User:TheGreatAuz/sandbox


 * Active fire protection
 * Critique
 * This article has a good range of categories that encompasses what the topic is about but, all the sections are lacking content and visual representations of what they are talking about. While this article seems to be balanced in its viewpoints and neutrality, its under-minding lack of content doesn't give the reader much to be represented. While the citations all work and come from government websites or .edu links we only have three external links. If a topic has five major categories in it, it would be nice to have at least five credible external links at a minimum to avoid portraying those three external links too heavily. Another big problem with this article is that it lacks inline citations, while the talk page covers a number of revisions and talks about merging this article with another, it seems that it stands as it's own and I agree with that call. This information is up to date but it seems information could be added about about different countries and active fire protection measures that they take. This article is currently a template.

((Active Fire Protection))

* Adding to an Article

Creating a Sub-category on Firefighting Foam Systems

-Foam firefighting systems are systems that use piping to deliver high expansion foam through screen nozzles. The forcing of the high expansion foam through the screen creates a high velocity air stream that causes the foam to bubble as it mixes with the air. This expanded foam after it is mixed with the air is what gives the foam its wetness and water retention to fight the fires. Since these systems are driven by the foam under pressure they need no outside power source to operate.

Article:

Natural Disturbance Regime of the Sagebrush Sea of the Great Basin

Current situations:

The Sagebrush Sea or also called the sagebrush steppe is an ecosystem that is primarily centered on the 27 different species sagebrush that grow from sea level to about 12,000 feet. This ecosystem is home to hundreds of species of both fauna and flora. It includes: small mammals such as pygmy rabbits, reptiles such as the sagebrush lizard, birds such as the golden eagles, and countless other species that are solely found in this ecosystem. This ecosystem at one point occupied over 62 million hectares in the Western United States and Southwestern Canada. It currently only occupies about 56 percent of historic range and is continuing to decline due to several factors.

Location: The Great Basin is an encompasses most of Nevada and Parts of: Utah, Oregon, Idaho, and California. It's Western Edge is defined by the Sierra Nevada and the Cascade mountains, and it's Eastern edge is the Wasatch Mountains. The Northern boundary is the Snake river, and its Southern boundary is defined by the Mojave dessert in California.

Threats:

Sagebrush ecosystems are ones that rely heavily on fire regimes and due to the disruption of the fire cycles in these areas, several species have encroached on sagebrush. These species that threaten the sagebrush are:

-Conifer woodlands: Conifer woodlands consist of two main species: Juniperus or Junipers and Pinus or Pinyon. These Conifers are able to establish and increase in density to the point where sagebrush are out competed because they cannot get adequate sunlight and nutrients from the soil. This decline in sagebrush has fragment sagebrush habitats and caused a disruption in the fauna cycle, predation increases in fragment habitats due to lack of cover for the prey.

-Exotic annual grass: Several exotic grasses have come into these sagebrush ecosystem and have been labeled noxious weeds which is determined by the agricultural authority. The two main annual grasses that are causes much of the problems are: Bromus tectorum or cheatgrass and Agropyron cristatum or chested wheatgrass. Both species enter areas that have been recently disturbed and rapidly expand into their surroundings through massive growth and seed production. These grasses are are so effective because they produce above ground biomass sooner and thicker than competitors and block them out. These exotic grasses alter the natural fire regime and cause an increase in fire frequencies because while these grasses outcompete early on they also dry out in the summer and provide fuel for fire that ultimately cause fires to spread faster and with greater frequency.

Fire and the Sagebrush ecosystem:

Fires in habitats have been used to create varying stages of succession in an area, this in turn increases the biodiversity and also the diversity of species in that habitat. This is done through the reduction of sagebrush cover which allows an increase in herbaceous flora growth. For the first three decades after a burn we see a drastic increase in the production of grasses, followed by a reestablishment of sagebrush there after.

-Development:

Restoration Efforts

Traditional conservation efforts usually focus on single species, which are extremely expensive and have finite results. Comprehensive conservation plans focus on entire ecosystems and benefit numerous species in a more effective way. Currently the Great Basin has seen more traditional conservation plans and would greatly benefit from a more comprehensive plan to help preserve the more than 350 species of sagebrush associated fauna and flora.

Conifer woodlands are controlled primarily through the uses of chainsaws, heavy equipment and prescribed fires. This ensures that woodlands are reduced and sagebrush are restored by decreasing the woody fuel load and allowing adequate perennial fauna composition for restoration and recovery.

Exotic annual grasses are controlled through number of ways: physical removal, chemical means, introduction of cattle for grazing, and prescribed fires. All of which are extremely expensive and labor intensive due to the rapid nature of its spread. All of these control methods can also be potentially harmful to sagebrush if not properly implemented.

(Types of restoration projects going on, cost, etc)

List Of Resources to incorporate into article:

Feedback
Good, can you please add a wikilink so I can access both articles. thanks! Jfaay (talk) 05:53, 30 October 2017 (UTC)