BLM Climate Engine - Drought & Production

Training Structure and Slides¶

The training was recorded and is available on the Climate Engine YouTube Channel. This training recording is embedded throughout this article with timestamped clips for each section. The slides from the training are available below.

Access the slides at this link.

Self-paced Study¶

This page mirrors the workshop agenda and demos. Each section starts with a timestamped, embedded clip from the full recording.

Full Recording¶

Introduction & Session Overview¶

This thematic training focuses on using Climate Engine tools to evaluate drought conditions and vegetation production outcomes for decision support. The session moves from dataset background into hands-on workflows, including using BLM feature summaries reports, new vegetation production reports, and two case-study demonstrations (flash drought and vegetation treatment response).

You should come away able to: - choose drought and production indicators that match your decision timeframe and question; - interpret how climate signals (precipitation and evaporative demand) relate to vegetation response; - use Climate Engine reports and the web app to generate shareable, decision-ready maps and time series.

Background: How to think about drought signals vs vegetation response¶

A key theme early in the session is that different drought indicators are measuring different pieces of the system, so it is normal for some indicators to diverge. For example, vegetation impacts can be strongly influenced by evaporative demand (temperature, wind, humidity) even when precipitation totals do not yet look extreme, and vegetation response can lag or vary by timing and functional group.

The training reinforces a practical approach to treat drought indicators as complementary evidence, and interpret them alongside vegetation and hydrologic outcomes rather than expecting a single index to fully explain vegetation conditions.

Drought monitoring in Climate Engine¶

This section introduces a practical drought workflow in Climate Engine that includes exploratory analysis, producing maps, and performing decision-ready reporting. The training emphasizes how reports, maps, and figures are designed to support interpretation across multiple timescales of drought, including “short-term vs long-term” drought periods and provides supporting context for interpreting the meaning of drought categories.

Two concrete tools highlighted here are: - Feature summaries for a rapid snapshot over a polygon/management unit, and - Pre-computed drought reports that package maps and charts for sharing and documentation.

Demo 1: 2017 Northern Plains flash drought¶

This case study demonstrates how rapid drought development can be driven by atmospheric demand. The session uses the 2017 Northern Plains event to show how unusually warm conditions and related drivers can quickly draw down soil moisture and intensify impacts over a short period, and why that matters when selecting indicators for early warning and situational awareness.

As the drought intensified into early summer, the discussion highlights how the U.S. Drought Monitor’s depiction of conditions reflected impacts and broader evidence streams, and why different indicators can lead or lag during fast-onset events.

Vegetation production monitoring in Climate Engine¶

The production section shows how to interpret satellite-based vegetation production data and to pair it with drought context. A primary dataset discussed is the Rangeland Analysis Platform (RAP), which provides annual and intra-annual (16-day) production estimates and supports separating production by functional group (annual vs perennial herbaceous) for management interpretation.

The workflow emphasis is on comparing current-year conditions to historical context and using functional group splits to make the results more actionable for rangeland decisions.

Vegetation Production Report walk-through¶

This segment walks through how the Climate Engine Vegetation Production Reports are organized and how to use them. The training highlights how the report provides information on the current status (current production patterns), vegetation trends, historical context (percentiles, distributions, and long-term patterns), and climate context to support interpretation of potential drivers.

BLM Practitioner Highlight (Nicole Hupp)¶

The session includes a BLM practitioner highlight featuring Nicole Hupp (State Monitoring Coordinator, Montana–Dakotas State Office), focused on how drought and production information products are applied in real monitoring and communication contexts.

Demo 2: Production response after pinyon–juniper treatment¶

This demo applies the production workflow to evaluate outcomes after pinyon–juniper treatment in eastern Nevada. The key result emphasized in the slides is that post-restoration perennial production is substantially higher than the pre-restoration baseline, with a stronger response from perennial bunchgrasses than annual herbaceous production.

The intent of the demo is not only to show the outcome, but to model a repeatable structure for outcome evaluation, including define baseline vs post-treatment periods, focus on production from specific functional groups, and interpret results alongside climate context.

Closing, Contacts & Resources¶

This session emphasizes that you do not need to code to reproduce the core workflows shown: the focus is on using Reports and the Web App for exploratory analysis, figure generation, and sharing outputs with colleagues.

Resources

• Website: https://climateengine.org
• Reporting site: https://reports.climateengine.org
• Support site: https://support.climateengine.org
• API documentation: https://docs.climateengine.org

Instructor contacts

• Kristen O’Shea — kristen.oshea@dri.edu
• Eric Jensen — eric.jensen@dri.edu