Habitat Management

The USGS has initiated a new collaboration effort with Department of Defense (DoD) in the sagebrush biome. The goal of this effort is to establish a network with DoD resource managers to define pervasive natural resource issues facing DoD installations and to identify existing innovative USGS science and tools that support DoD resource managers. Through this effort, the USGS will provide subject...

USGS and Colorado State University researchers are conducting analyses and predictions of sagebrush recovery in the Great Basin and Wyoming and assess the role of weather, soils, and reseeding treatments.

WebDART is an online ecological assessment tool available to a wide audience that incorporates Landsat satellite remote sensing imagery, topography, geology, soil conditions, and rangeland geospatial and vegetation mapping to compare altered terrain with an unspoiled area that has similar characteristics in the same region. The tool gives resource managers, landowners, companies, and other...

FORT scientists established a Common Garden at the Colorado State Forest Service Nursery in Fort Collins, Colorado in 2005 to study the phenology of riparian cottonwood in relation to annual variation in temperature. Phenology is the seasonal timing of life history events including leaf opening, flowering, seed release, bud formation and leaf senescence.

The Gulf Coast Joint Venture (GCJV) was established in 1988 as a result of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan, which espouses the restoration of continental waterfowl populations through conservation partnerships in priority habitat regions. Since that time GCJV partners have expanded their mission and purpose to include the provision of habitat to support other priority bird species...

This study will examine the potential effects of sea level rise, drought and water extraction by examining tree growth patterns across the Gulf Coast, specifically targeting long-term research plots available in the North American Baldcypress Swamp Network (NABCSN) and the Suwannee River.

The Southwest Montana Sagebrush Partnership (SMSP) team, including land managers, landowners, and scientists, is implementing conifer removal projects encompassing over 55,000 acres of private, state, and federal lands throughout the region. To date, little place-based information exists regarding likely vegetation and bird responses to such treatments in Southwestern Montana. To address this...

Invasive annual grasses are spreading across the sagebrush ecosystem, threatening the survival of native plant species and the wildlife habitats they support. Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey, Colorado State University, University of Wyoming, the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are collaboratively investigating the factors that...

Researchers at USGS are using historical wild horse survey and monitoring records to conduct a study of horse density across sagebrush ecosystems of the western United States. Researchers will develop generalized density maps for the species that will enhance concurrent evaluations into the ecological effects of wild horse populations.

Invasive annual grasses, facilitated by a range of disturbances, are invading many areas within the sagebrush biome. Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey, Colorado State University, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management are investigating which non-fire disturbances are most associated with the spread of invasive grasses. The findings from this study could guide...

Invasive annual grasses can replace native vegetation and alter fire behavior, impacting a range of habitats and species. A team of researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey, Colorado State University, the Bureau of Land Management, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are working to identify factors that influence changes in the distribution and abundance of invasive annual grasses (IAGs)...

Bureaus within the Department of the Interior are working together to build a framework to assess restoration outcomes. USGS is leading this effort that will inform landscape-level resource management and increase benefits from restoration investments.