Just Released: WAFWA Sagebrush Strategy, Part 1 + Webinar
Considered one of the most imperiled ecosystems in the world and home to mule deer, pronghorn, sage-grouse, pygmy rabbits and more than 350 other species of conservation concern, the sagebrush ecosystem continues to shrink rapidly due to a host of growing threats, according to a new scientific report. A team of 94 scientists and specialists from 34 federal and state agencies, universities and non-governmental organizations contributed to the comprehensive assessment of the sagebrush ecosystem. The effort was coordinated by the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA) with support from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), state wildlife agencies and universities.
The report highlights continuing pressures from unprecedented wildfires fueled by invasive annual grasses, as well as cropland conversion and disturbance associated with the development of other resources. These changes impact not just wildlife but also diverse human communities that depend on healthy sagebrush for their wellbeing.
Join Webinar: Breaking Down the Sagebrush Conservation Strategy, Part 1
WAFWA, in coordination with BLM, USFWS, USGS and the Great Basin Fire Science Exchange hosted a webinar on March 30th to introduce the content of Part I of the Strategy and answer questions.
The report describes how a warming climate, increasing fuel loads from cheatgrass and other invasive annual grasses, and human ignitions lead to mega-fires that consume sagebrush at a rate that can outpace its ability to recover naturally or to fully benefit from post-burn restoration efforts. It also examines how current efforts to conserve sagebrush areas designated as habitat for greater sage-grouse are also likely to conserve other species that are dependent on or associated with sage-steppe ecosystems.
“Our knowledge about sage-grouse and the sagebrush ecosystem has increased dramatically over the past two decades through multi-agency efforts to study and manage sage-grouse populations and their habitats,” said report editor and USGS Fort Collins Science Center Deputy Director Steve Hanser. “However, many challenges and uncertainties remain. This report sets the stage for policymakers, managers and scientists as they refine and develop conservation strategies.”
A report led by this same multi-agency team and to be published by the USGS later this year will outline options to help coordinate, prioritize and improve effectiveness of the actions taken by the hundreds of stakeholders engaged in sagebrush conservation as well as increase capacity for conservation in the sagebrush biome.
“The bottom line is, sage-grouse conservation efforts are a great start, but we can’t just assume that these alone are going to take care of mule deer migration routes, wintering areas, pygmy rabbits, pronghorn or human needs from these landscapes,” said Tom Remington, the report’s lead editor and WAFWA coordinator of this project. “There are many examples where state, federal or private efforts are successfully addressing these challenges collaboratively. We can conserve the sagebrush biome if we coordinate our actions to emulate these and scale them up.”
CITATION: Remington, T.E., Deibert, P.A., Hanser, S.E., Davis, D.M., Robb, L.A., and Welty, J.L., 2021, Sagebrush conservation strategy—Challenges to sagebrush conservation: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2020–1125, 327 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20201125.
WEBPAGE: https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/ofr20201125
PRESS RELEASE: https://www.usgs.gov/news/new-report-highlights-declining-sagebrush-ecosystem-provides-foundation-next-generation
Sagebrush Conservation Partnership Model — Online Comment Tool
As part of the development of Part II of the Sagebrush Conservation Strategy (the actual strategies), WAFWA, BLM, and USFWS have partnered with the Udall Institute, National Center for Environmental Conflict Resolution, to evaluate the potential benefits of a sagebrush biome partnership model. This model would stitch together the more than 500 entities that have identified themselves as being engaged in sagebrush conservation. Similar to other large landscape collaborative partnerships, the goal of this would be to come together to exchange ideas, build relationships, identify common interests, explore options on how to work together, and potentially share resources. There are good examples of collaborative approaches in the sagebrush biome at both local and state scales that can serve as models as this is designed. WAFWA set up an online comment opportunity for stakeholders in the sagebrush biome to give their perspectives here: Sagebrush Conservation Partnership Model — Online Comment Tool. The deadline for comments is March 24th.