Current Research

I am a Research Ecologist with the Human Dimensions Program at Rocky Mountain Research Station. I specialize in use of remote sensing and GIS to facilitate evaluation of contemporary issues facing US rangelands. I am keenly interested in facilitating management and administration of our Nations’ rangelands and am pursuing numerous efforts to partner with the National Forest System to improve the quality and usefulness of Forest Plan Revisions. An example of spatially explicit information describing rangeland trends can be found at: https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2017-0004. My research portfolio spans 4 themes:

I am the Forest Service liaison to the Northern Plains Regional Climate Hub, and I serve on the Sustainable Rangelands Roundtable (http://sustainablerangelands.org/) while being a member of the Resources Planning Act (RPA) scientist cadre.

Reeves, Matthew C.; Krebs, Michael; Leinwand, Ian; Theobald, David M.; Mitchell, John E. 2018. Rangelands on the Edge: Quantifying the modification, fragmentation, and future residential development of U.S. rangelands. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-382. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 31 p.

Reeves, Matt C.; Manning, Mary E.; DiBenedetto, Jeff P.; Palmquist, Kyle A.; Lauenroth, William K.; Bradford, John B.; Schlaepfer, Daniel R. 2018. Effects of climate change on rangeland vegetation in the Northern Rockies Region [Chapter 7]. In: Halofsky, Jessica E.; Peterson, David L.; Dante-Wood, S. Karen; Hoang, Linh; Ho, Joanne J.; Joyce, Linda A., eds. Climate change vulnerability and adaptation in the Northern Rocky Mountains [Part 2]. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-374. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 275-316.

Reeves, Matthew Clark; Bagne, Karen E.; Tanaka, John. 2017. Potential climate change impacts on four biophysical indicators of cattle production from western US rangelands. Rangeland Ecology and Management. 70(5): 529-539.

Research Interests

I focus on developing novel rangeland analysis tools aimed at helping managers and regional stakeholders to make more cost effective and efficacious management decisions. The latest of these is the Rangeland Production Monitoring Service (RPMS) offering both retrospective analysis and in season projections of fuel and forage.

These weekly fuel and forage projections can be viewed and downloaded here:

Rangeland Fuel and Forage Projections (Please note that an ArcGIS login is required)

Fire and fuel professionals now have unprecedented data to support weekly fire behavior projections while range managers can more effectively communicate forage expectations with stakeholders. This new service provides analysis across US rangelands for managers, producers and all stakeholders.  In addition, I am focused on climate change effects on rangelands and livestock; Development of simulation models for understanding effects of management and climate on vegetation performance and subsequent fuelbed properties; and use of remote sensing for wide area and inter-annual quantification of fuels on US rangelands and Inventory and monitoring of US rangelands.

Reeves, Matt; Frid, Leonardo. 2016. The Rangeland Vegetation Simulator: A user-driven system for quantifying production, succession, disturbance and fuels in non-forest environments. In: Iwaasa, Alan; Lardner, H. A. (Bart); Schellenberg, Mike; Willms, Walter; Larson, Kathy, eds. Proceedings of the 10th International Rangelands Congress: The Future Management of Grazing and Wild Lands in a High-Tech World; 16-22 July, 2016; Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The International Rangeland Congress. p. 1062-1063.

Reeves, Matthew C.; Ryan, Kevin C.; Rollins, Matthew G.; Thompson, Thomas G. 2009. Spatial fuel data products of the LANDFIRE Project. International Journal of Wildland Fire. 18: 250-267.

Reeves, Matthew C.; Bagget, L. Scott. 2014. A remote sensing protocol for identifying rangelands with degraded productive capacity. Ecological Indicators. 43: 172-182.

Past Research

My past research has been diverse ranging from evaluating big game habitat and creating vegetation classifications in southwestern ecosystems to mapping wildland fuels for the coterminous US. I have developed a significant number of geospatial models and quantitative prediction systems using remote sensing as a primary driver.

Why This Research is Important

Budgets for land management activities are shrinking while escalating wildfire costs make future prioritization of projects increasingly more important. There is a paucity of decision support tools and quantitative models aimed at improving and predicting management outcomes, or climatic change. The great uncertainty regarding probable management efficacy (especially when complicated by greater climatic uncertainty), large loss of resources from wildfires, and increasing emphasis on key species such as sage grouse obviate the need for more timely, accurate and useful spatially explicit information. My research is helping improve this situation and I have developed ecological simulation and mapping protocols for understanding climatic change and management effects on rangeland ecosystems.

Education

• Washington State University, B.S. Rangeland Management 1995
• Arizona State University, M.S. Environmental Resources 1999
• University of Montana, Ph.D. Remote Sensing and Ecological Modeling 2004

Professional Experience

Professional Organizations

• University of Montana, Adjunct Faculty (2012 - Current)
  Adjunct professor, sponsoring students, joint ventures and lecturer
• Society for Range Management, Board Member (2002 - Current)
  Event organizer and active member on GIS and Remote Sensing and Inventory and Monitoring Committees

Awards & Recognition

Publications

• Nelson, Mark D.; Riitters, Kurt H.; Coulston, John W.; Domke, Grant M.; Greenfield, Eric J.; Langner, Linda L.; Nowak, David J.; O'Dea, Claire B.; Oswalt, Sonja N.; Reeves, Matthew C.; Wear, David N. 2020. Defining the United States land base: a technical document supporting the USDA Forest Service 2020 RPA assessment.
• Hanberry, Brice ; Reeves, Matt C.; Brischke, Andrew ; Hannemann, Mike ; Hudson, Tipton ; Mayberry, Richard ; Ojima, Dennis ; Prendeville, Holly R.; Rangwala, Imtiaz . 2019. Managing Effects of Drought in the Great Plains.
• Krebs, Michael A.; Reeves, Matthew C.; Baggett, L. Scott. 2019. Predicting understory vegetation structure in selected western forests of the United States using FIA inventory data.
• Urbanski, Shawn P.; Reeves, Matt C.; Corley, Rachel E.; Silverstein, Robin P.; Hao, Wei Min. 2018. Contiguous United States wildland fire emission estimates during 2003-2015.
• Rasch, Rebecca ; Reeves, Matt ; Sorenson, Colin . 2018. Does oil and gas development impact recreation visits to public lands A cross-sectional analysis of overnight recreation site use at 27 national forests with oil and gas development.
• Padgett, Wayne G.; Reeves, Matthew C.; Kitchen, Stanley G.; Tart, David L.; Chambers, Jeanne C.; Howell, Cheri; Manning, Mary E.; Proctor, John G. 2018. Effects of climate change on nonforest vegetation Chapter 7.
• Reeves, Matt C.; Manning, Mary E.; DiBenedetto, Jeff P.; Palmquist, Kyle A.; Lauenroth, William K.; Bradford, John B.; Schlaepfer, Daniel R. 2018. Effects of climate change on rangeland vegetation in the Northern Rockies Region Chapter 7.
• Reeves, Matthew C.; Krebs, Michael ; Leinwand, Ian ; Theobald, David M.; Mitchell, John E. 2018. Rangelands on the Edge: Quantifying the modification, fragmentation, and future residential development of U.S. rangelands.
• Averyt, Kristen ; Derner, Justin D.; Dilling, Lisa ; Guerrero, Rafael ; Joyce, Linda ; McNeeley, Shannon ; McNie, Elizabeth ; Morisette, Jeffrey ; Ojima, Dennis ; O'Malley, Robin ; Peck, Dannele ; Ray, Andrea J.; Reeves, Matt ; Travis, William . 2018. Regional climate response collaboratives: Multi-institutional support for climate resilience.
• Ford, Paulette L.; Reeves, Matt C. 2018. The Rangeland Vegetation Simulator: A decision support tool for monitoring and projecting grassland conditions.
• Smith, Lamar; Hicks, Joe; Lusk, Scott; Hemmovich, Mike; Green, Shane; McCord, Sarah; Pellant, Mike; Mitchell, John; Dyess, Judith; Sprinkle, Jim; Gearhart, Amanda; Karl, Sherm; Hannemann, Mike; Spaeth, Ken; Karl, Jason; Reeves, Matt; Pyke, Dave; Spaak, Jordan; Brischke, Andrew; Despain, Del; Phillippi, Matt; Weixelmann, Dave; Bass, Alan; Page, Jessie; Metz, Lori; Toledo, David; Kachergis, Emily. 2017. Does size matter Animal units and animal unit months.
• Reeves, Matt C.; Manning, Mary E.; DiBenedetto, Jeff P.; Palmquist, Kyle A.; Lauenroth, William K.; Bradford, John B.; Schlaepfer, Daniel R. 2017. Effects of climate change on rangeland vegetation in the northern Rockies Chapter 6.
• Reeves, Matthew Clark; Bagne, Karen E.; Tanaka, John. 2017. Potential climate change impacts on four biophysical indicators of cattle production from western US rangelands.
• Derner, Justin; Briske, David; Reeves, Matt; Brown-Brandl, Tami; Meehan, Miranda; Blumenthal, Dana; Travis, William; Augustine, David; Wilmer, Hailey; Scasta, Derek; Hendrickson, John; Volesky, Jerry; Edwards, Laura; Peck, Dannele. 2017. Vulnerability of grazing and confined livestock in the Northern Great Plains to projected mid- and late-twenty-first century climate.
• Miller, Sue; Reeves, Matt; Bagne, Karen; Tanaka, John. 2017. Where s the beef Predicting the effects of climate change on cattle production in western U.S. rangelands.
• Reeves, Matt C.; Bagne, Karen E. 2016. Vulnerability of cattle production to climate change on U.S. rangelands.
• Reeves, Matt; Ford, Paulette; Frid, Leonardo; Augustine, David; Derner, Justin. 2016. A prototype application of state and transition simulation modeling in support of grassland management.
• Finch, Deborah M.; Pendleton, Rosemary L.; Reeves, Matt C.; Ott, Jeffrey E.; Kilkenny, Francis F.; Butler, Jack L.; Ott, Jacqueline P.; Pinto, Jeremy R.; Ford, Paulette L.; Runyon, Justin B.; Rumble, Mark A.; Kitchen, Stanley G. 2016. Rangeland drought: Effects, restoration, and adaptation Chap. 8.
• Reeves, Matt; Frid, Leonardo. 2016. The Rangeland Vegetation Simulator: A user-driven system for quantifying production, succession, disturbance and fuels in non-forest environments.
• Reeves, Matt; Washington-Allen, Robert A.; Angerer, Jay; Hunt, E. Raymond, Jr..; Kulawardhana, Ranjani Wasantha; Kumar, Lalit; Loboda, Tatiana; Loveland, Thomas; Metternicht, Graciela; Ramsey, R. Douglas. 2015. Global view of remote sensing of rangelands: Evolution, applications, future pathways Chapter 10.
• Reeves, Matthew C.; Bagget, L. Scott. 2014. A remote sensing protocol for identifying rangelands with degraded productive capacity.
• Reeves, Matthew C.; Moreno, Adam L.; Bagne, Karen E.; Running, Steven W. 2014. Estimating climate change effects on net primary production of rangelands in the United States.
• Thomey, Michell L.; Ford, Paulette L.; Reeves, Matt C.; Finch, Deborah M.; Litvak, Marcy E.; Collins, Scott L. 2014. Review of climate change impacts on future carbon stores and management of warm deserts of the United States.
• Sturges, Frank; Joyce, Linda; Brown, Tom; Flather, Curt; Mockrin, Miranda; Reeves, Matt. 2013. Science You Can Use Bulletin: Coming to a landscape near you: Natural resource changes in the Interior West.
• Reeves, Derrick A.; Reeves, Matthew C.; Abbott, Ann M.; Page-Dumroese, Deborah S.; Coleman, Mark D. 2012. A detrimental soil disturbance prediction model for ground-based timber harvesting.
• Reeves, Matthew Clark; Mitchell, John E. 2011. Extent of coterminous US rangelands: Quantifying implications of differing agency perspectives.
• Reeves, Matt; Ryan, Kevin C.; Rollins, Matthew G.; Thompson, Thomas G. 2009. Spatial fuel data products of the LANDFIRE Project.

Research Highlights

Highlight	Title	Year
RMRS-2018-78	Predicting the effects of climate change on cattle production in western U.S. rangelands Forage availability for grazing animals has always been vulnerable to the effects of variations of weather and climate from year–to–year, w ...	2018
RMRS-2016-247	Rangeland Drought: Effects and Adaptation Strategies There is a critical need to understand how drought affects rangelands because drought severity and drought-associated disturbances are expected ...	2016
RMRS-2018-90	The Region 4 — RMRS Science Partner Program: Working to improve management strategies and communication through shared stewardship In 2016, the Rocky Mountain Research Station launched the Region 4—Rocky Mountain Research Station Science Partner Pilot program. The program' ...	2018
RMRS-2019-14	Using FIA Data to Predict Forest Understory Vegetation Structure Understanding the structure of understory vegetation in forests is critical for estimating carbon stocks, fuel loading, and assessing wildlife h ...	2019