Current Projects

Restoring Habitats

CEG is supporting partners in identifying places to plan and pursue short- and long-term habitat restoration projects for the greater sage-grouse Canada. We developed vegetation change maps, climate vulnerability analyses, spatial prioritization tools and vegetation forecasting models to identify important and durable places for restoration.

Habitat Capacity

The elusive Pacific marten is hard to find and count. CEG integrated a range of habitat, population, and movement data to build a HexSim model that estimated how many martens could occupy and move between habitats.

We are working with managers to identify areas where habitat conditions may be right to discover new populations.

Habitat & Population Connectivity

CEG is compiling information on sage-grouse movement, behavior, and assessing habitat connectivity among populations. We are helping agencies to identify opportunities to restore habitat connectivity.

Multiple Interacting Stressors

CEG and the University of Washington are modeling how different kinds of stressors combine to impact species at risk of extinction in Washington and Texas. We are assessing the impacts of climate change, fire, invasive species, predation, and disturbance on butterflies, birds, and pocket gophers.

Captive Breeding & Release Strategies

CEG and partners developed an example of a multistep approach that leverages limited animal location data to characterize the risk landscape of captive breeding release using the endangered Greater sage-grouse as a case study. 

Exploring Management Actions

Northern Spotted Owls are in danger of being extirpated from the northern reaches of their range. Along with our partners, CEG is developing tools to investigate the status of the NSO in the Pacific Northwest, explore the impacts of the invasive Barred Owl, and identify effective management actions to support the threatened species.

Climate-Invasion Forecasts

UW and CEG are forecasting where, and how quickly a stream network could become invaded by crayfish and bass as climate changes. We are simulating the effectiveness of management options in slowing or containing the spread of invasion to manage salmon.

Fire-Impact Modeling

CEG developed a wildfire simulator, HexFire, that is designed for non-fire specialists and HexSim users. HexFire can simulate fire spread, interactions with fuel breaks, and be integrated into other types of ecological models.