Conifer encroachment education project website

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As a general rule, humans love trees. It’s not surprising — there’s a lot about trees to like! However, across the globe, vast swaths of the landscape are naturally treeless. In fact, they make up 40% of all terrestrial ecosystems. These meadows, grasslands, and shrublands are some of our most productive and important ecosystems, and they provide society with fertile grazing lands, open space and world-class recreation, and a remarkable diversity of unique wildlife.

Unfortunately, these grassy biomes are among the most imperiled globally, threatened by many factors including tree expansion. In the American West, conifer encroachment in core sagebrush areas results in altered fire regimes, reduced forage productivity, depleted water resources, habitat loss for sagebrush-dependent wildlife, and more.