Managing the Land

Human interaction with U.S. forests and grasslands dates back well over 10,000 years, with our footprint growing as populations expanded. Human activities directly and indirectly influence nearly all landscapes. Rocky Mountain Research Station (RMRS) research in forestry, rangeland management, biological and physical sciences, and socioeconomics guides Forest Service land management decisions. Through on-going dialogue with customers, resource managers, and state and private partners, researchers find pragmatic ways to deliver science through tools, syntheses, and extensive outreach and knowledge transfer efforts. 

Read the Grassland & Rangeland Science Fact Sheet.

Featured work

• A West-Wide Rangeland Fuel Assessment is a monthly webcast that describes current rangeland fuel conditions across the western United States. Based on a forage prediction and monitoring system (FuelCast) driven by remotely sensed weather data, webcasts provide projected fuel conditions and alerts managers to areas with emerging high fuel loads.
• Trees at high risk of root disease pinpointed with new remote sensing methods: High-density light detection and ranging (lidar) and high-resolution images detect areas affected by Armillaria root disease via patterns in tree mortality associated with canopy openings.