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What's New

Biomass — Biochar Strategic Framework

The RMRS strategic framework for 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...

Invasive Species Newsletter

The December issue of RMRS Invasive Species Science Update (ISSU) is now available. ISSU is produced by the RMRS Invasive Species Working Group (ISWG) which is a core group of scientists who volunteer to coordinate outreach of RMRS invasive species science to managers and the public. Back issues of the newsletter are at the working group's website.

Federal Direction for Invasive Species Management

The Forest Service has announced its first ever national-level direction on the management of invasive species. “Invasive species cost the American public an estimated $138 billion each year. They deplete water supplies, destroy recreation opportunities and damage landscapes across the country,” said U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell. The final policy published in the Federal Register on December 5 reflects the consideration of comments received from a wide variety of stakeholders in the public and private sectors.

Review of the Forest Service Response: The Bark Beetle Outbreak in Northern Colorado and Southern Wyoming

A mountain pine beetle outbreak in three national forests in the Rocky Mountain Region (Region 2) of the U.S. Forest Service — the Arapaho-Roosevelt, Medicine Bow-Routt and White River — was initially detected in 1996. By 2010 it had spread to about four million acres. This report examines the ecological conditions and historical land use that contributed to the outbreak, management response to the outbreak, suggested new and extended authorities for addressing the outbreak, and what we might expect as we look forward to the "new forest". Read more...

GSDUpdate: Restoration on the Range: Healing America’s Iconic Landscapes

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.

“I believe that Americans who love their public lands can coalesce around the common goal of ecological restoration,” says Chief Tidwell. Tidwell has developed an approach that emphasizes stewardship on a scale that supersedes ownership. “An all-lands approach brings landowners and stakeholders together across boundaries to decide on common goals for the landscapes they share,” he says. Read more...

Recent Publications

Visit Publications for access to all station publications. Printed copies of all station publications can be ordered free of charge.

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