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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.
We took a commonly-used template for HCPs and annotated it section-by-section with key climate considerations. These considerations were based on conversations with HCP practitioners (both applicants and USFWS staff), review of relevant scientific literature and guidance on climate-informed natural resource management, and review of existing HCPs for how if at all they had addressed climate change.
This quick guide gives a very brief introduction to the uses of climate-related information in habitat conservation planning, the different types of information available, and how to use conceptual models to help identify what variables are important. It also addresses working with uncertainty, and deciding whether downscaled models are necessary.
This project explored 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 in this project are Adaptation for Conservation Targets (ACT) and Strategic Scenario Planning (SSP). This report provides an overview of the project webinars and two workshops, our analysis of the strengths and limitations of the scenario planning approaches used, and suggestions for using these methods to prioritize adaptation actions.
Natural-resource managers and other conservation practitioners are under unprecedented pressure to categorize and quantify the vulnerability of natural systems based on assessment of the exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity of species to climate change. Despite the urgent need for these assessments, neither the theoretical basis of adaptive capacity nor the practical issues underlying its quantification has been articulated in a manner that is directly applicable to natural-resource management. Both are critical for researchers, managers, and other conservation practitioners to develop reliable strategies for assessing adaptive capacity. Drawing from principles of classical and contemporary research and...
On November 4, 2016, Dr. Peter Adler, Utah State University, discussed how sagebrush sensitivity to climate change varies across the region and the strengths and weaknesses of various climate modeling approaches. Healthy big sagebrush habitat is essential for the persistence of many high value conservation species across the western US. To gain confidence in predictions of climate change impacts on existing populations of big sagebrush, a research team from Utah State University compared output from four modeling approaches, each based on very different data and assumptions. These models largely agree that rising temperatures will decrease sagebrush cover and biomass in the warmest portions of the region, but increase...
This presentation aired as part of the Great Basin LCC webinar series on September 13, 2017. Speakers include Courtney Conway, Idaho Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, and Paul Makela, Bureau of Land Management.Description: Greater Sage-grouse have declined since the mid-1960s, and grazing is the most extensive land use within sage-grouse habitat. The speakers will present progress on a 10-year project designed to document the effects of cattle grazing on: 1) demographic traits of Greater Sage-grouse; 2) sage-grouse habitat characteristics, 3) insect abundance, which is important prey for sage-grouse chicks, and 4) abundance of all other bird species. The research team works at five study sites in Idaho...
On June 27, 2016, speakers Dominique Bachelet, Conservation Biology Institute, and Dave Hopper, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, discussed the need for reliable, usable tools and data sources to meet climate change-related land management challenges. The combination of projected climate change and land use adds uncertainty to the long-term effectiveness of current management strategies. Managers need reliable information to adjust their strategies as population density increases. However they are currently overwhelmed by the diversity of available information and the multiplicity of sources. The Conservation Biology Institute (CBI) has been working to centralize and package the usable information for land managers...
On October 27, Paul Rogers of the Western Aspen Alliance discussed the impact of climate change on aspen ecosystems, with an emphasis on aspen fire types.The presentation covered the variability of aspen responses to fire and emphasized unique fire-related systems to wean practitioners from one-size-fits-all prescriptions for aspen forests. The Western Aspen Alliance is a partnership established to improve the management of aspen by linking ecological, social and economic sciences through collaboration and information sharing.
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...
“The loss of foundational but fire-intolerant perennials such as sagebrush due to increases in fire size and frequency in semi-arid regions has motivated efforts to restore them, often with mixed or even no success. Seeds of sagebrush Artemisia tridentata and related species must be moved considerable distances from seed source to planting sites, but such transfers have not been guided by an understanding of local climate adaptation. Initial seedling establishment and its response to weather are a key demographic bottleneck that likely varies among subspecies and populations of sagebrush.We assessed differences in survival, growth and physiological responses of sagebrush seedlings to weather among eleven seed sources...
This research project documented the Native American cultural traditions in the Duckwater Shoshone and the Paiute tribes’ responses to climate change in the Great Basin region. Aspects of tribal culture often include fish, wildlife, or plants as central images or main symbolic figures. Because climate change affects the presence, abundance and patterns of distribution of animals and plants, it is important to analyze behaviors connected to those resources. This project carried out research pertaining to the effects of climate on aspects of the environment and resources relevant to these two Great Basin tribes, leading to insights regarding possible responses of tribal culture to focal animals and plants that, in...
This web site houses the quick guides, worksheets, and templates developed as part of a project focused on helping practitioners integrate climate change into Habitat Conservation Planning under the Endangered Species Act. It also includes a spreadsheet with information on existing HCPs that have addressed climate change. All guides and worksheets are freely downloadable.
Bromus species – such as cheatgrass – are exotic annual grasses that have become the dominant annual grasses in the western hemisphere. Their spread and impacts across the western United States continue despite the many attempts by land managers to control these species. A new book edited by scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Forest Service and Colorado State University answers critical research, planning, and management questions about these species. The book synthesizes available literature on the biology, ecology, sociology and economics of Bromus grasses to develop a more complete picture of the factors that influence their invasiveness, impacts, and management in the western United States. Lessons...
The Great Basin LCC Conservation Planning Atlas (CPA) brings cloud-based functionality and collaborative features to a geospatial platform for conservation initiatives across the Great Basin. The CPA resides within the Data Basin online platform, allowing users and groups to create unique collaborative mapping products for their projects. Drawing on over 16,000 datasets currently in Data Basin–including high-priority datasets from LANDFIRE, BLM, USGS, and others–users are able to share maps within public or private groups and then to dynamically interact with those products as a group. In addition to the collaborative planning features, the CPA also provides the Great Basin LCC with another platform through which...