Fact Sheet / Brief
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This report found that treating low infestations across all three levels of forage production yields a financial gain, ranging from 21 cents to $4.94 per acre. However, treating highly infested areas showed a financial loss of $3.76 to $5.43 per acre, despite the level of forage production. Moderate infestations showed a financial gain with treatment only on sites producing 1,000 or 1,500 pounds per acre of forage.
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Cheatgrass is now found in at least 49 states, although it’s mainly a problem in the semi-arid Great Basin — which stretches across portions of Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Oregon, and California — since its adapted to thrive in areas with wet winters and hot, dry summers. People are now used to seeing cheatgrass-dominated landscapes, but it’s not what we should see.
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Collaborations and partnerships are increasingly recognized as essential for effective natural resource conservation. In fact, the collaborative partnerships that developed from 2010 to 2015 have been recognized as a key reason why the greater sage-grouse was kept off the federal endangered species list. Whether partnerships between federal and state agencies with private landowners, restoration projects coordinated between non-profit groups and land management agencies, or the thousands of hours negotiating state sage-grouse conservation plans, the collaborative efforts across the West were – and still are – unprecedented.
The Nature Conservancy used soils data and satellite imagery to map plant communities to a one-meter resolution. They determined that 268 acres in Great Basin National Park is a basin wildrye ecosystem. This ecosystem was identified as the most endangered plant community in the Park through a park-wide watershed analysis and conservation planning assessment process.
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Through one case study in Lake County, Oregon, we examined voluntary landowner conservation as part of an Oregon-wide strategy to preclude listing of greater sage-grouse under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). We focused, in particular, on features of program offerings for sage-grouse conservation that motivated participation of private landowners engaged in cattle production. In October 2016 and spring of 2017, we conducted 23 total interviews with Lake County landowners, governmental and nongovernmental (NGO) staff in Lake County, and governmental and NGO actors at the state level.
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A review of fuel treatment findings from JFSP studies, suggests:
- Appropriately designed fuel treatments substantially reduce fire intensity and detrimental ecological effects. In forest ecosystems that are adapted to frequent, low intensity fires, the combination of tree thinning followed by the regular use of prescribed fire are most effective.
- Fuel treatments can improve wildlife habitat, increase biodiversity, and increase forage production when they are designed with these considerations in mind.
- Not all wildfires have negative impacts. A wildfire that burns under specific conditions can be an effective surrogate for a fuel treatment.
View fact sheet, pg. 9.
This fact sheet provides managers with strategies to reduce the spread and impact of medusahead.
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View fact sheet, pg. 37.
Bareroot or container seedlings can be used to quickly re-establish big sagebrush and other native shrubs in situations where direct seeding is not feasible or unlikely to succeed. Guidelines are provided for developing a planting plan and timeline, arranging for seedling production, and installing and managing outplantings.
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View fact sheet, pg. 33.
This fact sheet provides guidelines for maintaining productive sagebrush steppe communities in grazed areas after fire. The focus is on plant communities that, prior to fire, were largely intact and had an understory of native perennial herbaceous species or introduced bunchgrass, rather than invasive annual grass.
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View fact sheet, pg. 22.
This fact sheet provides a framework for the placement, use, and effectiveness of established fuel breaks for protecting sagebrush ecosystems.
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