The Sagebrush Steppe Treatment Evaluation Project (SageSTEP): a Test of State-and-Transition Theory
Document Type
Article
Publisher
USDA Forest Service General Technical Report
Publication Date
2010
Abstract
The Sagebrush Steppe Treatment Evaluation Project (SageSTEP) is a comprehensive, integrated, long-term study that evaluates the ecological effects of fire and fire surrogate treatments designed to reduce fuel and to restore sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) communities of the Great Basin and surrounding areas. SageSTEP has several features that make it ideal for testing hypotheses from state-and-transition theory: it is long-term, experimental, multisite, and multivariate, and treatments are applied across condition gradients, allowing for potential identification of biotic thresholds. The project will determine the conditions under which sagebrush steppe ecological communities recover on their own following fuel treatment versus the communities crossing ecological thresholds, which requires expensive active restoration.
Recommended Citation
McIver, J.D., M. Brunson, S. Bunting, J. Chambers, N. Devoe, P. Doescher, J. Grace, D. Johnson, S. Knick, R. Miller, M. Pellant, F. Pierson, D. Pyke, K. Rollins, B. Roundy, E.W. Schupp, R. Tausch, D. Turner. 2010. The Sagebrush Steppe Treatment Evaluation Project (SageSTEP): a test of state-and-transition theory. RMRS-GTR‐237. USDA Forest Service General Technical Report, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Ft. Collins, CO.
