Treatment Response Groups (TRGs) for use in landscape-scale assessments of fuel treatment types and locations in the Snake River Plain, Northern Basin and Range, and Central Basin and Range level III ecoregions in the western United States

This data publication contains raster spatial data (GeoTIFF) representing Treatment Response Groups (TRGs) - sagebrush and pinyon-juniper (PJ) vegetation associations that differ in resilience and resistance and thus responses to fuel treatments - for use in landscape-scale assessments of fuel treatment types and locations in the Snake River Plain, Northern Basin and Range, and Central Basin and Range level III ecoregions in the Great Basin region of the western United States, which includes portions of Nevada, Idaho, Oregon, and Utah. We aggregated the base set of TRGs into TRG combinations with varying responses to woody fuel treatments based on the dominant sagebrush association, the presence ofpinyon-juniper expansion into the sagebrush associations, resilience to disturbance, and resistance to the invasive annual grass, cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum). We assigned fuel treatments to each TRG based on a review of post-treatment fire behavior and ecological responses. These data represent conditions from 2016-2022.
In sagebrush ecosystems the responses to woody fuel treatments are highly dependent on the dominant sagebrush association, the presence of pinyon-juniper expansion, and their resilience to wildfire and fuel treatments (resilience) and resistance to invasive annual grasses (resistance). New ecologically relevant and climate sensitive indicators of resilience and resistance based on climate and water availability have been developed recently. However, information is also needed on the locations and extents of the dominant sagebrush associations, the different phases (successional stages) of pinyon-juniper expansion into the shrublands, if any, and the extent of persistent pinyon-juniper woodlands.
For more information about these data and this study, see Chambers et al. (2023; https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-023-00230-2).