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Search Bipartisan Infrastructure Law: Research Projects
 Read more about 30 projects funded under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law focusing on ecosystem restoration.
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    Bipartisan Infrastructure Law: Research Projects
                            Status
            		Ongoing
                                                        The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) invested about $5.5 billion in lands, resources, and programs managed by the Forest Service. Much of this funding is being invested over 5 years to reduce the risk of wildland fire and restore ecosystems in support of the Wildfire Crisis Strategy. Research & Development received BIL funding for projects that develop or extend the science and data needed to support the Wildfire Crisis Strategy and Ecosystem Restoration.These projects will help to develop new technologies, data, and information to improve the pace and scale of fuels treatment and wildfire mitigation activities, and/or improve the pace and scale of restoring forests, grasslands, and watersheds. Each project was selected for its ability to contribute to an area of scientific need while generating tangible outcomes to improve forest health, ecosystems, or community resilience.These projects represent shared efforts among agency scientists and managers, Tribes, states, academia, and/or non-government organizations.
      
                    
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                                                Pacific Northwest
                                                Pacific Southwest
                                                Rocky Mountain
                                                Southern
            
            Scientist Jeremy Yan is leading a project to develop and optimize the biochar production process for the remediation and restoration of mined lands, reducing the negative effects to human health and environment. The project seeks to integrate biochar production and use for environmental remediation, assess the feasibility of using biochar on a large scale for remediating abandoned mine lands through evaluation of the environmental and economic benefits, and conduct outreach, education, and technology transfer to enhance community awareness and involvement to promote biochar product commercialization.
            Project
	
																						
	
								Assessing Wood, Wildlife Habitat, and Carbon Outcomes of Current and Alternative Management t...

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            		Northern Research Station
	

																						


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								Assessing the Participation, Effectiveness, and Equity of Revegetation Assistance Programs fo...

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            		Northern Research Station
	

																						


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								Using Specialized Trees and Biochar to Remediate and Stabilize Mining Waste for the Keweenaw ...

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            		Northern Research Station
	

																						


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								Research and Monitoring of Collaborative Aquatic Landscape Restoration at Kinkaid Lake

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            		Northern Research Station
	

																						


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								Early Detection and Accurate Diagnosis of Invasive Forest Pests with Spectral Imaging and DNA...

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            		Northern Research Station
	

																						


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								Tracking the Invasion Edge of Wavyleaf Basketgrass to Facilitate Targeted Early Detection and...

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            		Northern Research Station
	

																						


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								Restoring with Culturally Significant Plants to Strengthen Food Webs for Pollinators and Trib...

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            		Northern Research Station
	

																						


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								Synthesis of Baseline Acceptance, Research Needs and Priorities Related to Wildfire

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            		Northern Research Station
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								Addressing barriers to assisted population migration during reforestation in the Western Uni...

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            		Pacific Northwest Research Station

				

    States
        Washington
              Oregon
              California
	

																						


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								Development of genomic-based tools for detecting, tracking, and monitoring invasive pathogen...

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            		Pacific Northwest Research Station
	

																						


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								Development of DNA-based, diagnostic tools to detect and identify invasive forest pathogens ...

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            		Pacific Northwest Research Station
	

																						


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								Fueling Adaptation: Integrated Socioecological Assessment of Federal Fuel Treatment Effects o...

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            		Pacific Northwest Research Station
	

																						


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								Wildland Fire Smoke and Emissions Decision Support

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            		Pacific Northwest Research Station

				

    States
        Washington
            Scientist Jeff Van Martin is leading a study to review current landscape-scale partnership efforts across California and New Mexico where Tribes are leading the way in ecosystem restoration. This study seeks to inform and refine best practices for engagement, data sovereignty, and for tribal co-management of landscapes particularly where culturally relevant species are of concern. The team will engage with Tribal partners through field visits, workshops, and technical sessions focusing on identifying best practices for sharing scientific knowledge and protecting tribal datasets. By identifying conditions that aid or act as barriers to co-produced restoration research, the study aims to address gaps in evolving agency guidance and implementation plans for tribal engagement, supporting improved tribal-federal relationships.Scientist Karen Pope is leading a study to improve coupled restoration of low gradient stream and meadow habitats with adjacent forest lands in Northern California. Meadows help to retain and provide clean water for downstream users, serve as carbon sinks, and provide habitats for a diverse range of species. The study seeks to include the restoration of 4,300 acres and 12 stream miles across three forests, provide online tools for meadow restoration site assessment and lost meadows predictions for three mountain ranges. Additionally, this work seeks to strengthen community resilience by engaging with local tribes and workforce to implement restoration and monitoring.
            Scientist Sarah Barga is leading research hoping to lead to more successful vegetation treatments for improving wildlife habitat and reducing wildfire risk in sagebrush and pinyon-juniper communities, critical for the greater sage-grouse species. The study area is on the Pine Valley District of the Dixie National Forest in Utah and a high-risk landscape under the Wildfire Crisis Strategy. Treatments are planned in targeted firesheds to reduce risk of uncharacteristic wildfire. Seeding will be used to augment understory plant recovery and suppress invasive annual grasses. Pre- and post-treatment monitoring will provide assessments of long-term effects of fire remediation and wildlife habitat improvement treatments; information regarding the relative effects of different pinyon-juniper woodland treatments; and updates to protocols used in evaluating ecosystem resistance and resilience.Scientist Mike Battaglia is leading a collaborative study seeking to improve silviculture and reforestation practices and aid in building climate adaption into forest management. The study contributes to goals in the National Reforestation and Seed Strategies and supports the Reforestation, Nurseries, and Genetic Resources Program, which serves as a vital resource for Tribal Nurseries. The study leverages ready-to-implement projects and resources from partners across Colorado and Montana. Researchers seek to measure tree response, vegetation community composition, soil carbon and nutrients among three different climate adaption treatments in multiple project areas. The study likely will provide education and demonstration areas for resource managers and people interested in learning more about climate adaption.Scientist Katelyn Driscoll is leading a study to support the Forest Service’s Southwestern Region, including the Carson, Santa Fe and Gila national forests, by collecting baseline, implementation, and post stream restoration data in the Enchanted Circle Priority Landscape and priority watersheds with watershed restoration action plans. Scientists will work with national forest resource specialists to evaluate effects of stream restoration on movement of fish and other aquatic organisms, groundwater storage, riparian soil carbon, greenhouse gas emissions and other important indicators of aquatic organism and stream health. The study seeks to employ new technology for genetic tagging that can improve data collection efficiency with less destructive sampling.ScientistFrancis Kilkennyis leading a team of scientists and resource specialists across agencies and with university and non-government partners with expertise in revegetation and native plants. Working together, they will add additional common gardens to an existing network that is being used to develop climate smart strategies for seed collection, production, and propagation of species that can be used in post-fire restoration and fuel treatment projects. Using native plants adapted to changing local environments is the best approach to ensure successful revegetation efforts and resilience under a changing climate. This work seeks to directly benefit revegetation projects in areas identified as high wildfire risk in the Great Basin and Intermountain West. The team will complete regional seed collections, identify climate-smart seed transfer zones, and update tools and databases with genetic and trait information useful in choosing site adapted plants.Scientist Francis Kilkenny is leading a highly collaborative research project where scientists and managers will co-produce landscape scale revegetation experiments embedded into post-fire seedings in the Great Basin and Intermountain West. This effort seeks to jumpstart rapid learning from post-fire seeding efforts in grasslands, shrublands, and low elevation conifer savannahs. This work also seeks to enhance adaptive management addressing post-fire revegetation issues of non-native annual grass invasions, changing wildfire regimes and climate impacts to shifting species. This work supports national revegetation efforts by directly establishing seedings and testing the effectiveness of revegetation techniques as called for in the National Seed Strategy. Focus landscapes include high wildfire risk areas in Southwest Idaho, Central Oregon and Washington, California, Nevada and the Wasatch, Sierra, and Elko Fronts in Utah.Scientist Michael Schwartz is leading a project expected to provide modeling for predicting and monitoring aquatic species populations and tools for managers to eradicate invasive species from disturbed river systems in the Teton and Salt River basins in Idaho and Wyoming. These watersheds have intact headwaters and disturbed habitat downstream. They serve as ideal case study systems for building tools for dealing with invasive species that can be applied to other watersheds of interest. A primary goal of this project is to pull together robust biological and social datasets to test how different restoration strategies operate for invasive species removal. A working group comprised of private, state, federal, tribal and non-government partners will meet throughout the course of the project. Expected outcomes include data and maps pertaining to species distribution (both native and non-native fish), models of genetic diversity, working group workshops to discuss management options, and assessments of social factors that affect eradication and restoration efforts.Scientist Deborah Page-Dumroeseis leading a project aimed at increasing biochar use and production for abandoned mine land restoration. Recent workshops revealed that the primary issue preventing greater use of biochar is a lack of research and information regarding biochar types, application methods and expected benefits for specific soils and climates. Researchers seek to develop a toolkit that managers can use to select biochar types and rates of application for various soils and ecosystems to enhance restoration success. This project also will address high-risk fire landscapes in the Intermountain West where opportunities to restore abandoned mine lands are near areas in need of fuel reduction, optimizing resource benefits of forest treatments and using waste woody debris.ScientistBryce Richardson is leading a study that seeking to ultimately increase restoration success and climate smart planning of the nation’s seed supply. The work will include developing user-friendly web tools that will standardize how climate data is processed, identify seed sources, building maps to aid in adaptive planting and restoration, and provide information that allows users to evaluate seed mixes and potential vegetation changes in the future. Managers could use such tools to make climate-smart decisions related to seed propagation and nursery production. If the project is successful, users will be able to produce mapped seed transfer distance for their specified site and climate scenarios, as well as download tables of species composition.
					
    
	     
            			Project
	
																						
	
								Extending probability mapping of non-native species to a website toolbox and intersection wit...

												Station
            		Rocky Mountain Research Station
	

																						


									Project
	
																						
	
								Assessing carbon sequestration and wildfire risk across open-to-closed forest gradients to gu...

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            		Rocky Mountain Research Station
	

																						


									Project
	
																						
	
								An integrative strategy for native plant revegetation: Restoring soil, supporting pollinator ...

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            		Rocky Mountain Research Station
	

																						


									Project
	
																						
	
								Wildland Fire Smoke and Emissions Decision Support

												Station
            		Pacific Northwest Research Station

				

    States
        Washington
            Scientist Thomas Elder is leading a study on biochar, a form of charcoal, that has the potential to help clean up sites contaminated by mining. Mining operations can introduce heavy metals – which are toxic and not biodegradable – to soil and water. The team seeks to evaluate biochar’s ability to remove heavy metals from water and to immobilize heavy metals in the soil. The team aims to correlate the results with the plant species used to create the biochar, the way it was produced, and its chemical-physical properties. The team will install field plots on mine spoils contaminated with lead and cadmium and determine whether biochar can mitigate contamination and help these areas recover.Scientist Rima Lucardi is leading a project that may lead to a new herbicide – through biochemical characterization of inherent autotoxic compounds – for cogongrass, a federally regulated noxious weed accidentally introduced to the U.S. via global trade. The invasive species has become established across the South and causes severe fire hazards. Herbicides such as glyphosate are currently the only method for controlling cogongrass. Even small infestations are hard to control with other methods. The team seek to access, isolate, identify, and characterize biochemical compounds that can kill cogongrass or slow its growth, and explore how cogongrass genetics affects response. The team will also conduct greenhouse trials.Scientist Ge Sun is leading an effort to improve Forests to Faucets 2.0, which shows where forests provide clean drinking water and how much water is provided to different communities. The new project will update data layers and algorithms across the eastern U.S., which includes the agency’s Southern and Eastern regions. The resulting tool is intended to help land managers prioritize where restoration investments could benefit the greatest number of people downstream from forested watersheds. The project goal is to improve the understanding of fire and water in the East. Scientists are synthesizing information from multiple experimental forests and other sites to show how prescribed fire, wildfire, and other activities affect water quality at the local level. Results should help managers understand benefits and trade-offs for prescribed burning in the East.Scientist Kevin Potter is leading a study on how genomic data and tools can predict responses to future climate conditions. The work will help identify species with high restoration potential. The researchers are testing this landscape genomics approach with existing field trial studies for white oak, white spruce, black walnut, and butternut. Each of these species is culturally significant to multiple Indigenous nations. The study results are expected to inform seed source selection for nursery, orchard, and forest managers to help future-proof reforestation decisions.Scientist Zanethia Barnett is leading a study on how to detect non-native invasive species with environmental DNA, which is found in the old skin cells, waste, and other materials that all creatures shed. The team will test whether eDNA methods developed by the Pacific Northwest Research Station are suitable for the South. The researchers will sample sites on the Francis Marion National Forest in South Carolina and use the data to develop occupancy models, assess differences between sampling methods, and develop a protocol for monitoring invasive species in aquatic habitats. The protocol will then be implemented on three additional national forests in the South, with the goal of developing a protocol that can be used in that region. The South is a global hotspot for freshwater biodiversity but is at an increased risk for aquatic biodiversity loss, in part due to invasive species.
                            Last updated April 10, 2024
	

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https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/projects/bil