Sagebrush Steppe Stabilization and Rehabilitation
Learn how the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) uses data and tools to facilitate the restoration and management of post-fire landscapes.
The sagebrush steppe is a unique ecosystem in the western United States that is threatened by invasive annual grasses and increasingly frequent wildfires. The Fire, Invasion, and Ecology in Sagebrush Steppe (FIREss) team, along with other state and federal agencies, works to find ways to mitigate the impact of fire on the landscape.
After a fire, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) uses Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation (ESR) funds to prevent land degradation and to help establish a sagebrush steppe that is resistant and resilient to disturbances. Land managers foster a resistant and resilient sagebrush steppe by seeding native species and using herbicides to temporarily control exotic annual grasses (EAGs). Predicting the outcomes of land treatments can be difficult because these landscapes vary greatly in weather, water availability and topography.
The FIREss team works to determine where, when, and why land treatments will be successful in establishing perennial vegetation that resists invasion. As of September 2023, we are monitoring the effectiveness of land treatments at the following fire sites within the Great Basin of the western U.S.: Benwalk, Davis/Onaqui Complex, Holloway, Indian Creek, Long Draw, Martin, Milford, Rooster’s Comb, Snowstorm, Stout, and Wildcat. Learn more about these fires, their associated land treatments, and our analysis process below:
This map shows the locations of our 11 study sites throughout the Great Basin. You can click on each polygon to learn more about each fire. Left click and drag within the map to pan. You can also click the box with the two arrows in the upper right corner to make the map full screen and then pan and zoom using your mouse or trackpad, or fingers if on a mobile device.
Scroll down to take a deeper look at the Martin Fire.
Map of Western U.S. with 11 fire boundaries drawn as red polygons ( National Interagency Fire Center ).
On July 5th, 2018, the human-caused Martin Fire began to burn in Nevada. It burned over 400,000 acres, making it the largest wildfire in Nevada's history. The fire destroyed several ranches, large portions of grazing land, and a significant amount of animal habitat before it was completely contained on July 21st.
Learn more about the post-fire treatment types used by the BLM to foster a resistant and resilient sagebrush steppe at the Martin fire area below.
Map zoomed in to the Martin fire boundary.
The FIREss team studies how effective or ineffective these treatments are after a fire and informs land managers of the results so that the best practices can be utilized to establish perennial vegetation that is resistant to invasion. When resource managers adopt new treatment techniques and seed species based on what has and has not worked on past treatments, they increase the likelihood of treatment success in the short-term, and foster resistant and resilient landscapes in the long-term. This form of management is known as adaptive management.
In order to collect data on the treatments' effectiveness, the FIREss team travels to the fire sites and collects hundreds of data points on the treatments, assessing the amount of plant cover found at each plot and determining the variety of species present. Learn more about this process below.
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When the FIREss team arrives at a plot, we first set up three lines radiating out from the center with a tape measure to help easily define the plots boundaries. Plots are typically a circle with a radius of 30 meters and the lines are spaced evenly within the plot. We then take pictures of the vegetation.
After pictures are taken, the team meticulously records every species from the canopy (above ground level) to the soil at every half meter along the line. We also count and measure the density, or the count of a species within a defined area, of key plants like sagebrush and perennial grasses and take soil samples. Soil samples help us understand the level of nutrients available to the plants. They also give us insight into the soil's composition. Depending on the soil composition, an invasive plant might outcompete a native plant, as the resources they use to grow can vary.
After the post-fire field collections at the study plots are complete, we conduct detailed analyses of the data to determine what land management techniques are causing successful germination and establishment of desired seeded species, which are reducing the number of invasive species, where these techniques are working, and why they were effective.
How do we determine if a treatment is successful?
Some areas are in good enough condition that they will regenerate on their own without treatment and other areas are far too degraded for treatments to be effective. Land managers strategically choose areas to treat that they believe are in need of help and can be saved from invasion. The FIREss team's study results assist land managers in choosing these areas deemed suitable and in need of intervention for herbicide, seeding, or planting. These treatments are not placed randomly on the ground and non-random placement needs to be taken into consideration when analyzing treatment outcomes. The FIREss team uses in-depth statistical analysis to account for differences in treated vs. untreated areas to mitigate these biases.
Through our research, we have begun to identify elements that lead to treatment success. In 2015, the Soda megafire burned 280,000 acres of land, and the FIREss lab gathered data from over 2,000 plots spread throughout the burned area. After collecting enough data, the lab was able to inform managers what techniques were working where. Despite previous research indicating that seeding sagebrush was often ineffective, we found proof that sagebrush was 12x more likely to establish in areas where it was seeded than not. Our results have shown land managers that creating resilient and resistant sagebrush steppe landscapes is possible, and that science can help increase the odds of success.
The FIREss team can also help answer additional questions such as:
- How does treatment effectiveness vary across elevation?
- By using region-wide models of resistance and resilience, can we predict recovery?
- What is the best seed source to use?
- How long does herbicide prevent invasive grasses from growing?
- Do other invasive plants invade after herbicide is used?
- What are the best weather conditions for sagebrush establishment and growth?
- How does reburning affect treatment success?
The FIREss team continuously works to gather and analyze data on post-fire treatment to help facilitate the best adaptive land management practices. The sagebrush steppe is America's largest contiguous ecosystem, covering almost one-third of the land mass in the continental U.S., and it is threatened due to invasive annual grasses and frequent fires. This work is paramount to help restore and maintain the sagebrush steppe ecosystem.
More Information
For more information about this study and the Soda megafire’s restoration treatment process, see the following USGS publication: Germino, M.J., D.M. Barnard, B.E. Davidson, R.S. Arkle, D.S. Pilliod, M.R. Fisk, C. Applestein. 2018. Thresholds and hotspots for shrub restoration following a heterogeneous megafire. Landscape Ecology 33: 1177-1194 ( https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-018-0662-8 ).
To learn more about the FIREss team, see the Plant-Soil-Environment Laboratory (FRESC) Web Page
The fire perimeter layers present on the maps were obtained by the National Interagency Fire Center (also see NIFC ).
All photographs by U.S. Geological Survey unless otherwise noted.
Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
