Sometimes it feels as though problems as large as those affecting our public lands are insurmountable. But through collaborative consumption, we’ve learned to crowdsource financing, share digital files, create software, establish lending libraries for hammers, rakes, tractors and even rent spare bedrooms to travelers. The new mindset has opened up the ways we operate to manage our natural resources, through collaborative studies, stewardship and conservation. Read more...
Welcome to the Grassland, Shrubland and Desert Ecosystems (GSD) Program of the Rocky Mountain Research Station.
The Big Picture
Grassland, shrubland, and desert ecosystems are under threat from disturbances, invasive species, and climate change. These ecosystems provide considerable value in the form of wildlife habitat, clean air and water, biological diversity and recreation.
What We Do
We develop and deliver scientific knowledge, technology and tools that will enable people to sustain and restore grasslands, shrublands, and deserts under increasing threats from expanding human-related uses, invasive species, changing disturbance patterns, and climate changes.
Research by Subject Area
Our scientists perform relevant and timely research in five focal areas: disturbance, invasive species, restoration, ecosystem sustainability and management, and climate change.
Research by Ecoregions
Our science teams perform research in three ecoregions in western North America and other ecosystems around the world. These eco-regions cover vast areas of the western landscapes where our teams tackle multiple threats to ecosystem sustainability.
Who We Are
The GSD program consists of scientists, professionals, technicians and support staff with diverse expertise in the biological, social, and natural resource sciences. We work in collaboration with universities, municipal, state and federal natural resources agencies, non-government organizations, and other research and management institutions. Members of the GSD staff are located at 7 laboratories in 6 states in the intermountain West (Provo, UT, Reno, NV), Rocky Mountains (Boise and Moscow, ID), northern Great Plains (Bozeman, MT, Rapid City, SD), and American Southwest (Albuquerque, NM). GSD employees also manage the Great Basin Experimental Range and the Desert Experimental Range and serve as liaisons to research natural areas within the geographic region covered by the Rocky Mountain Research Station.