Wednesday, August 5, 2009: 8:00 AM-11:30 AM
Brazos, Albuquerque Convention Center
OOS 25 - Ecological Knowledge to Enhance Stewardship and Restoration of Sagebrush Steppe Communities
The sagebrush steppe ecosystem type in the western U.S. is undergoing rapid change due to a combination of influences including: invasion of non-native plants, especially annual grasses such as cheatgrass; catastrophic wildfires; and encroachment of pinyon pine- and juniper-dominated woodlands. Due to these environmental stressors that result largely from human management actions, as much as half of the land area dominated by sagebrush has disappeared. Great Basin sagebrush communities are now identified as one of the most threatened types in North America. Accordingly, various land management agencies have launched efforts to restore sagebrush-steppe ecosystems and to reduce the extent, frequency, and intensity of wildfires that threaten both native plant communities and human communities. The Sagebrush Steppe Treatment Evaluation Project (SageSTEP) was initiated in 2005 as a five-year interdisciplinary research project that would: identify conditions that determine the transition between healthy and unhealthy sagebrush plant communities; evaluate ecological and other effects of alternative land management practices in landscapes threatened by annual grass invasion or woodland encroachment; and facilitate the flow the information gathered to inform effective management of sagebrush communities in human-influenced landscapes of the Great Basin. The research team includes scientists from five universities and four federal government agencies, representing a wide range of scientific disciplines, working collaboratively at experimental sites covering the entire region from central Washington to southwestern Utah. Members of the SageSTEP research team will present findings from our ongoing research activities. Presentations will exemplify the breadth of research questions and approaches that are being used to gather ecological knowledge relevant to management of the sagebrush steppe for natural objectives, such as restoration, as well as human objectives such as range livestock production. Presentations will focus not only on key biotic and abiotic components of sagebrush-dominated ecosystems, but also on the ways in which ecological knowledge generated through this research can be used and interpreted by land managers as well as the human stakeholders whose concerns must be weighed in ecosystem management.
Organizer:Mark W. Brunson, Utah State University
Co-organizer:James D. McIver, Oregon State University
Moderator:James D. McIver, Oregon State University
8:00 AMOOS 25-1The memory theory of resilience: A framework for obtaining, evaluating, and applying ecological knowledge
James B. Grace, USGS National Wetlands Research Center
8:20 AMOOS 25-2Soil water availability and wet degree days in pinyon and juniper communities
Bruce A. Roundy, Brigham Young University
8:40 AMOOS 25-3Total soil-CO2 efflux in mechanically shredded woodlands of Juniperus osteosperma (Utah Juniper)
Kert R. Young, Brigham Young University, Bruce A. Roundy, Brigham Young University, Richard E. Terry, Brigham Young University
9:00 AMOOS 25-4Pinyon and juniper woodland encroachment influence on root density and below-ground carbon and nitrogen
Benjamin Rau, University of Nevada-Reno, Dale W. Johnson, University of Nevada-Reno, Robert Blank, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Annmarie Lucchesi, University of Nevada-Reno
9:20 AMOOS 25-5Gaps among perennial plants: Spatial relationships, root biomass and cheatgrass cover
David A. Pyke, U.S. Geological Survey, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, Andrew Lindgren, USGS, Michael D. Reisner, Oregon State University, Eugene W. Schupp, Utah State University, Jeff Burnham, Utah State University, Paul S. Doescher, Oregon State University, Jeanne C. Chambers, USDA Forest Service
9:40 AM Break
9:50 AMOOS 25-6The distribution of woodland-sagebrush avian communities in the intermountain west
Steven T. Knick, U.S. Geological Survey, Matthias Leu, U.S. Geological Survey
10:10 AMOOS 25-7Effects of ecological knowledge and management context on beliefs about restoring sagebrush ecosystems
Mark W. Brunson, Utah State University, Cameron Nay, Utah State University, Scott Hoffmann, Utah State University
10:30 AMOOS 25-8Learning together: Scientist collaboration with the Bureau of Land Management
Nora Devoe, Bureau of Land Management
10:50 AMOOS 25-9The effectiveness of rangeland and minimum-till seed drills for large-scale restoration of sagebrush wildlands
Robert D. Cox, Texas Tech University, Nancy L. Shaw, USDA Forest Service, Mike Pellant, Bureau of Land Management
11:10 AMOOS 25-10The effect of plant source location on revegetation success: a reciprocal transplant experiment with the native shrub winterfat (Krascheninnikovia lanata)
Melanie G. Barnes, University of New Mexico, Diane L. Marshall, University of New Mexico

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