Plant, Animal, and Ecosystem Effects

Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey are reviewing, summarizing, and analyzing what is currently known about changes happening in pinyon-juniper ecosystems in the western U.S. in response to tree removal treatments. Although tree removal can help restore sagebrush ecosystems, these treatments also impact wildlife, wildfire fuels, and invasive plants. This project will help identify key...

Wildfires are increasingly destroying wildlife habitat in sagebrush ( Artemisia species) ecosystems, and managers need approaches to scope the pace and degree to which post-fire restoration actions can re-create habitat in dynamic landscapes. Sagebrush recovery takes a long time, and it can be difficult to anticipate restoration outcomes over large, diverse landscapes that have experienced decades...

Increased wildfire-induced loss of sagebrush in North American shrublands are outpacing natural recovery and leading to substantial habitat loss for sagebrush-obligate species like sage-grouse. Transplanting sagebrush ( Artemisia species) is a possible strategy for revegetating burned areas, but little is known about sage-grouse or other wildlife responses to restoration strategies.

Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey are developing a strategic framework for assessing and monitoring the impacts of fuel breaks in sagebrush ecosystems of the western U.S. Fuel breaks are increasingly being used to reduce the threat of wildfire, but more information on their efficacy and impacts on wildlife habitat and exotic annual grass invasion is needed.

Many revegetation projects are intended to benefit focal wildlife species. Yet, few scope the ability of revegetation efforts to yield habitat. To investigate the ability of alternative sagebrush ( Artemisia species) planting strategies to recover habitat conditions for the greater sage-grouse ( Centrocercus urophasianus ), USGS and Colorado State University scientists developed a spatial...

We are studying how herbicides sprayed onto soil to prevent the establishment of exotic annual grasses such as cheatgrass may impact the health, growth resources and microbiota of soils in sagebrush-steppe, where herbicide use is an important and common tool. Our findings will help make herbicide applications more successful.

Pre-emergent herbicides applied to soil are a primary tool for reducing exotic annual grasses, such as cheatgrass, in sagebrush steppe rangelands. Effective herbicide application can allow existing perennials to grow and spread to outcompete cheatgrass, preventing reinvasion, but most perennials are slow-growing and require more years of relief from annual-grass competition than standard...

In order to break the annual grass fire-cycle in the sagebrush steppe, land managers use pre-emergent herbicides to reduce annual grass populations and seeding to increase fire-tolerant perennials. These tools must be applied to the same soils in ways that are not counterproductive, and their application must therefore be staggered in time, which we refer to as layering. Livestock grazing can also...

Management partners have identified a major need to understand the short and long-term consequences of altered wildfire patterns, vegetation change, climate change, and management actions for the carbon cycle. This project aims to quantify carbon storage and greenhouse gas emissions in sagebrush rangelands. Researchers will link findings to the Sagebrush Conservation Design Framework and provide...

This interdisciplinary project combines expert judgment on treatment costs with spatially explicit ecological modeling to estimate the financial resources needed to address the threat of invasive annual grass across the entire sagebrush biome. Results of the assessment will provide economic insights that can inform cost-effective resource allocation to efficiently achieve sagebrush conservation...

Long-term wildlife monitoring is imperative for understanding population changes that can inform managers. However, working with population data collected by different organizations, across multiple jurisdictions, and over long time periods can be challenging due to different data management approaches and organizational priorities. Through this project, we aimed to collaborate with eleven state...

Within areas of overlapping sagebrush and pinyon-juniper ecosystems, wildlife populations are declining due to habitat fragmentation and degradation, changing climate, and human development. However, management to bolster species associated with one ecosystem may result in negative consequences for species associated with the other. Thus, land managers are challenged with balancing which system to...