Date of Award:

5-2012

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Wildland Resources

Committee Chair(s)

Thomas C. Edwards, Jr.

Committee

Thomas C. Edwards, Jr.

Committee

Ron J. Ryel

Committee

Kimberly A. Sullivan

Abstract

Wildfire is often considered a destructive force. However, we have learned that fire is a natural part of many ecosystems and can even be productive by recycling nutrients, and allowing for regrowth. A natural pattern of fire frequency allows for native plants and animals to recover from its destructiveness and capitalize on its benefits. Environmental changes, such as exotic invasive species, like cheatgrass, and livestock grazing, can make recovery less likely. Cheatgrass also promotes fire. As cheatgrass establishes, fires become more frequent and larger, making it hard or impossible for native plants to recover. Land managers often reseed to restore fire areas to prevent the further spread of cheatgrass, breaking the cycle of more frequent, larger fires. We looked at how fire restoration affects sagebrush songbirds that depend on sagebrush shrubs for nesting. Sagebrush songbirds are declining as sagebrush habitat is lost by changing fire cycles and other human impacts.

The Milford Flat Fire, which occurred in west-central Utah, was the largest wildfire to burn in the Great Basin. It represents an unnaturally large, catastrophic fire. Reseedings were applied to combat invasive weeds and prevent soil erosion. It is assumed that this will lead to the recovery of native plants and animals. We compared the response of birds in these treatment areas with bird response in areas that were not reseeded and nearby areas where the fire did not burn. These unburned areas approximated what might have been in the absence of the fire. In unseeded areas, birds were occurring at the same or better rate than unburned areas. In areas where the fire burned more severely and removed the sagebrush more completely, the sagebrush birds were replaced by grassland birds. The reseedings did not have any immediate negative impacts; and can be considered relatively successful. However, in the areas of most severe fire they were insufficient at restoring the native habitat. Recovery following a catastrophic fire like this is slow, especially in dry sagebrush habitats. Long-term effects of the fire and the subsequent restoration treatments will only be seen with continued monitoring and study on the Milford Flat.

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This work made publicly available electronically on July 30, 2012.

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