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In 2013, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Conservation Objectives Team (COT) identified wildfire and the associated conversion of low- to mid-elevation sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) habitats to invasive annual grass-dominated vegetation communities as the two primary threats to the sustainability of Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus, hereafter GRSG) in the western portion of the species range (USFWS 2013). To facilitate the examination and evaluation of the role fire and invasive plants play in the conservation of GRSG, the USFWS solicited the assistance of the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA) to conduct a collaborative assessment of the conservation challenges...
There is widespread evidence that multiple drivers of global change, such as habitat degradation, invasive species, and climate change, are influencing wildlife. Understanding how these drivers interact with and affect species may be difficult because outcomes depend on the magnitude and duration of environmental change and the life history of the organism. In addition, various environmental drivers may be evaluated and managed at different spatial scales. We used a historical dataset from 1991 to 1994 and current information from 2010 to 2012 to examine whether occupancy patterns of wintering raptors were consistent with regional changes in distribution or habitat conditions within a local management unit, the...
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FY2015This effort complements a project, supported by the Joint Fire Science Program, to explore relations among cheatgrass-driven fire, climate, and sensitive-status birds across the Great Basin. With support from the NW and SW Climate Science Centers and the GB CESU, we aim to engage managers at local, state, and regional levels, and to involve both field-level and director-level personnel, during all stages of the proposed project. Our methods of engagement are intended to save managers time and decrease some of the uncertainty in planning and decision-making rather than to create additional pressures on managers time. We will conduct field visits, workshops, and interactive briefings to build trust and increase...
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FY2016This project will address limited tribal capacity for vulnerability assessment by providing guidance and data tailored to the needs and capacities of Northwest and Great Basin tribes. Specifically, the project will:1) Make the vulnerability assessment process more accessible to tribal staff by providing online guidance materials targeted to tribal needs and capacities;2) Address the demand for climate data at the scale of tribal decision-making by providing downscaled climate data and climate change summaries for tribes; and3) Support tribal staff through the vulnerability assessment process via workshops and a webinar to provide training on the use of project resources and datasets, and by staffing a Tribal...
Categories: Data, Project; Types: Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: CA1, CA1, CA1, CA1, CA4, All tags...
FY2015This project assesses the efficacy of ACK55, a naturally occurring bacterium that decreases invasive annual grasses by up to 70% on test sites. Working with the USDA, USFWS and the Great Basin Institute, researchers plan to treat ten, 1-acre plots on private lands within sage-grouse Biologically Significant Areas to determine the efficacy of ACK55 in warm and dry soils.
On July 14, 2015 speaker Owen Baughman presented on his work in restoring areas of cheatgrass die-off.The phenomenon of complete stand failure (or die-off) of cheatgrass results in the absence of this invasive grass from the invaded site for one or more growing seasons. Our work seeks to determine if this phenomenon represents an opportunity for restoring native species. Results from two experiments at four Northern Nevada sites over three years are demonstrating that seeded native grasses can have higher success in recent die-offs when compared to seedings in sites that did not die-off. These promising findings indicate that restoring native diversity in highly-invaded systems can be facilitated by targeting die-offs...
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FY2014There is increasing interest in climate change adaptation, particularly since the release of the Presidents Executive Order on Climate Preparedness in November, 2013, yet many field staff remain uncertain how to put adaptation into practice. Our goal with this project is to bridge the gap between the wealth of high-level climate adaptation guidance and the field staff who carry out specific regulatory processes, specifically Habitat Conservation Plans. Following best practices from the literature on linking science and management, we will begin with a focus on what people do rather than on the climate science. We will map the current HCP development and approval process in Region 8, identify where and how...
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FY2017There is an increasing concern and need for the conservation of springsnails and other endemic mollusks and for conservation of the unique spring and springbrook habitats on which they depend (Hershler et al 2014; Abele 2011). Nationwide, several of these species have been listed as endangered or threatened under provisions of the ESA; others are candidates for federal listing or are undergoing review by USFWS for possible future listing actions. These species can be particularly susceptible to localized threats and specific knowledge necessary for effective site-based conservation is often limited or lacking.Springsnail are particularly susceptible to extinction because the entire population of any single...
Wind erosion and aeolian transport processes are under studied compared to rainfall-induced erosion and sediment transport on burned landscapes. Post-fire wind erosion studies have predominantly focused on near-surface sediment transport and associated impacts such as on-site soil loss and site fertility. Downwind impacts, including air quality degradation and deposition of dust or contaminants, are also likely post-fire effects; however, quantitative field measurements of post-fire dust emissions are needed for assessment of these downwind risks. A wind erosion monitoring system was installed immediately following a desert sagebrush and grass wildfire in southeastern Idaho, USA to measure wind erosion from the burned...
Environmental conditions recorded at 2,256 Great Basin and Mojave Desert springs that were inventoried from the late 1980s into 2013 are summarized. These records provide information about individual springs and their spatial variability across the landscape. Insight into their changing condition is provided by records compiled at springs visited several times over more than 20 years. Although this summary considers a small proportion of springs in this region, it provides broad insight into their size, basic water chemistry, and conditions that are indicative of springs over a large portion of the southwestern US.
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Emerging applications of ecosystem resilience and resistance concepts in sagebrush ecosystems allow managers to better predict and mitigate impacts of wildfire and invasive annual grasses. Soil temperature and moisture strongly influence the kind and amount of vegetation, and consequently, are closely tied to sagebrush ecosystem resilience and resistance (Chambers et al. 2014). Soil taxonomic temperature and moisture regimes can be used as indicators of resilience and resistance at landscape scales to depict environmental gradients in sagebrush ecosystems that range from cold/cool-moist sites to warm-dry sites. We aggregated soil survey spatial and tabular data to facilitate broad-scale analyses of resilience and...
Emerging applications of ecosystem resilience and resistance concepts in sagebrush ecosystems allow managers to better predict and mitigate impacts of wildfire and invasive annual grasses. Soil temperature and moisture strongly influence the kind and amount of vegetation, and consequently, are closely tied to sagebrush ecosystem resilience and resistance (Chambers et al. 2014, 2016). Soil taxonomic temperature and moisture regimes can be used as indicators of resilience and resistance at landscape scales to depict environmental gradients in sagebrush ecosystems that range from cold/cool-moist sites to warm-dry sites. We aggregated soil survey spatial and tabular data to facilitate broad-scale analyses of resilience...
The distribution of the greater sage-grouse (hereafter sage-grouse; Centrocercus urophasianus) has declined to 56% of its pre-settlement distribution (Schroeder et al. 2004) and abundance of males attending leks has decreased substantially over the past 50 years throughout the species’ range (Garton et al. 2011, Garton et al. 2015). Livestock grazing is a common land use in the sagebrush ecosystems that support sage-grouse, and livestock grazing has been implicated by some experts as one of numerous factors contributing to sage-grouse population declines (Beck and Mitchell 2000, Schroeder et al. 2004). However, there are also numerous mechanisms by which livestock grazing might benefit sage-grouse (Beck and Mitchell...
Plant phenology is recognized as important for ecological dynamics. There has been a recent advent of phenology and camera networks worldwide. The established PhenoCam Network has sites in the United States, including the western states. However, there is a paucity of published research from semi-arid regions. In this study, we demonstrate the utility of camera-based repeat digital imagery and use of R statistical phenopix package to quantify plant phenology and phenophases in four plant communities in the semi-arid cold desert region of the Great Basin. We developed an automated variable snow/night filter for removing ephemeral snow events, which allowed fitting of phenophases with a double logistic algorithm....
Recent drought, change agents and the spectrum of greater management needs have highlighted the relative dearth of in situ weather and climate measurement stations in the Great Basin. Thus, interest has grown in supplementing or initiating atmospheric and hydrologic measurements. The purpose of this project was to review the existing station networks in the context of management needs by providing examples of how climate observation gaps can be assessed, and by providing some guidelines for the placement of new or augmented stations.The report shows how observation gaps can be discovered utilizing basic geospatial data. Three management applications is used: greater sage-grouse habitat, wildfire and grazing allotments....
Big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) is one of the most widespread and abundant plant species in the intermountain regions of western North America. This species occupies an extremely wide ecological niche ranging from the semi-arid basins to the subalpine. Within this large niche, three widespread subspecies are recognized. Montane ecoregions are occupied by subspecies vaseyana, while subspecies wyomingensis and tridentata occupy basin ecoregions. In cases of wide-ranging species with multiple subspecies, it can be more practical from the scientific and management perspective to assess the climate profiles at the subspecies level. We focus bioclimatic model efforts on subspecies wyomingensis, which is the most...
This publication identifies areas where big sagebrush populations are most and least vulnerable to climate change and demonstrates where continued investment in sagebrush conservation and restoration could have the most impact.
This document will assist Tribal and non-Tribal managers to guide water and water quality management. The ideas presented here are intended to help ensure that planned management activities are aligned with the priorities, goals, and needs of the Tribal community that depends upon the river system.
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FY2014The project team surveyed land managers working on invasive weeds in the west. These surveys provided information for the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife (WAFWA) Wildfire and Invasive Species Initiative Working Group. The survey results and other findings were used to inform a report titled Invasive Plant Management and Greater Sage-Grouse Conservation,published last spring.
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FY2015The Great Basin Region, which covers much of Nevada, and portions of California, Oregon, Idaho, and Utah, managers are already confronting a changing climate and are beginning to make management decisions despite uncertainty in how climate change effects will manifest in the region. To support decision making, the Great Basin Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCC) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Regional Integrated Science Assessment Program (RISA) funded this project to explore how two scenario planning approaches might be used effectively with existing management planning processes and data sources and how to begin prioritizing adaptation strategies. The two approaches used...
map background search result map search result map Invasive Species Management Contributions to Greater Sage-grouse Conservation West-wide. Assessment of ACK55 as a Biocontrol of Invasive Annual Grasses in Nevada Building Tribal Capacity for Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment Engagement of Managers and Researchers on Relations among Cheatgrass-driven Fire, Climate, and Sensitive-status Birds across the Great Basin Scenario Planning in the Great Basin Region: Considering climate change impacts and management strategies for the future. Adding Climate Smart Principles into Habitat Conservation Planning Development of a Regional Springsnail Conservation Strategy Assessment of ACK55 as a Biocontrol of Invasive Annual Grasses in Nevada Building Tribal Capacity for Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment Invasive Species Management Contributions to Greater Sage-grouse Conservation West-wide. Development of a Regional Springsnail Conservation Strategy Engagement of Managers and Researchers on Relations among Cheatgrass-driven Fire, Climate, and Sensitive-status Birds across the Great Basin Scenario Planning in the Great Basin Region: Considering climate change impacts and management strategies for the future. Adding Climate Smart Principles into Habitat Conservation Planning