Picture Perfect: Inventory snapshots provide valuable forest data at a glance

A Labor of Love: Supporting ranchers and range managers with the South Dakota Drought Tool

For 25 years, ranchers in South Dakota have used the South Dakota Drought Tool to estimate forage productivity of grazing lands. This crucial information helps them gauge whether to increase or decrease their herd size the following year. Management agencies also use the South Dakota Drought Tool to determine forage productivity of the lands they manage to balance the needs of livestock and wildlife. Stan Boltz, a regional soil health specialist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), developed the Drought Tool to fulfill an unmet need he observed when working with ranchers. **Music courtesy of Souvenir Thread. Read the Science You Can Use and access the related content on Treesearch. [https://research.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/80667]

How wildland fire incident catering can improve morale and nourish wildland firefighters

In early 2024, Michael Caggiano, a wildland firefighter and regional fire analyst with the Forest Service, approached David Flores, a research social scientist with the Forest Service's Rocky Mountain Research Station, with a proposal: what about conducting a research study on the perspectives of wildland firefighters around food catering? Music courtesy of Souvenir Thread. Read the Science You Can Use and access the related content on Treesearch [https://research.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/80117].

Hatch me if you can: New hatchR tool helps predict and protect fish development

Hidden like fish eggs in the streambed, the answer was buried in the mathematical models of Morgan Spark's graduate work. Biologists and land managers know early fish life is sensitive, and nature is difficult to predict. In the streambed, eggs and young fish can be at risk from unintentional habitat disruptions from activities such as grazing, prescribed fire, and road work. The question was how to know when wild fish are hatching and emerging to avoid those sensitive windows. A new tool, hatchR, is here to lend biologists a helping hand - or fin. Music courtesy of Souvenir Thread. Read the Science You Can Use and access the related content on Treesearch [https://research.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/80446]

Post-fire seeding in the Great Basin: Is more better? Depends on the weather

Hostile winds yanked at the yellow transect tapes. Stephanie Yelenik and fellow researchers plodded on, endeavoring to place tapes in an organized grid. Their field site stretched across the fire-scorched sagebrush steppe of Peavine Mountain in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest near Reno, Nevada. The team of Forest Service and University of Nevada scientists were setting up experimental plots to test native seeding strategies. Music courtesy of Souvenir Thread. Read the Science You Can Use and access the related content on Treesearch [https://research.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/80508]

Trails and Tails: Using smart-phone GPS data to balance recreation and wildlife management

Did you know your cellphone's GPS locations can help us decipher how recreationists and wildlife overlap in time and space? Mark Ditmer, a research ecologist at the Rocky Mountain Research Station, and colleagues harnessed this cellphone-derived human mobility data to explore how managers can enhance recreation and protect wildlife in sensitive habitats. Music courtesy of Souvenir Thread. Read the Science You Can Use and access the related content on Treesearch. [https://research.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/80380]