2004 Annual Report 1.What major problem or issue is being resolved and how are you resolving it (summarize project aims and objectives)? How serious is the problem? What does it matter? Rangelands are under increasing pressures by multiple users for forage, wildlife, water and recreational resources. The disruption of historical fire patterns and proliferation of invasive weeds, such as juniper and cheatgrass, have resulted in a widespread reduction in rangeland condition and productivity. Research is needed to assess and mitigate impacts of wildfire and invasive weeds, and to develop management strategies that include the reintroduction of fire in some rangeland ecosystems. Specific research areas being addressed in this project are:. 1)wild and prescribed-fire, and weed impacts, on water and vegetation resources;. 2)mitigation strategies for wildfire and invasive weeds;. 3)management strategies for use of prescribed fire for fuels reduction and improvement of rangeland health;. 4)rangeland monitoring and technology for risk assessment; and. 5)development of decision support tools for sustainable rangeland management. The research to be undertaken falls under National Program 205 - Rangeland, Pasture and Forages, and addresses the following objectives under the National Program Action Plan: Component 1, Ecosystems and Their Sustainable Management; Component 4, Management, Behavior and Production of Grazing Livestock; and Component 5, Integrated Management of Weeds and other Pests. These objectives include: evaluation of ecosystem processes; development of monitoring and assessment technologies; forecasting and risk assessment; management of degraded systems; decision-support system development; evaluation of grazing impacts; invasive and noxious weed management; and development of spatial information technologies to monitor and assess pest populations. 2.List the milestones (indicators of progress) from your Project Plan. Year 1 (FY2003) Conduct prescribed-fire at the Breaks Prescribed-Fire Study Area. Update watershed instrumentation at Upper Sheep Prescribed-Fire Study Area. Install weir at Johnston Draw Watershed Prescribed-Fire Study Area. Assess vegetation, conduct rainfall simulation, assess hydrologic parameters, and evaluate remote sensing data for the Breaks, Whisky Hill, Johnston Draw, and Upper Sheep Prescribed-Fire Study Areas. Develop and test hydrologic and fire models. Install meteorological instrumentation in South-Mountain juniper-hydrology study. Conduct rainfall simulation in Wildfire Study Areas. Evaluate intra-specific variability in hydro-thermal germination response. Year 2 (FY2004) Monitor and assess pre and post-fire vegetation and hydrology in the Breaks, Whisky Hill, Johnston Draw and Upper Sheep Prescribed-Fire Study Areas. Conduct prescribed-fire in the Upper Sheep Prescribed-Fire Study Area. Update instrumentation in the Whisky Hill Prescribed-Fire Study Area. Install weirs for South-Mountain juniper hydrology study. Publish results of wildfire runoff and erosion study. Conduct rainfall simulation in Wildfire Study Areas to assess wildfire mitigation practices. Complete coding and structural changes to the WEPP-SPUR rangeland-hydrology and management model. Complete prototype development for the fire-erosion-risk management tool. Develop and test geostatistical model for predicting hydrothermal germination response. Year 3 (FY 2005) Monitor and assess pre and post-fire vegetation and hydrology in the Breaks, Whisky Hill, Johnston Draw and Upper Sheep Prescribed-Fire Study Areas. Conduct prescribed fire in the Whisky-Hill Prescribed-Fire Study Area. Monitor vegetation and hydrologic status of watersheds in the South-Mountain juniper hydrology study. Conduct data reduction and analysis for assessment of wildfire mitigation practices. Verify and test WEPP-SPUR rangeland hydrology and management model. Populate rangeland databases for fire-erosion-risk management tool. Verify effects of variable water stress on hydrothermal germination response. Year 4 (FY 2006) Monitor and assess pre and post-fire vegetation and hydrology in the Breaks, Whisky Hill, Johnston Draw and Upper Sheep Prescribed-Fire Study Areas. Publish results of wildfire-mitigation-practices assessment. Verify and test WEPP-SPUR rangeland hydrology and management model. Verify and test fire-erosion-risk management tool. Field test models for predicting hydrothermal germination response. Year 5 (FY 2007) Assess and publish results from fire impacts on grazing animal behavior, rainfall simulation studies, vegetation and hydrologic response from the Breaks Prescribed Fire Study Area. Monitor and assess pre and post-fire vegetation and hydrology in the Whisky Hill, Johnston Draw and Upper Sheep Prescribed-Fire Study Areas. Finalize documentation and publish paper on model performance for the WEPP-SPUR hydrology and management model. Finalize documentation and publish paper on model performance for the fire-erosion-risk management tool. Field test models for predicting hydrothermal germination response. 3.Milestones: A. List the milestones that were scheduled to be addressed in FY2004. How many milestones did you fully or substantially meet in FY2004 and indicate which ones were not fully or substantially met, briefly explain why not, and your plans to do so. Post-fire vegetation, grazing behavior, rainfall simulation and soil-moisture response were monitored subsequent to the Breaks prescribed fire which took place in 2002. Pre-fire vegetation, grazing and hydrologic monitoring were conducted in the Whisky Hill, Johnston Draw and Upper Sheep Prescribed-Fire Study Areas. The Upper Sheep prescribed-fire was deferred until FY 2006. The Whisky Hill prescribed fire was advanced to occur in September, of 2004. The meteorological instrumentation for the Whisky Hill Prescribed-Fire Study Area was updated in FY2003. These fire-related studies will yield important information for land managers with regard to implementation of prescribed fire in the sagebrush steppe ecosystem for the improvement of rangeland health and reduction of catastrophic fuel levels. The South-Mountain juniper hydrology study was expanded to include 4 watershed locations in southern Idaho and 4 in eastern Oregon. The first two weirs location were identified and are scheduled for installation in Idaho in October, 2004. These studies will provide guidance and justification for the implementation of juniper control procedures in over 8 million acres of rangeland in Idaho and Oregon that have been taken over by this invasive tree. Data analysis has been conducted for effects of rill erosion processes following wildfire. Rainfall simulation studies were conducted at the Denio and Atlanta Wildfire Study Areas to assess wildfire mitigation practices. These data will provide important information in development and testing of several hydrology/erosion models that are used to assess fire impacts on rangeland systems and to develop strategies to mitigate erosion problems after wildfire. Developed the software that writes SPUR2000, WEPP and CLIGEN files from a reduced set of user inputs which will be made available from a new web-based user interface to SPUR/WEPP. Tested the ERMiT model under a number of rangeland conditions and identified problems related to how ERMiT deals with climates having a low potential to generate runoff. Developed a method for translating CLIGEN precipitation event parameters into 10- and 30-minute peak rainfall intensities for the storms used by the ERMiT model. These model development and improvements are one more step in getting them tested before the technology is transferred to USFS, BLM and NRCS stakeholders for use. A 3-dimensional regression model was developed for assessing hydrothermal germination response and tested against a 40 year model simulation of seedbed microclimatic conditions. A geostatistical model was developed with superior model performance to the regression modelling approach. These models will be used to develop realistic planting scenarios for post-fire rehabilitation and restoration efforts in sagebrush-steppe rangelands. B. List the milestones that you expect to address over the next 3 years (FY 2005, 2006, 2007). What do you expect to accomplish, year by year, over the next 3 years under each milestone. Year 3 (FY 2005) Will continue to monitor and assess pre and post-fire vegetation and hydrology in the Breaks, Whisky Hill, Johnston Draw and Upper Sheep Prescribed-Fire Study Areas. After this series of research fires is analyzed, important information will be generated to help land managers assess the impacts and merits of prescribed fire in sagebrush ecosystems. Previous research in this area has been limited to plot studies that are not necessarily applicable to the landscape scale. Will install 2-6 weirs in the South Mountain juniper study watersheds. Will begin to monitor vegetation, runoff, grazing behavior and snow distribution. The information generated from this juniper hydrology study will yield important information regarding juniper impacts on water, vegetation and grazing resources, and will support current plans for reducing the current levels of this invasive woody plant. Will analyze data from wildfire-rainfall simulation studies to assess efficacy of erosion mitigation practices. Will verify and test the WEPP-SPUR rangeland hydrology and management model using data generated from rainfall simulation studies on wild and prescribed fires. Will develop databases for practical application of the ERMiT fire-erosion-risk management tool. These models will eventually be used by land management agencies to assess wildfire risk, to optimize mitigation strategies for post-fire erosion, and to plan prescribed fires for purposes of fuels reduction and improvement of rangeland health. Will verify hydrothermal germination response models for estimating variable-water stress effects on germination at different temperatures. These models will be used to identify successful planting strategies that take into account the highly variable nature of weather and climate on seedling establishment processes. Year 4 (FY 2006) Will continue to monitor and assess pre and post-fire vegetation and hydrology in the Breaks, Whisky Hill, Johnston Draw and Upper Sheep Prescribed-Fire Study Areas. Will conduct the Upper Sheep prescribed fire in fall, 2006. These studies will continue for 4-5 years post-fire to accumulate data on fire effects. Will conduct technology transfer for erosion-risk-management tool. Will continue to test and verify hydrologic and erosion prediction technology and models. These studies will continue for several years to adequately characterize variable-environmental effects on erosion and hydrologic processes after fire. Will evaluate probabilistic field response of multiple species germination and establishment under variable conditions of soil temperature and water. This data will be used in conjunction with weather forecasting data to select the most appropriate revegetation strategy given expectations of weather and climate. Year 5 (FY 2007) Will publish results and conduct technology transfer activities regarding fire impacts on grazing animal behavior, rainfall simulation studies, vegetation and hydrologic response from the Breaks Prescribed Fire Study Area. This information will provide justification for alternative land management practices that utilize prescribed fire for fuels reduction and improvement of rangeland health. Will continue to monitor and assess pre and post-fire vegetation and hydrology in the Whisky Hill, Johnston Draw and Upper Sheep Prescribed-Fire Study Areas. These studies will continue for at least 4-5 years post fire to establish fire impacts on vegetation, hydrologic and grazing resources. Will create final documentation and conduct technology transfer activities for the WEPP-SPUR hydrology and management model. Will create final documentation and conduct technology transfer activities for the fire-erosion-risk management tool. Will establish field sites for testing weather and climate thresholds for establishment of native and non-native perennial plant species. These tests are necessary to provide justification for alternative planting strategies for establishing native grass and shrub species in areas that have been taken over by invasive annual weeds. 4.What were the most significant accomplishments this past year? 4A. Single Most Significant `Accomplishment during FY2003 year: Fundamental understanding of rainfall simulation and rill erosion is vital for wild and prescribed fire sites. Research was conducted in cooperation with the US Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station and the Natural Resources Conservation Service on wild and prescribed fire sites in Nevada, Idaho, Montana and Colorado. These studies provided data for the development and verification of hydrology and erosion models that have been requested by land management agencies for the purpose of wildfire-risk assessment, fire-mitigation, and prescribed-fire planning for fuels reduction and improvement of rangeland health. The models developed and tested with these data will be used by the USFS, BLM and NRCS for land management planning and risk assessment. 4B. Other Significant Accomplishments, if any: Land managers are increasingly using prescribed fire for hazardous-fuel reduction and control of woody-invasive weeds on western rangelands. The Northwest Watershed Research Center is implementing the second of 4 prescribed fires in FY2004 at the Whisky Hill prescribed fire study area in RCEW. In FY2004, NWRC also evaluated fire effects on soil moisture, infiltration and erosion, water quality, grazing animal distribution, fuels reduction, invasive-weed control, and vegetation recovery patterns from the Breaks fire that occurred at RCEW in 2002. This research program will produce data and models for evaluating fire impacts and predicting potential outcome of alternative fire-management strategies. Range managers do not adequately understand the impact of wild and prescribed fire on livestock utilization and grazing patterns. NWRC used Geographical Positioning System (GPS) collars to track cattle distribution and activity patterns before and after prescribed fire at the Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed in cooperation with Douglas Johnson (Oregon State University-Corvallis, Oregon) and David Ganskopp (ARS-Burns, Oregon). During FY2004, telemetry of the distribution and activity of livestock, and field observation data, were collected for third year from cow-calf pairs allowed to graze the Whiskey Hill study area in May and the Breaks study area in July. Research results will enable range managers to predict cattle distribution and activity following prescribed fire, and will provide additional information on the optimization of livestock grazing after wildfire. Land managers need science-based tools to help them select among alternative management practices for rangeland management. NWRC is cooperating with the NRCS Grazing Lands Technology Institute and the University of Idaho, to improve vegetation and hydrology models for making management decisions on rangelands. In FY2004, software was developed to automate parameterization of SPUR2000, WEPP and CLIGEN models so that they are easier to use. These models are being consolidated into a combined SPUR-WEPP model to be used by NRCS in estimating potential rangeland erosion following wild and prescribed fire. Western juniper has expanded into millions of acres of rangeland in Idaho, Oregon, Nevada and California, reducing site productivity, increasing erosion and degrading stream water quality. NWRC continues to cooperate with ARS research units in Burns Oregon and Dubois Idaho, the University of Idaho and Boise State University to study the hydrologic and vegetative impacts of western juniper expansion on site productivity, plant water use, interception, snow distribution and melt, spring flow, stream flow, and hillslope runoff and erosion. In FY2004, NWRC identified the first two of six watershed-scale study locations in southern Idaho. These long-term studies will provide critical data and models for assessing juniper impacts and evaluating alternative juniper-control treatments on Federal, State and private rangelands in the Intermountain west. 4C. Significant Accomplishments/Activities that Support Special Target Populations: None. 4D. Progress Reports, Subordinate Projects: This report serves to document research conducted under a reimbursable agreement with the Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station. Additional details of research can be found in the report for the parent CRIS 5362-13610-007-00D Rangeland Assessment, Management and Restoration. Land managers need reliable methods for determining the risk of landscape erosion and flooding after wildfires. In cooperation with the Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, NWRC collected additional vegetation, hillslope hydrology and erosion data to track the recovery of the Denio Fire in northwest Nevada and the Hot Creek Fire outside of Atlanta, ID. NWRC also tested the Erosion Risk Management Tool (ERMiT) being developed cooperatively with the FS Rocky Mountain Research Station. NWRC developed a method for translating CLIGEN precipitation event parameters into 10- and 30-minute peak rainfall intensities for storms used by ERMiT which are now reported in the ERMiT model output. Future results of this study will allow land managers to assess the hydrologic vulnerability of range and forest ecosystems to wildfire, and to develop suitable mitigation practices to reduce erosion. This report serves to document research conducted under a reimbursable agreement with the Natural Resources Conservation Service. Additional details of research can be found in the report for the parent CRIS 5362-13610-007-00D Rangeland Assessment, Management and Restoration. Rangeland models and management tools will only be utilized by land managers if they have a workable user interface and provide information in a client-defined format. NWRC, in cooperation with NRCS, developed software that writes SPUR2000, WEPP, and CLIGEN input files from a reduced set of user inputs. This software will allow a user to enter through a web-based user interface the minimum set of information needed to run linked SPUR2000 and WEPP models. NWRC also developed a prototype web-based user interface for generating CLIGEN climate and parameter files that incorporate the PRISM mean monthly precipitation dataset. This will provide users of the SPUR 2000 and WEPP models access to better estimates of precipitation and air temperature for specific locations of interest. In particular, this will improve model application to mountainous areas where little measured data is available. 5.Describe the major accomplishments over the life of the project, including their predicted or actual impact. This CRIS project was initiated in May, 2003 following reorganization of the ARS National Program in Rangeland, Pasture and Forages (NP205) and after review by an external peer panel through the Office of Scientific Quality Review. The major accomplishments under the current CRIS relate to the reorientation of the program to address wild and prescribed-fire impacts and the interactions of the fire cycle with two important rangeland weeds, western juniper and cheatgrass. During the first year and a half of this CRIS cycle, we established a prescribed fire program at the Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed, and a juniper hydrology/management program at RCEW and in southern Owyhee County, Idaho. These programs will yield important information about the use of landscape-scale prescribed fire on water, vegetation and grazing-animal resources, and models and tools to assess the risk, impact and potential mitigation of destructive wildfires. We are currently on track for all of our milestones identified in the CRIS except that we changed the order of two of the prescribed-fires to accommodate logistical problems. 6.What science and/or technologies have been transferred and to whom? When is the science and/or technology likely to become available to the end-user (industry, farmer, other scientists)? What are the constraints, if known, to the adoption and durability of the technology products? A prototype of the Erosion Risk Management Tool (ERMiT) is now available on the web at http://moscowfsl.wsu.edu/fswepp/. After further testing, this tool will be used by USFS and BLM fire planning teams to develop mitigation plans for areas that have not yet undergone a wildfire. NWRC continues to provide weather data and data management tools to our scientific cooperators and action agencies. BLM and USGS-Biological Resources Division uses these data as input into models and for making management decisions. NWRC has participated in educational and environmental awareness outreach programs from grade-school to college level. NWRC Conducted tours and/or presentations to stakeholder groups including the Owyhee Initiative Working Group, Bureau of Land Management, Idaho Cattlemen, Owyhee Cattlemen,private-land owners, and federal-land permittees. One water information/environmental education specialist (employee of Idaho Water Resources Research Institute, University of Idaho) is permanently stationed with NWRC, and provides a direct link for technology transfer to the general public and to school programs. One NRCS scientist was stationed at NWRC in FY2004 to collaborate with NWRC scientists and provide a direct link with NRCS technical needs and technology transfer. 7.List your most important publications in the popular press and presentations to organizations and articles written about your work. none Review Publications Flerchinger, G.N., Sauer, T.J., Aiken, R.A., 2003. Effects of crop residue cover and architecture on heat and water transfer. Geoderma 116:217-233 Pierson, Jr., F.B., Robichaud, P.R., Spaeth, K.E., and Moffet, C.A. 2003. Impacts of fire on hydrology and erosion in steep mountain big sagebrush communities. In: Proceedings of the First Interagency Conference on Research in the Watersheds., Benson, AZ, p. 625-630. BONTA, J.V., PIERSON JR, F.B. DESIGN, MEASUREMENT, AND SAMPLING WITH DROP-BOX WEIRS. APPLIED ENGINEERING IN AGRICULTURE. 2003. v. 19(6). p. 689-700. Pierson, Jr., F.B., Moffet, C.A., and Spaeth, K.E. 2004 Spatial and temporal dynamics of rill erosion following wildfire on sagebrush rangeland. CD-ROM, In: Abstracts of the 57th Annual Meeting, Society for Range Management, Salt Lake City, UT., Jan 24-30, 2004. Abstract #290 Spaeth, K.E., Pierson, F.B., and Moffet, C.A., 2004 The WEPP/SPUR rangeland hydrology model: a tool for developing ecological site descriptions. CD-ROM In: Abstracts of the 57th Annual Meeting. Society for Range Management, Salt Lake City, UT. Jan 24-30, Abstract #340. Hardegree, S.P., Pierson, F.B., and Clark, P.E. 2004. Prescribed-fire research at the Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed in southwestern Idaho. 57th Annual Meeting, Society for Range Management, CD-ROM abstract #127. Hardegree, S.P., Van Vactor, S.S. 2004. Microclimatic constraints and revegetation planning in a variable environment. Weed Technology 18:1213-1215. Moffet, C.A., Pierson, F.B., Robichaud, P.R., and Spaeth, K.E. 2004. Modeling rill erosion following fire on steep sagebrush rangeland. 57th Annual Meeting, Society for Range Management. CD-ROM abstract #262. Seyfried, M.S. 2003. Impact of fire on recharge in semiarid regions. Eos Transactions American Geophysical Union, 84(46), Fall Meeting Supplement, CD-ROM abstract H32C-05.