MORE FREQUENT MEGA-WILDFIRES RESHAPING GREAT BASIN PLANT COMMUNITIES, ENDANGERING NATIVE PERENNIAL GRASSES THAT ARE A KEY SOURCE OF FORAGE FOR LIVESTOCK. PREDICTED INCREASE IN THE FREQUENCY OF DROUGHT AND ONGOING INVASION BY AN ANNUAL GRASS CALLED CHEATGRASS (BROMUS TECTORUM) WILL EXACERBATE THE IMPACT OF WILDFIRES IN THE GREAT BASIN. POST-FIRE SEEDING HAS BECOME A COMMON PRACTICE TO RESTORE DEGRADED LANDS TO NATIVE PERENNIAL GRASSLANDS, BUT WHETHER RESTORED COMMUNITIES WILL PERSIST IN THE FUTURE IS UNKNOWN. MY RESEARCH AIMS TO UNDERSTAND HOW FORWARD-LOOKING POST-FIRE SEEDING CAN BUILD THE RESILIENCE OF RANGELANDS TO FUTURE DROUGHT AND CHEATGRASS INVASION. PLANTING SPECIES AND GENOTYPES WITH DIVERSE TRAITS ADAPTED TO MULTIPLE STRESSORS MAY INCREASE THE RESILIENCE OF RANGELANDS TO FUTURE CONDITIONS. HERE, I ASSESS THE CAPACITY OF CURRENT SEEDING PRACTICES AND POTENTIAL SEED SOURCE MODIFICATION (AT BOTH THE SPECIES AND GENOTYPIC LEVEL) TO PREEMPT FUTURE DROUGHT AND INVASION. FIRST, I SURVEY PLANT COMMUNITIES IN THE BOUNDARIES OF A LARGE FIRE TO DETERMINE THE EFFECTS OF POST-FIRE SEEDING AND LANDSCAPE DISPERSAL ON THE SPECIES AND GENETIC DIVERSITY OF RESTORED COMMUNITIES. SECOND, I USE A COMMON GARDEN APPROACH TO UNDERSTAND HOW SEED PROVENANCE AND SPECIES TRAITS ALTER THE RESPONSE OF NATIVE GRASS POPULATIONS TO CHEATGRASS AND DROUGHT. MY RESEARCH WILL PROVIDE PRACTICAL RECOMMENDATIONS ON WHERE AND WHAT TO PLANT IN FUTURE POST-FIRE RESTORATION. I WILL DISSEMINATE RESULTS TO END-USERS (RANCHERS AND PUBLIC LAND MANAGERS) AND THE PUBLIC, AND EDUCATE THE NEXT GENERATION OF APPLIED SCIENTISTS.