Welcome to the Rocky Mountain Research Station
- Future Forests Webinar: Small bugs with large-scale impacts: Ecosystem & Watershed responses to the Mountain Pine Beetle outbreak. Date change: June 26, 2012, 10:00 - 11:30 (Mountain). Presenters include Polly Hays (Region 2 Water Program Manager), Bruce Sims (Region 1 Regional Hydrologist), and RMRS scientists Rob Hubbard, Kelly Elder, and Chuck Rhoades. More ...
- Announcing the creation of the RMRS Center for Landscape Science. The Center promotes communication, coordination and synergy among scientists engaged in landscape ecology research with the aim to increase scientific productivity. The Center develops, synthesizes and delivers knowledge in the areas of landscape ecology, genetics, climate change, disturbance regimes, monitoring, conservation and adaptive management. More ...
- GSDUpdate: All Together Now: Collaboration in Research and Stewardship for Our 21st Century Lands
- 2011 RMRS Research Accomplishments (annual report)
- RMRS researchers discussed topics ranging from implications of the mountain pine beetle outbreak for avian habitat to approaches for modeling habitat suitability under different climate and bark beetle scenarios in the webinar Ecological Consequences of Mountain Pine Beetle Outbreaks. This is the third in the Future Forests Webinar Series.
What's New
GSDUpdate: All Together Now: Collaboration in Research and Stewardship for Our 21st Century Lands
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...
2011 RMRS Research Accomplishments
The 2011 RMRS Research Accomplishments annual report
features sections on our experimental forests and ranges, work at our research natural areas, a look at activities of our Conservation Education Program, and selected research highlights from our science programs.
The USDA FS Research & Development 2011 Highlights provides the annual overview for all Forest Service Research & Development.
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...
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...
Recent Publications
Visit Publications for access to all station publications. Printed copies of all station publications can be ordered free of charge.
For externally refereed publications, visit either
