2024Vol41No3NBUJournal

Here is a breakdown of the most common vegetation treatment methods we use in Eastern Nevada: • Hand Thinning is the selective removal of tree species with minimal impact to existing brush, grasses, and forbs. It is also an effective method in areas where tree densities are low, or tree encroachment is thinner/lower density. Hand thinning treatments are conducted by manual methods using chainsaws to remove trees from treeless plant communities and when thinning stands of trees. Wood that is accessible is left on the landscape and made available for firewood collection, and/or the slash is sometimes burned later depending on the presence of invasive annuals. • Mastication is mechanical tree removal that provides immediate habitat improvement while keeping the existing native grasses, forbs, and shrubs in the understory. It is a great method when being selective in leaving diverse tree species intermixed such as aspen and mahogany. Mastication grinds the trees into mulch and the mulch or chips are left onsite to degrade naturally to help rebuild the soil. The mulch also aids in seed germination by protecting seeds by adding organic matter which our Nevada soils lack. • Chaining is mechanical tree removal used where moderate to heavy tree expansion has occurred into treeless sagebrush communities. It is useful when removing large monocultures of juniper. It is a safer way to reduce large amounts of fuel loading and re-establishes perennial species that will compete against invasive annuals such as cheatgrass. Chaining areas provide firewood for the public and are biodiversity hotspots as this method improves habitat for Greater Sage-Grouse, mule deer, elk, and many others.

• Aerial Seeding is used for a variety of projects for habitat improvement, landscape restoration, and Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation plans in post-fire recovery. Seeding is used in conjunction with mastication and chaining to ward-off fire-prone invasives and in areas that do not have abundant or diverse mix of grasses, forbs, or shrubs. Seeding helps to stabilize soils by re-establishing deep-rooted perennial plants, thereby increasing forage and cover for a variety of wildlife species. • Prescribed fire is often used as a secondary treatment used in combination with hand thinning. Fire is part of the ecological system in maintaining many plant communities, especially ones that are fire adapted. Prescribed fire is used to manage departure or changes to ecological components such as species composition, stand age, canopy closure, mosaic patterns, fuel composition, fire frequency, insects & disease mortality, and die-off from drought. It removes overgrown vegetation and woody biomass to promote a mosaic of habitat types within ecosystems.

Vegetation treatments are used to improve habitat for greater sage-grouse, big game, and other species by removing pinyon pine and juniper trees, increasing available sagebrush habitat, and increasing grass and forb production in sagebrush communities. Treatments are designed to leave a mosaic pattern of vegetation in the watershed, providing greater vegetative diversity, diverse age-class distribution and a patchiness effect which provides thermal and protective cover. Additionally, reducing trees decreases perches for raptors that may prey on greater sage-grouse and other special status species. Heavy fire suppression for 100+ years has altered many landscapes that would have been managed by natural fire and stewardship. It now takes a variety of tools and methods to manage these habitats and community areas. These projects are often part of broader conservation efforts which involve partnerships between governments, NGOs, conservation groups, private landowners, and other special interest groups. We can have the wildlife, humans, trees and the prairies too. It takes a lot of people with different working knowledge to make it happen. Fire and fuels management is balancing the needs of wildlife and people, and this is conservation.

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