This report provides a strategic approach developed by a Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies interagency working group for conservation of sagebrush ecosystems, Greater sage-grouse, and Gunnison sage-grouse. It uses information on (1) factors that influence sagebrush ecosystem resilience to disturbance and resistance to nonnative invasive annual grasses and...
This report documents and summarizes several decades of work on sage-grouse populations, sagebrush as habitat, and sagebrush community and ecosystem functions based on the recent assessment and findings of the USFWS under consideration of the Endangered Species Act. As reflected here, some of these topics receive a greater depth of...
Question: Most results of restoration efforts are species-specific and/or site-specific and therefore are not general enough to be easily applied to other species and other sites. Our research addresses the issue of species-specific results by investigating the feasibility of using plant traits instead of taxonomic species to characterize species responses...
Questions: Are traits related to the performance of plant species in restoration? Are the relationships between traits and performance consistent across the functional groups of annual forbs, perennial forbs, and grasses? Do the relationships between traits and performance depend on neighboring functional groups? Location: A former agricultural field, being restored...
The concept of compensatory mitigation is well established as an approach to environmental management. In the past, mitigation programs have been used to conserve wetlands affected by development, and is proposed as a cost-effective approach to offsetting greenhouse gas emissions through reforestation programs. The concept may be equally applicable to...
This report delineates reasonable objectives, based upon the best scientific and commercial data available at the time of its release, for the conservation and survival of greater sage-grouse. Individual team members contributed by providing technical information and data, participating in critical discussions, providing critical reviews and edits, or authoring sections...