Sage-grouse

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Nevada section of the Society for Range Management – 2017 meeting presentations

Meeting presentations.
Presentations in pdf format from the 2017 winter meetings and workshops focused on the difficulties facing the restoration/rehabilitation of Great Basin rangelands.

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Managing pinyon-juniper expansion in sagebrush ecosystems: Next steppe for the bi-state – 2015 presentations and posters

Presentations and posters.
Pdf format of speaker presentations and posters are available for this forum, which was held to advance the next step of conservation for bi-state sage-grouse populations by prioritization and implementation of large-scale projects through recently committed funding and collaboration between federal and state agencies, NGOs, and private land owners.

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International sage-grouse forum – 2014 Presentation recordings

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Video recordings from the International Sage-Grouse Forum in Salt Lake City are free, but there is a registration process.

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Keeping all the pieces: Management considerations for greater sage-grouse and their habitats in Utah and eastern Nevada in an age of climate change

Webinar recording
This webinar describes tools for using geospatial technologies to focus management in those areas that will most contribute to the conservation of sagebrush communities important to sage-grouse given anticipated landscape changes.

Presented by Chris Balzotti, Stan Kitchen, and Clint McCarthy, and hosted by the USFS Rocky Mountain Research Station.

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Sage-grouse forb preference by 12 plant categories

Webinar addendum.

This webinar presented by Roger Rosentreter, BLM Idaho Retired State Botanist, describes a method for quickly assessing sage-grouse food availability and value. Grouping species into palatability groups make field sampling and analysis more reasonable and can assist in the development of management recommendations for sage-grouse.

Webinar recording

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Using resilience and resistance concepts to manage threats to sagebrush ecosystems and sage-grouse

Webinar recording.

This webinar discusses a strategic approach developed by an interagency, Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies working group for conservation of sagebrush ecosystems, Gunnison sage-grouse, and greater sage-grouse. It uses information on (1) factors that influence sagebrush ecosystem resilience to disturbance and resistance to nonnative invasive plants and (2) distribution and relative abundance of sage-grouse populations to address persistent ecosystem threats, such as nonnative invasive plants and wildfire, and anthropogenic threats, such as oil and gas development and agronomic conversion, and to develop effective management strategies.

Webinar was presented by Jeanne Chambers, US Forest Service – Rocky Mountain Research Station and hosted by the Great Northern, Southern Rockies, and Great Basin Landscape Conservation Cooperatives

 

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Pinyon and juniper encroachment into sagebrush ecosystems impacts distribution and survival of greater sage-grouse

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Collectively, these results provide clear evidence that local sage-grouse distributions and demographic rates are influenced by pinyon-juniper, especially in habitats with higher primary productivity but relatively low and seemingly benign tree cover. Such areas may function as ecological traps that convey attractive resources but adversely affect population vital rates. To increase sage-grouse survival, our model predictions support reducing actual pinyon-juniper cover as low as 1.5%, which is lower than the published target of 4.0%. These results may represent effects of pinyon-juniper cover in areas with similar ecological conditions to those of the Bi-State Distinct Population Segment, where populations occur at relatively high elevations and pinyon-juniper is abundant and widespread.

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The sage-grouse habitat mortgage: effective conifer management in space and time

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This study estimates that fire has approximately twice the treatment life of cutting at time horizons approaching 100 yr, but, has high up-front conservation costs due to temporary loss of sagebrush. Cutting has less up-front conservation costs because sagebrush is unaffected, but it is more expensive over longer management time horizons because of decreased durability. Managing conifers within sage-grouse habitat is difficult because of the necessity to maintain the majority of the landscape in sagebrush habitat and because the threshold for negative conifer effects occurs fairly early in the successional process. The time needed for recovery of sagebrush creates limits to fire use in managing sage-grouse habitat. Utilizing a combination of fire and cutting treatments is most financially and ecologically sustainable over long time horizons involved in managing conifer-prone sage-grouse habitat.

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Effects of conifer treatments on soil nutrient availability and plant composition in sagebrush steppe

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This study evaluated nutrient availability and herbaceous recovery following various cutting and prescribed fire treatments in late succession western juniper woodlands on two sites in southeast Oregon from 2007 to 2012. Treatments were untreated controls, partial cutting followed by fall broadcast burning (SEP), cut and leave (CUT), and cut and burn in winter (JAN) and spring (APR). Soil inorganic N (NO3−, NH4+), phosphorus (H2PO4−), potassium (K+), and cover of herbaceous species were measured in three zones; interspace, litter mats around the tree canopy (canopy), and beneath felled trees (debris). Peak nutrient availability tended to occur within the first two years after treatment. The increases in N, P, and K were greatest in severely burned debris and canopy zones of the SEP and APR treatments. Invasive annual grass cover was positively correlated to soil inorganic N concentrations. Herbaceous composition at the cool, wet big sagebrush-Idaho fescue site was generally resistant to annual grasses after juniper treatments and native plants dominating post-treatment even in highly impacted debris and canopy zones of the SEP treatment. The warm dry big sagebrush-bluebunch wheatgrass site was less resistance and resilient, thus, exotic annual grasses were a major component of the understory especially when tree and slash burning was of high fire severity.

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Bringing healthy sagebrush communities full circle

To highlight the effectiveness and on-going success of this multi-faceted working lands approach, they’ve introduced the “Healthy Sagebrush Communities” websitestory map, and poster.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), through its Sage Grouse Initiative (SGI), is there to empower ranchers to make well-balanced improvements on their ranching operations that are good for wildlife living in sagebrush country, as well as their business’s bottom line.

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