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Overview

The Land Management Research Program works with Interior bureaus and other partners to inform how land and water management activities influence terrestrial, aquatic, coastal, and estuarine habitats. The science the program provides helps us understand the most effective—and costeffective—solutions to challenges in ecologically important areas.

The program funds research, decision science, and adaptive management support to Interior bureaus to identify, maintain, and improve habitat to reach species management goals for Federally listed species, as well as species of management responsibility, including migratory birds and fish. The program also provides research to support decision-making designed to prevent the need for species to be listed, and to better provide recreational hunting and fishing opportunities to the American public.

The program also develops tools to help reduce economic and environmental impacts of hazards, with an emphasis on decision-support for Interior-managed lands that improves landscapes resistance to and recovery from fire. The program also provides science to improve coastal resilience to, and recovery after, major storms.

The program provides science to support energy development across the Nation, including science that reduces environmental and permitting conflict around oil and gas, solar, wind, and hydropower development and operation. Program-led collaborative activities, such as those in the American Southwest provide science on effective strategies to support restoration and rehabilitation planning and implementation by Interior and other agencies in sensitive dryland ecosystems.

The program is working with DOI bureaus and Western States to develop maps and analyze datasets to improve understanding of how large game animals such as elk and mule deer use winter and summer habitats and migrate seasonally across the landscape. Federal and State land managers are using this information to preserve wildlife corridors that effectively conserve and protect these animals during migrations and reduce the incidence of vehicle collisions that pose economic and public safety concerns.

Land Management Research Program activities fall under two areas:

• Priority Landscapes
• Management and Restoration

PRIORITY LANDSCAPES

Priority Landscapes science includes place-based research to inform management decisions within lands owned or comanaged by Interior. Current areas of focus include national parks, wildlife refuges, BLM lands, and priority ecosystems including the Arctic, Chesapeake Bay, Columbia River, Colorado River, Everglades, Great Lakes, Klamath River, Mississippi River, Pacific Islands, Puget Sound, Sagebrush Steppe, San Francisco Bay, and Southwest deserts.

MANAGEMENT AND RESTORATION

Management and restoration research provide science to support energy development across the Nation, including providing science that reduces conflict around oil and gas, solar, wind, and hydropower development and operation. Program-led collaborative activities such as those in the American Southwest provide science on effective strategies to support restoration and rehabilitation planning and implementation by Interior and other agencies in sensitive dryland ecosystems.

REIMBURSABLE ACTIVITIES

The Land Management Research Program conducts studies with various Federal, State, Tribal, and international partners. Examples include Interior bureaus (Bureau of Indian Affairs [BIA], BLM, BOEM, International Technical Assistance Program [ITAP], Office of the Secretary, BOR, FWS, NPS), other Federal agencies (USACE, U.S. Agency for International Development [USAID], NOAA, Navy, Federal Highway Administration [FHWA], USFS, Natural Resources Conservation Service [NRCS], Farm Service Agency [FSA], DOE, U.S. Marine Corps [USMC], EPA), and States through the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies, and other State agencies. The program also works on producing scientific information collaboratively with universities (University of Colorado, University of Hawaii, Columbia University), nongovernmental organizations (Keystone Center, The Nature Conservancy, National Fish and Wildlife Federation) and the Great Lakes FisheriesCommission.