D. E. Naugle

Beneficial 'inefficiencies' of western ranching: Flood-irrigated hay production sustains wetland systems by mimicking historic hydrologic processes

This study shows that inefficient flood-irrigated hay production in the American West mimics historical hydrologic processes, sustaining wetlands and groundwater recharge despite being a small proportion of irrigated lands.

A Spatial Prioritization of Conifer Management to Defend and Grow Sagebrush Cores

This paper develops a spatial prioritization framework for conifer management to improve sagebrush ecological integrity by targeting high-priority areas for treatment.

Mapping Tree Cover Expansion in Montana, U.S.A. Rangelands using High-Resolution Historical Aerial Imagery

The paper estimates conifer tree cover expansion in Montana rangelands using historical and modern aerial imagery with a convolutional neural network, finding 3.0 million hectares of expansion.

Regional context for balancing sagebrush- and woodland-dependent songbird needs with targeted pinyon-juniper management in the sagebrush biome

The paper models habitat use for sagebrush- and pinyon-juniper-dependent songbirds to show that sage grouse restoration can coexist with pinyon jay protection through targeted conifer management.

Where there's smoke, there's fuel: dynamic vegetation data improve predictions of wildfire hazard in the Great Basin

This study uses dynamic vegetation data and machine learning to predict wildfire hazard in the Great Basin, finding that fire probability is strongly linked to vegetation biomass, bare ground cover, and drought indices.

Herbaceous production lost to tree encroachment in United States rangelands.

This study quantifies the loss of herbaceous production due to tree encroachment in U.S. rangelands from 1990 to 2019, showing significant ecological and economic impacts.

The elevational ascent and spread of exotic annual grass dominance in the Great Basin, USA

The paper quantifies the rapid expansion of exotic annual grass dominance in the Great Basin, showing an eight-fold increase in area and spread into higher elevations and north-facing slopes.

Annual and 16-day rangeland production estimates for the western United States

The paper provides annual and 16-day estimates of herbaceous rangeland production in the western U.S. from 1986-2019 using remote sensing data.

Improving Landsat predictions of rangeland fractional cover with multitask learning and uncertainty

The paper improves rangeland fractional cover predictions using multitask learning and provides pixel-level uncertainty estimates, enhancing management tools with better accuracy and confidence measures.