Landscape conservation forecasting™ for Great Basin National Park
Provencher L, Anderson T, Low G, Hamilton B, Williams T, Roberts B. 2013. Landscape conservation forecasting™ for Great Basin National Park. Park Science. 30(1):56-67
New vegetation maps show the need for aggressive fire and vegetation management at Great Basin National Park. Great Basin National Park and The Nature Conservancy collaboratively mapped the park’s biophysical settings (potential natural communities), calculated ecological departure from reference conditions (pre-European settlement), and simulated management actions to restore and prevent future degradation of natural communities. Among 21 mapped biophysical settings, 9 were slightly departed from reference conditions, 10 were moderately departed, and only 2 smaller biophysical settings were highly departed. The primary causes of ecological departure were lack of the earliest succession classes, overrepresentation by late succession classes, conifer encroachment in shrublands, and invasion of nonnative cheatgrass. Fifty-year simulations with no active management revealed that 10 of 22 biophysical settings required active management. Two active management scenarios were simulated for 50 years: maximum management causing reduction of ecological departure without fiscal budget constraints and preferred management causing reduction of ecological departure within the constraints of a realistic budget. Simulations of cost-effective management actions achieved lower ecological departure for all 10 focal biophysical settings at a total cost of approximately $3.6 million over 50 years. Many actions were implemented fully in the first years of simulation. The aspen–subalpine conifer and limber-bristlecone pine–mesic biophysical settings achieved the greatest improvement relative to dollars invested.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Provencher, Louis; Anderson, Tanya; Low, Greg; Hamilton, Bryan; Williams, Tod; Roberts, Ben
- Units
- GRBA , NRSS
- Keywords
- biophysical setting, desired future condition, ecological departure, Fire Regime Condition Class (FRCC), management scenarios, Remote Sensing, return on investment, state-and-transition modeling, treatment areas