Conservation Issues for Sage-Grouse and Sagebrush Ecosystems
Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) are the most visible of >350 plant and wildlife species that depend on sagebrush. Their conservation status was determined by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2010 to be warranted for listing but precluded by higher priorities. Habitat and population fragmentation, coupled with inadequate regulatory mechanisms to control development on public lands, were the primary factors in the listing decision. Approximately 70% of the current sagebrush distribution within the greater sage-grouse range is public land; the U.S. Bureau of Land Management is responsible for managing half of the sagebrush within the United States. Less than 1% of the sagebrush is within areas protected from land-cover conversion. The remaining public land is managed for multiple uses that include livestock grazing, energy development, and recreation.
Managers have emphasized sage-grouse as indicators of ecosystem health. Considered an umbrella species, strategies to improve habitat for sage-grouse make an implicit assumption that benefits will extend to other wildlife dependent on sagebrush. Therefore, our research is focused on gaining a better understanding of how sagebrush and sage-grouse populations are temporally and spatially interconnected. These relationships then can be significant factors in developing conservation actions that enhance the long-term viability of sagebrush ecosystems.
Collaborators
John Connelly, Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Blackfoot, ID
Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies
Primary Investigator
Phillips, Susan L. -
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Related Publications
Crist, M.R., Knick, S.T., Hanser, S.E., 2015, Range-Wide Network of Priority Areas for Greater Sage-Grouse—A Design for Conserving Connected Distributions or Isolating Individual Zoos?: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2015-1158, p. 34, http://dx.doi.org/10.3133/ofr20151158. [Details]
McIver, J.D., Brunson, M., Bunting, S.C., Chambers, J.C., Doescher, P.S., Grace, J., Hulet, A., Johnson, D., Knick, S.T., Miller, R., Pierson, F.B., Pyke, D.A., Rau, B.M., Rollins, K., Roundy, B.A., Schupp, E.W., Tausch, R.J., Williams, J., 2014, A Synopsis of Short-term Response to Alternative Restoration Treatments in Sagebrush-Steppe- the SageSTEP Project: Rangeland Ecology and Management, v. 67, no. 5, p. 584-598, http://dx.doi.org/10.2111/REM-D-14-00084.1. [Details]
Knick, S.T., Hanser, S.E., Preston, K.L., 2013, Modeling ecological minimum requirements for distribution of greater sage-grouse leks- Implications for population connectivity across their western range, U.S.A.: Ecology and Evolution, v. 3, no. 6, p. 1539-1551, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.557. [Details]
Knick, S.T., 2011, Historical development, principal federal legislation, and current management of sagebrush habitats- Implications for conservation In Knick, S.T., Connelly, J.W., eds., Greater Sage-Grouse: Ecology and Conservation of a Landscape Species and Its Habitats, Studies in Avian Biology No. 38: Berkeley, CA, University of California Press, p. 13-31. [Details]
Hanser, S.E., Knick, S.T., 2011, Greater sage-grouse as an umbrella species for shrubland passerine birds- A multi-scale assessment In Knick, S.T., Connelly, J.W., eds., Greater Sage-Grouse: Ecology and Conservation of a Landscape Species and Its Habitats, Studies in Avian Biology No. 38: Berkeley, CA, University of California Press, p. 475-487. [Details]
Wisdom, M.J., Meinke, C.W., Knick, S.T., Schroeder, M.A., 2011, Factors associated with extirpation of sage-grouse In Knick, S.T., Connelly, J.W., eds., Greater Sage-Grouse: Ecology and Conservation of a Landscape Species and Its Habitats, Studies in Avian Biology No. 38: Berkeley, CA, University of California Press, p. 451-472. [Details]
Knick, S.T., Connelly, J.W., 2011, Preface In Knick, S.T., Connelly, J.W., eds., Greater Sage-Grouse: Ecology and Conservation of a Landscape Species and Its Habitats, Studies in Avian Biology No. 38: Berkelely, CA, University of California Press, p. xi-xii. [Details]
Knick, S.T., Connelly, J.W., eds., 2011, Greater Sage-Grouse- Ecology and Conservation of a Landscape Species and its Habitats: Berkeley, CA, University of California Press, p. 646. [Details]
Aldridge, C.L., Nielsen, S.E., Beyer, H.L., Boyce, M.S., Connelly, J.W., Knick, S.T., Schroeder, M.A., 2008, Range-wide patterns of greater sage-grouse persistence: Diversity and Distributions, v. 14, p. 983-994. [Details]
Meinke, C.W., Knick, S.T., Pyke, D.A., 2008, A spatial model to prioritize sagebrush landscapes in the Intermountain West (USA) for restoration: Restoration Ecology, p. 1-8. [Details]
Knick, S.T., Dobkin, D.S., Rotenberry, J.T., Schroeder, M.A., Vander Haegen, M., Van Riper, C., 2003, Teetering on the edge or too late? Conservation and research issues for avifauna of sagebrush habitats: The Condor, v. 105, no. 4, p. 611-634. [Details]