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Jack Williams

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Understanding the Causes and Consequences of Cheatgrass Die-offs in the Great Basin
FY2013Cheatgrass die-offs are unexplained instances of stand failure observed in areas of Nevada and Utah, where cheatgrass fails to grow even though it has been a dominant component of plant communities in the past. The goals of this project are to:1) provide information on the size and extent of historic (1985 - 2012) die-offs in the Winnemucca area using satellite imagery, and 2) determine if die-offs are restoration opportunities by planting and monitoring local and commercially available native grasses in die-off areas.Support is requested to fund monitoring of the restoration project through a second growing season and to develop predictive spatial models of die-off from analysis of satellite imagery and GIS...
The phenomenon of cheatgrass die-off is a common and naturally- occurring stand failure that can eliminate the presence of this annual grass for a year or more, affecting tens to hundreds of thousands of acres in some years. We designed a study to determine if the temporary lack of cheatgrass caused by die-offs is a restoration opportunity. We seeded native perennial species at three die-offs in the Winnemucca, Nevada area. Native grass establishment in die-offs was almost three times higher in the first season at all sites, relative to adjacent areas without die-off. In the second season, establishment was five times higher in the die-off at two sites, and plants were notably larger in the die-off at the third...
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Helping Managers Develop and Implement a Consistent Method to Prioritize Conservation and Identify Climate Adaptation Strategies for Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout
Despite extensive knowledge and data surrounding the status and threats to Yellowstone cutthroat trout there is currently no comprehensive framework for prioritizing conservation of populations and metapopulations (i.e., locations) and potential actions that could be taken in these locations to secure and expand populations, particularly in anticipation of climate change. Through our existing collaboration with state and federal management partners from Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and Montana, we propose to integrate existing information on Yellowstone cutthroat trout status and limiting factors in a spatially-explicit conservation priority framework adapted from a financial portfolio concept aimed at maximizing...
Categories: Data, Project; Types: Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: 2013, 5 Mile Bufferd Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout Current Distribution, 5 Mile Buffered Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout Current Distribution, Climate Change, Conservation Planning, All tags...
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Climate impacts on streamflows, thermal regimes, and the changing distribution of trout in the Great Basin
FY2011Thousands of data points have been collected by Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and Nevada Division of Wildlife from the 1950s to the present describing the distribution of declining native redband and endangered Lahontan cutthroat trout, and the invasive, nonnative brown and brook trout. USGS analyzed this data to understand the climate-related changes to species distributions and model extinction risk. The results, submittedfor publication, will be used by the State of Oregon as it drafts conservation plans for redband trout and by the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection in drafting water quality criteria to protect and monitor the states coldwater fisheries.
Categories: Data, Project; Types: Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: Academics & scientific researchers, California, California, California, California, All tags...
Pacific trout Oncorhynchus spp. in western North America are strongly valued in ecological, socioeconomic, and cultural views, and have been the subject of substantial research and conservation efforts. Despite this, the understanding of their evolutionary histories, overall diversity, and challenges to their conservation is incomplete. We review the state of knowledge on these important issues, focusing on Pacific trout in the genus Oncorhynchus. Although most research on salmonid fishes emphasizes Pacific salmon, we focus on Pacific trout because they share a common evolutionary history, and many taxa in western North America have not been formally described, particularly in the southern extent of their ranges....
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