User's Guides

SageSTEP is producing a set of three ‘User’s Guides’, one each for sagebrush ecosystems threatened by cheatgrass invasion, pinyon-juniper woodland encroachment, and western juniper encroachment. These guides will contain the latest information on how to evaluate these systems and how they are known to respond to available treatments. The guides are intended to help both public and private landowners make more informed decisions as they consider how to apply land management treatments under a wide variety of conditions.

Western Juniper Field Guide: Asking the Right Questions to Select Appropriate Management Action USGS Circular 1321 This guide is now available in PDF format, and as a 4" x 7" pocket field guide. For access to the PDF version (16MB), click here. For hard copies, or if you have questions about the guide, please contact Summer Olsen (435-797-8455 or summer.c.olsen@usu.edu).

Fuel Loading Guide

SageSTEP researchers are producing a fuel loading guide that will put the pre-treatment SageSTEP fuels data into a form that managers and field specialist can easily understand and use in the field. Fuel loading information will also be transferred into the most common fire behavior models. This guide will be modeled after the FERA Photoseries, with their permission, since most field personnel are familiar and often use their guides. The fuel loading guide is scheduled to be available for distribution in spring 2009.

Guide to Stakeholder Groups

SageSTEP sociopolitical researchers are working on a guide to key stakeholder groups in sagebrush-steppe ecosystems the Great Basin. This guide will provide information for land managers regarding the various stakeholder groups with an interest in land management practices and policies in the region. Information for the guide will come from interviews and content analyses of groups including non-governmental organizations, public land managers, and private landowners. The guide to stakeholder groups is scheduled to be available in late 2008.