Select Idaho Research Park Link Idaho Research Park Home NERP Research Opportunities NERP Publications Current NERP Research NERP Education Opportunties History of the Idaho Research Park Links

Current Research at the Idaho Research Park

The INL occupies one of the largest tract of relatively undisturbed sagebrush-steppe rangeland in the United States. The land provides an important habitat for resident and migrating wildlife.  Over 40 species of mammals and 230 species of birds have been found on the INL.  The INL also supports over 420 species of flowering plants.  Because of the inherent ecological benefits of such a large tract of protected and relatively undisturbed habitat, the scientific community recognizes this acreage as an exciting opportunity for research. 

2007 Research

• Monitoring Amphibian and Reptile Populations on the Idaho National Laboratory:
  Indicators of Environmental Health and Change
• Developing a Conservation Management Plan for the Idaho National Laboratory
• Historical Fire Regimes of Wyoming and Basin Big Sagebrush Steppe on the
  Snake River Plain
• Minimizing Risk of Cheatgrass Invasion and Dominance at the Idaho National
  Laboratory Site
• Development and Evaluation of a Monitoring Program for Pygmy Rabbits
• Landscape Genetics of Great Basin Rattlesnakes, Crotalus Oreganus Lutosus, on
  the Upper Snake River Plain
• Modeling and Mapping Reptile Distributions on the Idaho National Laboratory Site
• Plant Community Classification and Mapping at the Idaho National Laboratory
  Site
• Long-Term Vegetation Transects
• The Protective Cap/Biobarrier Experiment
• Developing a Habitat Selection Model to Predict the Distribution and Abundance of
  the Sagebrush Defoliator Moth (Aroga websteri Clarke)
• Dynamics of Post-wildfire Wind Erosion of Soil in Semiarid Rangelands, Idaho
• Improving Rangeland Monitoring and Assessment: Integrating Remote Sensing,
  GIS, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems
• Meteorological Research at the Idaho National Laboratory Site Improved
  Atmospheric Dispersion Modeling for the Idaho National Laboratory Site
• Improving INL Wind Forecasting with Cluster Analysis of Wind Patterns

2006 Research:

• Monitoring Amphibian and Reptile Populations on the INL
• Annotated Checklist of the Ants on the Idaho National Laboratory
• Ecology, Conservation of Rattlesnakes in Sagebrush Steppe Ecosystems:  Landscape Disturbance, Small Mammal Communities, and Great Basin Rattlesnake Reproduction
• The Protective Cap/Biobarrier Experiment
• Developing a Conservation Management Plan for the Idaho National Laboratory
• Cesium in Soils and Plants in the Sagebrush Steppe Ecosystem
• Minimizing Risk of Cheatgrass Invasion and Dominance at the Idaho National Laboratory
• Sagebrush Demography on the Idaho National Laboratory
• Long-Term Vegetation Trends on the Idaho National Laboratory

Past Research:

• Natural and Assisted Recovery of Sagebrush in Idaho's Big Desert
• Ecological Impacts of Irrigating Native Vegetation with Treated Sewage Wastewater
• Factors that Influence the Road Mortality of Snakes on the Eastern Snake River Plain
• Phylogenetic Analysis of the Abronia ammophila Green (Nyctaginaceae) Species Complex
• The Effect of Landscape Change on the Life History of Western Rattlesnakes
• Fine-scale Movement Patterns of Coyotes (Canis latrans) on the INEEL in Idaho.
• Monitoring Amphibian and Reptile Populations on the INL
• Alternative Container Design for Large Acreage Revegetation
• Use of Genetic Markers as a Screening Tool for Ecological Risk Assessment at the INL: Microsatellite Mutation Rate of Burrowing Mammals
• Crested Wheatgrass Rates of Spread into Native Sagebrush Steppe in Eastern Idaho
• Experimental Remote Sensing of Vegetation on the INL
• Development of an Integrated Watershed Information Management Tool for Long-term Facilities Stewardship at the INL
• Assessing the Effects of Soil-forming Processes on Surface Caps
• Coupled Effects of Biointrusion and Precipitation on Soil Caps