A strategic framework addressing biomass utilization, forest restoration, and soil productivity is available.
The removal of forestry residues from public lands is crucial for reducing the risk of stand-replacing wildfires, restoring ecosystems to be more resilient from insect and disease outbreaks, and adapting to climate change. One bioproduct in particular, the biomass-derived high carbon charcoal know as “biochar”, has shown particular promise for offsetting fossil fuels, improving site conditions, and sequestering carbon. However, a variety of ecological, social, and economic impacts must be considered in order to evaluate alternative strategies for the utilization of biomass harvested from public lands. Read more...
Western rangelands provide the wide-open spaces that are integral to the identity of the American West. Seen as the backdrop to countless western films, these landscapes provide sustenance to the region’s people and its iconic flora and fauna, such as sagebrush, cactus, antelope and roadrunners. But native rangelands have disappeared at an alarming rate over the past century. At least 272 million acres of rangelands that greeted early European settlers have vanished, converted to croplands, forests, urban developments, industrial sites, roads and reservoirs. 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.