Exotic annual grass invasions and altered fire regimes are threatening sustainability of sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystems in the western US, and managers and policy makers are seeking strategic, holistic approaches to these issues. Recent research indicates that an understanding of ecosystem resilience to disturbance and resistance to exotic annual grasses can be used to prioritize management activities across large landscapes. A Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies working group has linked this understanding with habitat requirements of Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) and developed a habitat decision matrix for assisting land managers in best allocating resources. This approach was incorporated into the Bureau of Land Management’s Fire and Invasives Assessment Tool (FIAT), a component of the Great Basin Sub-regional Greater Sage-grouse Environmental Impact Statements, and used to prioritize sage-grouse habitat for the application of appropriate management strategies (fire operations, post-fire rehabilitation, fuels management, and habitat recovery/restoration). US Forest Service (FS) used a similar, threat-based processes. The FIAT process was applied to Priority Areas of Conservation identified by states as key areas that are necessary to maintain sage-grouse populations. Local managers then used the results of FIAT to develop an integrated management strategy to minimize threats, protect, and restore key habitats.
Results/Conclusions
Vegetation community resistance to invasive annual grasses and resilience following disturbance is strongly influenced by soil temperature and moisture regimes which can be mapped spatially using National Resources Conservation Service soil surveys. This information along with sagebrush landscape cover contained in the habitat decision matrix fostered an emphasis on conserving the “warm dry” lower elevation sagebrush communities due to their low resilience to disturbance and resistance to exotic annual grasses. In upper elevations with greater resistance and resilience, management emphasis is on maintaining intact sagebrush communities and reducing conversion of sagebrush steppe communities to Juniper (Juniperus spp.) woodlands. Spatial depiction of the management strategies developed by the local managers provides the basis for treatment planning and resource allocation in the budget process. The FIAT process reduced the total area for application of management strategies in the five priority PACs from 14.4 million ha to 6.9 million ha. Additionally the “warm and dry” emphasis areas for increased conservation totaled 2.3 million ha.