Geological Survey

Description

The Western Ecological Research Center of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is offering a Cooperative Agreement to one Member University of the Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit (CESU) Program. The project is titled “Evaluating the effectiveness of landscape scale seeding and herbicide use on the Kolob Fire.”The goal of this project is to promote cooperation between the U.S. Geological Survey and CESU Universities to evaluate the effects of postfire emergency stabilization and rehabilitation treatments, specifically focusing on the June 2006 Kolob fire which occurred within Zion National Park and adjacent Bureau of Land Management lands. This fire burned a total of 17,632 acres. A Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) team was brought in to assess the fire and to develop a rehabilitation plan. The BAER team recommended the entire 10,516 acres that burned within Zion National Park to be treated with PlateauTM (Imazapic) herbicide along with seeding of native perennials in selected areas. This is the first post-fire landscape application of herbicide within the National Park System and the Bureau of Land Management, and thus monitoring was given a high priority. One CESU University, Northern Arizona University, was contracted by the National Park Service to develop and implement a monitoring plan in collaboration with USGS. In October 2006, replicate treated and untreated areas were established, and cursory vegetation monitoring was begun. The purpose of the current funding opportunity is to expand the existing BAER monitoring project to better evaluate the effectiveness of both the BAER treatments and the fire itself on vegetation. Specifically, this will entail supplementing the existing treatment effectiveness plots, adding a set of burned/unburned plots to evaluate fire effects, and assaying soil seedbanks in all plots.

Who can apply

• Others

Contact

FAITH PETERS <br/>CONTRACT SPECIALIST <br/>Phone 703-648-7356
fpeters@usgs.gov