray Mesa). In this project we evaluated plant community and soil erosion responses to 3 types of fuels reduction treatments (1 common mechanical and two prescribed fire fuels reduction treatments) in two upland piñon-juniper woodland sites in southeast Utah after two growing seasons. The first site (Shay Mesa) was located at an elevation of 2280 m and was previously chained in the 1960s. The second site (Wray Mesa) was located at approximately 2430 m and was not previously treated. Treatments were implemented by our BLM partners at our research sites in the summer of 2009 and 2010. Plant community responses were monitored for two growing seasons after treatment. Soil erosion responses to treatment were monitored quarterly from 2009-2012 at the Shay Mesa site and for 2 years at the Wray Mesa site. We met our research objectives in that we can now identify the pinyon-juniper treatment strategies that are most effective in overcoming constraints to understory restoration while minimizing soil surface disturbance, which may increase soil erosion. At the Shay Mesa site, understory plant cover and density increased by over 200% and 250%, respectively, in all tree removal treatment plots compared to the control plot after two growing seasons. However, both the cover and density of the exotic annual grass, Bromus tectorum L. (cheatgrass), also increased after two growing seasons across all treatments. The first year after treatment (2010) was a relatively wet year and may have contributed to the positive growth responses at this site after only two growing seasons. At Wray Mesa, a dry year in 2011 and drought year in 2012 resulted in a 5-10% increase in herbaceous cover in mechanical mastication and broadcast burn treatments; increases that were only observed when sites were seeded. The control plots during this time period experienced a significant decline in herbaceous cover. Overall, both mechanical mastication and prescribed fire treatments led to significant increases in herbaceous cover, but these responses were strongly influenced by climate in the first two growing seasons after treatment. While there were clear benefits associated with reducing hazardous fuel loads by decreasing the risk of catastrophic fire to people and ecosystems and increasing understory plant cover, there were also potential risks of fuels reduction activities. Soil surface disturbance and subsequent soil erosion is of concern, particularly for less resilient, lower elevation semi-arid ecosystems. In these systems, biological soil crust communities are critically important for the stability and functioning of the soil system, but are highly susceptible to soil surface disturbance with significant recovery times. In our study, we measured wind and water erosion with wind aspirated dust samplers (BSNEs) and 1 m silt fences in the upland piñon-juniper woodland ecosystems on Shay and Wray Mesa. Prescribed fire was shown to result in a 11-32 fold increase in wind borne sediment transport as compared to the untreated control and masticated sites the first two growing seasons after treatment. Transport of wind-borne material appeared to peak in the first growing season after treatment and declined thereafter. A similar pattern was observed in soils captured by silt fences. The prescribed fire treatments resulted in 20-40 fold higher sediment accumulation in silt fences relative to the control and masticated treatments after two growing seasons. Soil accumulation within the silt fences appeared to decline as vegetation cover increased during the spring and summer months and increased again during the fall. Our results suggest that the use of prescribed fire may result in significant soil loss in the year immediately following treatment, whereas mastication strategies that provide a protective mulch layer and less overall soil surface disturbance had similar soil losses to the untreated control site. Increases in soil erosion with prescribed fire were likely due to significant declines in soil surface stability and biological soil crust cover. Taken together, our results suggest that mastication should be the preferred fuels reduction method when there are concerns related to soil and site stability. These results are included in 1 publication that was published in 2012 (Ross et al. 2012), 1 publication that is in review in Environmental Management, and 2 additional publications that are in preparation and currently in draft form to be submitted in January 2014. Our findings resulted in a change of knowledge on the part of our BLM partners and other state and federal managers in the Canyon Country region through increased awareness of the ecological impacts of fuels reduction practices. The ecological responses to fuels reduction treatment in the upland pinyon-juniper woodland sites in this project were discussed as the planning for a new restoration project was planned in the lower elevation sagebrush communities (https://www.blm.gov/ut/enbb/files/EA2.pdf). In addition, we created a powerpoint presentation of our project results for our BLM partners in the spring of 2013. Our partners are sharing this presentation with other field offices across the state of Utah. Documenting a change in action and condition due to our research specifically is difficult to document. Since our project was initiated in 2008 many changes have occurred in the Utah BLM fuels program in this region that were due to policy and budgetary changes. Thus decoupling changes in action and condition due to this project is difficult to decouple from these other factors over this time period. Although the funding for this project has ended, our final goal is to produce a decision tree model of the potential ecological risks and benefits of the different fuels reduction strategies in these upland pinyon-juniper woodlands. I will be teaching Ecosystem Management in the spring 2014 semester and I plan to have my students develop a decision tree model of “best practices” in fuels reduction treatments in upland pinyon-juniper woodlands of the Colorado Plateau based on all of the available plant and soils data from this project. This decision tree tool will then be delivered to our BLM partners in the summer of 2014.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2011 Citation: Barger, N.N., H.S. Guenther?, M.E. Miller, J.S. Herrick. Fire mitigation practices in pi�on-juniper woodlands: Soil erosion increases related to declines in biological soil crust communities. Colorado Plateau 11th Biennial Conference. Flagstaff, AZ. October 2011. Invited.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2011 Citation: Barger, N.N., H.S. Guenther?, M.E. Miller, J.S. Herrick. Soil erosion increases in response to fuels reduction in a pi�on-juniper woodland. Ecological Society of America meetings. Austin, TX. August 2011. Invited special session.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2011 Citation: Barger, N.N., H.S. Guenther?, M.E. Miller, J.S. Herrick. Science to support decision-making in pinyon-juniper fuels reduction treatments. Utah Bureau of Land Management Prescribed Fires and Fuels Workshop. Moab, Utah. April 2011. Invited.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2009 Citation: Barger N.N., M.E. Miller, J.S. Herrick, S. Castle, M. Ross, and J. Morton. Promoting science-based decisions for restoration of pinyon-juniper woodlands. US Department of Agriculture-National Research Initiative All Scientists Meeting. Pittsburgh, PA. November 2009. Invited.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2009 Citation: Barger, N.N. Spoke to the University of Colorado chapter of the Roosevelt Institute about balancing science and management in managing western US ecosystems. November 2009. Invited.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2009 Citation: Barger, N.N. Understanding the ecological costs and benefits of fuels reduction strategies in pinyon-juniper woodlands on the Colorado Plateau. Utah Bureau of Land Management Prescribed Fires and Fuels Workshop. Salt Lake City, February 2009. Invited.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Redmond, M.D., N.S. Cobb, M.E. Miller, and N.N. Barger. 2013. Long term effects of chaining treatments on vegetation structure in pi�on-juniper woodlands of the Colorado Plateau. Forest Ecology and Management 305:120-128. DOI: 10.1016/j.foreco.2013.05.020. (Lead author is a PhD student)
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2011 Citation: Ross, M., S.C. Castle, and N.N. Barger. 2012. Recent fuels reduction treatment effects on herbaceous communities and soils in a pinyon-juniper ecosystem. Journal of Arid Environments 79-84-92, doi:10.1016/j.jaridenv.2011.11.019. (Undergraduate honors thesis)
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2011 Citation: Castle, S.C., C.D. Morrison and N.N. Barger. 2011. Extraction of chlorophyll a from biological soil crusts: A comparison of solvents for spectrophotometric determination. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 43:853-856. (Method development on our project to determined biological soil crust biomass)
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2010 Citation: Grandy, S. and N.N. Barger. 2010. Implementing active learning strategies: Tales from two new life sciences professors at research universities. Journal of Academic Leadership Volume 8(2). *Denotes equal contributions by the authors. Publication on innovative teaching approaches used in my Ecosystem Management course. (Editorial Review)
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2014 Citation: Redmond, M.D., T. J. Zelikova and N.N. Barger. Limits to understory plant restoration following fuel reduction in a pi�on-juniper woodland. Environmental Management. (Lead author is a PhD student)
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2014 Citation: Karl, J.W., J.K. Gillan, M. Duniway, N.N. Barger, and J.E. Herrick. Interpretation of high-resolution imagery for detecting woodland cover composition change after fuels reduction treatments. Ecological Indicators. (Lead author is a post-doctoral research associate)
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2014 Citation: Guenther, H.S. and N.N. Barger. Effects of fuels reduction treatments on understory plant communities in a previously treated pi�on-juniper woodland. To be submitted to Rangeland Ecology and Management. (Lead author is an MA student who graduate in Fall 2012)
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2014 Citation: Redmond, M.D., E. Golden, and N.N. Barger. Vegetation management across Colorado Plateau BLM lands: 1940-2003. Rangeland Ecology and Management. (Lead author is a PhD student)
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2014 Citation: Barger, N.N., M.E. Miller, J.E. Herrick. Soil erosion responses to fuels reduction in pi�on-juniper woodlands of the Colorado Plateau. In draft. To be submitted to Ecological Applications.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2014 Citation: Gillan, J., J.W. Karl, N.N. Barger, M.C. Duniway and A. Elaksher. Using high-resolution aerial photogrammetry to 3-dimensionally model soil erosion in rangeland ecosystems
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2012 Citation: Guenther, H.S. and N.N. Barger. 2012. Effects of Tree Removal Treatments on Understory Plant Communities in Pi�on-Juniper Woodlands. Report to BLM Canyon Country Fire Zone Fire and Fuels Specialists. 38 pp.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2013 Citation: Barger, N.N., H. Guenther, M.D. Redmond, T.J. Zelikova, M.E. Miller, and J.S. Herrick. Plant community response to fuels reduction treatments in upland pinyon-juniper woodlands. 12th Biennial Conference of Science and Management on the Colorado Plateau. Flagstaff, AZ. September 2013. Invited.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2013 Citation: Gillan, J., J.W. Karl, N.N. Barger, M.C. Duniway and A. Elaksher. Using high-resolution aerial photogrammetry to 3-dimensionally model soil erosion in rangeland ecosystems. 98th Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America. Minneapolis, MN OR. August 2013.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2013 Citation: Barger N.N., H.S. Guenther, M.E. Miller, J.S. Herrick. Consequences of fuel load management on erosional processes in pi�on-juniper ecosystems. US Department of Agriculture-Agriculture and Food Research Initiative, All Scientists Meeting. Annapolis, MD. June 2013.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2013 Citation: Barger N.N., H.S. Guenther, M.E. Miller, J.S. Herrick. Consequences of fuel load management on erosional processes in pi�on-juniper ecosystems. Canyonlands Research Center Science and Management Advisory Board. Moab, UT. May 2013. Invited.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2012 Citation: Barger, N.N., H.S. Guenther?, M.E. Miller, J.E. Herrick. Consequences of fuel load management on erosional processes in pi�on-juniper ecosystems. 97th Annual Meeting Ecological Society of America. Portland, OR. August 2012. Invited.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2012 Citation: Guenther, H.S. and N.N. Barger. Fuel reduction effects on plant communities in an upland pi�on-juniper woodland. Canyon Country Science Symposium. Moab, UT. March 2012.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2012 Citation: Barger, N.N., H.S. Guenther?, M.E. Miller, J.S. Herrick. Plant and soil responses to fuels reduction treatments in upland pinyon-juniper woodlands. Presented to Utah Partners for Conservation and Development. Green River, UT. February 2012. Invited.

Progress 06/15/10 to 06/14/11

Outputs
OUTPUTS: Conducting and analyzing experiments - During the 2010-11 funding year, we conducted pre-treatment measurements at our second intensive research site (Wray Mesa, May-June 2010) and one year post-treatment monitoring at our first intensive research site (Shay Mesa). On Wray Mesa, our pre-treatment measurements were quickly followed by implementation of three fuels reduction treatments by our BLM partners. Implementation of these treatments occurred over a period of 5 months (July-November 2010). Immediately after the treatments were implemented we mobilized a field crew to install erosion monitoring equipment. Similar to Shay Mesa, soil erosion significantly increased in prescribed fire fuels reduction treatments on Wray Mesa. Most notably aeolian fluxes within the broadcast burn treatment were 400 to 700 fold higher than the untreated control sites. Similar trends were observed with alluvial sediment fluxes whereby fluxes were 540 fold higher in the broadcast burn sites relative to untreated controls. Overall there appears to be a consistent trend across our two research sites, results which suggest that the use of prescribed fire in these pinyon-juniper sites results in significant and may be even described as catastrophic soil erosion. Mentoring - 1 MS student, 2 undergraduate honors theses (in the process), 6 undergraduate research assistants. Events - PI Barger was invited by BLM Fire Specialist to give a research talk at the annual Utah Prescribed Fire and Fuels Workshop (April 2010). All of the lead fuels managers for the Utah fire zones and fuels specialists were in attendance (~60 people). PI Barger also co-led a field trip and tour of the Wray Mesa research treatments. Barger had the opportunity during this field trip to show fuels managers the types of monitoring equipment that had been installed and to further discuss research results. A second field trip was organized by the BLM Lead Fuels Manager in the Moab, Utah field office and co-led by Barger in May 2011. The target audience was members of the Utah Partners for Conservation and Development/Water Restoration Initiative (UPCD/WRI), which include a broad range of state and federal agency participants. PI Barger conducted a tour of the Shay Mesa research site and discussed preliminary project results related to the ecological effects of fuels reduction projects. Approximately 20 people were on this field trip. Products - As part of the education component of this project, PI Barger has been developing curricula and currently teaching an upper-division Ecosystem Management course at the University of Colorado. The issue of the ecological effects of fuels reduction treatments on western public lands was explored in depth. Twenty-three students were enrolled in this course. Dissemination- Preliminary research results related to the significant soil erosion observed in our prescribed fire treatments have been continually reported to our BLM partners. Our partners have compiled our early research results into packets that have been used in the two field trips described in the events section. PARTICIPANTS: Individuals: Mark Miller, co PI, field training and field protocol development; Jeff Herrick, co PI, field protocol development; Maegan McKee, research technician, field and laboratory work; Heidi Guenther, MS student, field and laboratory work, Matt Peoples, honors student and undergraduate research assistant; Andrew Habig, undergraduate research assistant, fieldwork; Ian Mallams, undergraduate research assistant, fieldwork; Conor Morrison, undergraduate research assistant, field and laboratory work; Stephanie Shepard, undergraduate research assistant, fieldwork; Alisha Mercer, undergraduate research assistant, laboratory work; Matt Ellwood, undergraduate research assistant, laboratory work; John Motley, undergraduate research assistant, field work; Graham Goodman, undergraduate research assistant, field work; Sofie Holmgren-GIS support Partners: BLM - Moab and Monticello Field Office, Training or Professional Development: Graduate training-Provided lab and field training to 1 MS student. Undergraduate training-Provided field and lab assistants positions to 9 undergraduate students from the University of Colorado. TARGET AUDIENCES: Our primary target audience in disseminating our research results is state and federal fire and fuels managers. PI Barger has spent significant time not only with BLM partners in treatment implementation but disseminating research results to the broader state and federal fire and fuels managers. These efforts are described in the events section of this report. PI Barger has developed innovative teaching methods and curriculum development in her upper division Ecosystem Management course at the University of Colorado. This course was specifically developed to compliment the research efforts within this project. These teaching methods are described in detail in a recent publication by Grandy and Barger that was published in Academic Leadership (Grandy S. and Barger, N.N. 2010. Implementing Active Learning Strategies: Tales from Two New Life Science Professors at Research Universities. Academic Leadership: The Online Journal. Volume 8 - Issue 2. Authors contributed equally to this work.)Academic Leadership is an online peer-reviewed journal, which deals primarily with topics in higher education. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: PI Miller moved from the USGS to the National Park Service during this time. The USGS subcontract was rewritten and the budget was modified to reflect changes in PI Miller's primary responsibilities. These changes are not anticipated to have a significant impact on the project outcomes. All budget modifications were sent to the funder for approval.

Impacts
Change in knowledge - Our preliminary research results suggest that the use of prescribed fire in these ecosystems may lead to significant soil erosion. Our BLM partners have been informed of these results and are aware of the potential risks to soil resources. Following this, our BLM partners are aware that mechanical mastication treatments result in less soil erosion that those treatments that use prescribed fire. Although we are unable to determine at this time whether these results will lead to changes in the decision making process, our research has clearly led to a change in knowledge on the part of our BLM partners.

Publications

• Ross M., Castle S. C. and Barger N. N. 2011. Accepted, in revision. Fuels reduction effects on plant communities and soils in a Pinyon‐Juniper woodland. Journal of Arid Environments.

Progress 06/15/09 to 06/14/10

Outputs
OUTPUTS: Conducting and analyzing experiments - During the 2009-10 funding year, we conducted pre-treatment measurements of the vegetation community and soil resources (i.e. nutrients, biological soil crust, community, stability) in one of two research sites (May-June 2009). Our pre-treatment measurements were quickly followed by implementation of three fuels reduction treatments by our BLM partners. Implementation of these treatments occurred over a period of 3 months (July-September 2009). Immediately after the treatments were implemented we mobilized a large undergraduate field crew to install soil moisture and erosion monitoring equipment (i.e. silt fences and BSNES). We were able to make post-treatment soil erosion collections in October and December before the winter set in. Our results after these two sampling periods showed dramatic changes in soil erosion in fuels reduction treatments that used prescribed fire. Aeolian fluxes within the prescribed fire treatments were upwards of 83 fold higher than untreated control sites. Similar but even more dramatic trends were observed with alluvial sediment fluxes whereby fluxes were 557 fold higher in the broadcast burn sites. These results suggest that the use of prescribed fire in this pinyon-juniper site results in significant and may be even described as catastrophic soil erosion. Mentoring - 1 MS student, 1 undergraduate honors thesis (Summa Cum Laude), 6 undergraduate research assistants. Events - Co PI Miller and PI Barger conducted a two-day training undergraduate research assistant training session in vegetation and soils monitoring (May 2009). Brian Keating, the lead BLM fire specialist for the Canyon Country Fire Zone, hosted an afternoon workshop to discuss professional career paths within land management agencies. Six undergraduates and one graduate student currently working on the research project were in attendance. Services-PI Barger was invited to join the Canyonlands Research Center (CRC) Science and Management Advisory Council. One of our two research sites are located within the CRC boundaries and membership on this council has allowed Barger to discuss more broadly the implications of the fuels reduction treatments being implemented within CRC lands. Products - Upon the recommendation from the three PIs on this project (Barger, Miller, and Herrick) the BLM provided significant funding to support the acquisition of pre and post treatment high-resolution aerial imagery (8 cm). Pre-treatment high resolution aerial imagery was obtained in June 2009 with plans to repeat the flights in June 2010. Dissemination- Preliminary research results related to the significant soil erosion observed in our prescribed fire treatments were immediately reported to our BLM partners in a meeting in December 2009. Canyon Country Fire Zone lead fire specialists and the BLM NEPA coordinator were in attendance. PARTICIPANTS: Individuals: Mark Miller, co PI, field training and field protocol development; Jeff Herrick, co PI, field protocol development; Sarah Castle, research technician, field and laboratory work; Heidi Guenther, MS student, field and laboratory work, Matt Ross, honors student and undergraduate research assistant; Cody Flagg, undergraduate research assistant, fieldwork; Laura Schafenacker, undergraduate research assistant, fieldwork; Conor Morrison, undergraduate research assistant, field and laboratory work; Tegan McGillivray, undergraduate research assistant, fieldwork; Alisha Mercer, undergraduate research assistant, laboratory work; Nikolas Mirhashemi, undergraduate research assistant, laboratory work; Lewis Osterman, undergraduate research assistant, laboratory work; Matt Van Scoyoc, USGS research technician, fieldwork; Sofie Holmgren-GIS support Partners: Bureau of Land Management - Moab and Monticello Field Office Training or Professional Development: Graduate training-Provided lab and field training to 1 MS student. Undergraduate training-Provided field and lab assistants positions to 8 undergraduate students from the University of Colorado. TARGET AUDIENCES: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
Change in knowledge - Our preliminary research results suggest that the use of prescribed fire in these ecosystems may lead to significant soil erosion. Our BLM partners have been informed of these results and are aware of the potential risks to soil resources. Following this, our BLM partners are aware that mechanical mastication treatments result in less soil erosion that those treatments that use prescribed fire. Although we are unable to determine at this time whether these results will lead to changes in the decision making process, our research has clearly led to a change in knowledge on the part of our BLM partners.

Publications

• No publications reported this period

Progress 06/15/08 to 06/14/09

Outputs
OUTPUTS: Research- Our research activities in the first year of the project have focused on 1) site reconnaissance and selection 2) pre-treatment measurements and 3) treatment implementation at the first of our two research sites. In the fall and spring of 2008/09 PIs Barger, Miller, and Herrick conducted two site reconnaissance trips to southeastern Utah. We worked in collaboration with our Bureau of Land Management (BLM) partners to identify sites that were similar in geology, soils, elevation, vegetation and topography in which to apply our experimental fuels reduction treatments. During May and June of 2009 we measured pre-treatment vegetation characteristics, soil nutrients and stability, and fuel loads. On our urging the BLM also contracted and paid for high resolution images (15 cm ) of our experimental site at a cost of $12,000. Fuels reduction treatments were completed in June 2009. Immediately after the treatments we instrumented these sites to evaluate erosional processes, nutrient cycling, and soil water availability. Extension- Our extension work this year primarily focused on our partnership with fuels managers in southeast Utah and implementation of experimental treatments. Barger was provided an opportunity to talk about the ecological impacts of fuels reduction treatments to land managers. In February 2009 Barger was invited to Salt Lake City to give a research talk at the BLM Biannual Utah Fuels Meeting. This talk was given to all the BLM fuels managers and technicians from the state of Utah. The main theme of the talk was the potential benefits and risks of fuels reductions strategies in pinyon-juniper woodlands. Education- Barger developed a new undergraduate course in Ecosystem Management (EBIO 4800) at the University of Colorado. In this course Barger used activities such as role playing and seminars to explore topics in ecosystem management. Enrollment in this course was 18 undergraduates mostly from majors in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Ecosystem Management. Undergraduate Research and Training Activities-This past summer we employed five undergraduate interns for fieldwork and laboratory analyses. These undergraduates received extensive training in field and lab-based soil and plant analyses. One of the five students is currently in the process of writing his undergraduate honors thesis which examines the impacts of fuels reduction techniques in pinyon-juniper woodlands on soil nutrients and stability. During our final field campaign in July 2009 the BLM Fuels Program Manager for southeastern Utah conducted a two hour question and answer session with our undergraduate interns. All of our undergraduate interns were from the sciences and came back with an appreciation of how little science may be used to make importance management decisions. Graduate Research and Training Activities-In this first year of the project, Barger recruited two Ph.D. students to work on the project. One student traveled with PI Barger in April 2009 to a 4 day workshop near Salt Lake City titled "Interpreting Indicators of Rangeland Health." A co-organizer of this training session was co-PI Herrick. PARTICIPANTS: Partner Organizations-Bureau of Land Management Fuels Program, Southeast Utah, The Nature Conservancy, Utah Partners for Conservation and Development (UPCD) Training or professional development-Undergraduates-Matt Ross (undergrad), Cody Flagg (undergrad), Laura Schafenacker (undergrad), Conor Morrision (undergrad), Tegan McGillivray (undergrad), Heidi Guenther (Ph.D), Jeff Morton (Ph.D.) TARGET AUDIENCES: Barger developed a new undergraduate course in Ecosystem Management (EBIO 4800) at the University of Colorado. In this course Barger used activities such as role playing and seminars to explore topics in ecosystem management. Enrollment in this course was 18 undergraduates mostly from majors in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Ecosystem Management. This past summer Barger co-authored a paper with a colleague at Michigan State University titled "Implementing Active Learning Strategies: Tales from Two New Life Science Professors at Research Universities." This manuscript is currently in review at the Journal of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education. Many of the student activities described in this manuscript were from the recently developed Ecosystem Management course. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
In the first year of the project the outcomes and impacts have been fewer than the outputs; a pattern we expect to change we make more progress in our research program over the next several years. One manuscript has been submitted that is directly related to the educational objectives of this project. This past summer Barger co-authored a paper with a colleague at Michigan State University titled "Implementing Active Learning Strategies: Tales from Two New Life Science Professors at Research Universities." This manuscript is currently in review at the Journal of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education. Many of the student activities described in this manuscript were from the recently developed Ecosystem Management course.

Publications

• No publications reported this period