This document provides the latest science and best biological judgment to assist in making management decisions. Fortunately, recent emphasis on sage-grouse conservation has resulted in a substantial number of publications dealing with a variety of aspects of sage-grouse ecology and management, summarized in the 2010 listing petition (75 FR 13910),...
The purpose of this memorandum is to clarify the Service's perspective on the relationship between livestock grazing and the conservation of sagebrush ecosystems on private lands occurring within the range of greater sage-grouse. This document provides more specific guidance to Service staff as they carry out their conservation mission in...
This Instruction Memorandum (IM) provides the policy on tracking and reporting surface disturbance and reclamation within and outside of Greater Sage-grouse (GRSG) Priority Habitat Management Areas (PHMA). The Approved Resource Management Plan Amendments for the Rocky Mountain and Great Basin GRSG Regions and Nine Approved Resource Management Plans in the...
This Instruction Memorandum (IM) provides guidance for prioritizing the review and processing of grazing permits and leases (permits) in Greater Sage-Grouse (GRSG) habitat as described in the Records of Decision for the Approved Resource Management Plan Amendments or the Great Basin and Rocky Mountain GRSG Regions and nine Approved Resource...
This Instruction Memorandum (IM) directs the implementation of the land use plan adaptive management process to evaluate and apply hard and soft triggers and responses, as detailed in the Greater Sage-Grouse (GRSG) Approved Resource Management Plans and Amendments (GRSG Plans), Great Basin and Rocky Mountain GRSG Regional Records of Decision...
This Instruction Memorandum (IM) provides guidance for incorporating and analyzing thresholds and responses, as appropriate, into terms and conditions of grazing permits and the associated National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis within designated Greater Sage-Grouse (GRSG) Habitat as described in the Records of Decision for the Approved Resource Management Plan...
This Instruction Memorandum (IM) provides guidance on prioritizing implementation decisions for Bureau of Land Management (BLM) oil and gas leasing and development, to be consistent with the Approved Resource Management Plan Amendments for the Rocky Mountain and Great Basin GRSG Regions and nine Approved Resource Management Plans in the Rocky...
This Instruction Memorandum (IM) provides policy on how to assess habitat for Gunnison and Greater Sage-Grouse, including the Bi-State Distinct Population Segment, (hereafter referred to as "sage-grouse") and under what circumstances the habitat assessment is required.
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...
Declines in Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus, hereafter sage-grouse) populations could be attributed to low chick survival, which may be influenced by the availability of food and cover at sites used by females rearing broods. Habitat attributes important to broods may vary regionally; thus, it is necessary to understand factors affecting...
A major goal in greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus, hereafter ‘sage-grouse’) conservation is to spend limited resources efficiently by conserving large and functioning populations. We used maximum count data from leks (n = 4,885) to delineate high abundance population centers that contain 25, 50, 75, and 100% of the known breeding...
This white paper outlines interim guidance for development of Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife habitat mitigation recommendations associated with renewable energy development and associated infrastructure or other landscape scale industrial-commercial developments in greater sage-grouse habitat in Oregon. This guidance is interim until empirical data are available that quantify the...
Ten of 11 states where Greater Sage-grouse occur allow hunting of sage-grouse. Sage-grouse have been state-listed as Threatened in Washington since 1998, and have not been hunted since 1990. Although sage-grouse were found not warranted for listing under the Endangered Species Act in 2015 (FR 80:59858-59942), concern over the potential...
Presentation intended to provide basic public information about the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's 12-month finding for the greater sage-grouse, conducted pursuant to the 2004 Endangered Species Act.
Prior to settlement in the 19th century, greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; hereafter referred to as ‘sage-grouse’) inhabited 13 western States and three Canadian provinces, and their potential habitat covered over 1,200,483 square kilometers (km) (463,509 square miles (mi)). Sage-grouse have declined across their range due to a variety of causes...
The purpose of this document (Framework) is to communicate some of the factors the Service is likely to consider in evaluating the efficacy of mitigation practices and programs in reducing threats to sage-grouse. The recommendations provided here are consistent with the information and conservation objectives provided in the 2013 Conservation...
The condition of the sagebrush ecosystem has been declining in the Western United States, and greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus), a sagebrush-obligate species, has experienced concurrent decreases in distribution and population numbers. This has prompted substantial research and management over the past two decades to improve the understanding of sage-grouse and...
Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) were once found in most grassland and sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) habitats east of the Cascades in Oregon. European settlement and conversion of sagebrush steppe into agricultural production led to extirpation of the species in the Columbia Basin by the early part of the 1900s, but sagebrush...
The overall goal of the Greater Sage-grouse Comprehensive Conservation Strategy (Strategy) is to maintain and enhance populations and distribution of sagegrouse by protecting and improving sagebrush habitats and ecosystems that sustain these populations. This Strategy outlines the critical need to develop the associations among local, state, provincial, tribal, and federal...
Brochure. What’s good for rangelands is good for grouse. That’s
the Sage Grouse Initiative brand and why hundreds
of partners are teaming up to achieve world-class
wildlife conservation through sustainable ranching.
Greater sage-grouse Centrocercus urophasianus populations across North America have been declining due to degradation and fragmentation of sagebrush habitat. As part of a study quantifying greater sage-grouse demographics prior to construction of a wind energy facility, we estimated apparent net nest productivity and survival rate of chicks associated with radio-equipped...
In the arid West, life follows water. Habitats near water – streamsides, wet meadows and wetlands — support the greatest variety of animal and plant life, and attract wildlife during their daily and seasonal movements. In a water-scarce landscape, these lush habitats are also where people have naturally settled. A...
Two new studies revealed unknown long-distance dispersal and migration movements in sage grouse that offer fresh insights for conservation. Using DNA from feathers dropped at leks, scientists discovered that some grouse (about 1% of populations) travel long distances to explore breeding areas up to 120 miles away—movements that can potentially...
Research evaluating effects of livestock grazing on greater sage-grouse nest survival suggests that a variety of locally-appropriate range management strategies support grouse populations. A new Montana study comparing effects of specialized grazing systems on ranches enrolled in the NRCS-led Sage Grouse Initiative (SGI) to ranches not enrolled in SGI grazing...
In recent years the Sage Grouse Initiative, led by the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, has worked with many partners to accelerate the mechanical removal of invading conifer trees, primarily junipers, to restore sagebrush habitats in and around sage grouse strongholds across the West. Replicated studies from public and private...
Effective conservation of the greater sage-grouse and its habitat requires a collaborative, landscape-scale, science-based approach that includes strong federal plans, a strong commitment to conservation on state and private lands, and a proactive strategy to reduce the risk of rangeland fires.
Since public lands make up roughly half of the...
Trends in greater sage-grouse breeding populations are typically indexed by determining the peak number of males attending a lek in a lekking season. Numerous studies have estimated negative trends in sage-grouse breeding populations over time via data collected for the last 50 years. However, the inherent bias in data collection...
The greater sage-grouse, an iconic ground-dwelling bird of the West, has experienced significant population declines during the past 50 years from habitat loss. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) designated sage grouse in 2010 as a candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
In September 2015, the...
It is unlikely all male sage-grouse are detected during lek counts, which could complicate the use of lek counts as an index to population abundance. Understanding factors that influence detection probabilities will allow managers to more accurately estimate the number of males present on leks. We fitted 410 males with...
Western EcoSystems Technology, Inc. and Wyoming Wildlife Consultants, LLC initiated a greater sage-grouse radio-telemetry study at an existing wind energy development in southeastern Wyoming in 2009. The University of Wyoming joined this collaborative effort in January 2010, and the National Wind Coordinating Collaborative joined the effort in March 2011. The...
Counts of males attending leks in the spring have been the primary means employed by states to monitor status of greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophansianus) populations for over 75 years. Despite limitations and potential biases, lek count data remain the only long-term, range-wide dataset available for evaluating trends in sage-grouse populations....
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...
This Instruction Memorandum (Instruction Memorandum No. 2016-139) provides guidance on the use of terrestrial and aquatic objectives and quantitative data to determine Resource Management Plan effectiveness. Additionally, for RMPs that include Greater Sage-Grouse (GRSG) habitat, this IM provides guidance for tracking and reporting on the implementation of decisions using the...
During the 2016 greater sage-grouse breeding season, 1,908 aerial and ground lek surveys were conducted at 768 individual lek sites comprising 501 lek complexes. Surveys were conducted at 66.0% of known lek sites in the state, which was the greatest proportion of leks ever surveyed in Oregon. Survey effort during...
During the 2017 greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) breeding season, 1,580 aerial and ground lek surveys were conducted at 674 individual lek sites comprising 429 lek complexes. Surveys were conducted at 58.0% of known lek sites in the state. Survey effort during 2017 declined -17.1%, -12.2%, and 14.5% from 2016 levels,...
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...
In the northeast part of sage grouse range, 70% of the best habitat is privately owned – and the single greatest threat in this region is cultivation of native sagebrush grazing lands. Scientists assessed lands in eastern Montana, the western Dakotas, and northeast Wyoming to evaluate potential impacts to sage...
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 presents information concerning the water and related land resources of the Middle Willamette River Basin and is the result of a cooperative study by the U. S. Department of Agriculture and the State Water Resources Board of Oregon.
The State Water Resources Board of Oregon is making a...
Within the Lower North Umpqua watershed, BLM has acquired approximately 6,600 acres of land specifically to manage habitat to enhance the Columbian White-tailed Deer (CWTD). This area is called the North Bank Habitat Management Area (NBHMA) and will be managed as described in the NBHMA Environmental Impact Statement. The BLM...
This draft document describes different types of conservation tools and highlights some conservation programs currently available in Oregon, along with an assessment of their effectiveness for habitat conservation and for participating landowners.
The Airborne Data Acquisition and Registration (ADAR) remote sensing system captured one-meter resolution imagery of 25 different riparian sites in drift Creek Basin of coastal northwestern Oregon, USA. The multispectral, digital data characterized riparian areas with the intent to develop ecological indicators for long-term monitoring.
This is an integrated assessment across terrestrial, freshwater, and coastal marine realms. It includes the coast range of Oregon and Washington as well as Vancouver Island in British Columbia. The marine portion only includes the coastline and shallow subtidal; the next iteration will include the offshore component.
Green Point Consulting created a GIS layer of current and likely former tidal wetlands in the Yaquina and Alsea estuaries, working from the National Wetland Inventory (NWI) mapping and applied their field knowledge of the estuaries, as well as newly available data such as LiDAR and recent aerial orthophotos. They...
This paper details the historical coastal evolution of the Columbia River littoral cell in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Geological data from A.D. 1700 and records leading up to the late 1800s provide insights to the natural system dynamics prior to significant human intervention, most notably jetty construction...
FishXing (fish crossing), a computer aided stream crossing culvert model designed to analyze fish passage through culverts was compared with results of an Oregon Department of Forestry fish passage monitoring report. FishXing was created at Humboldt State University through sponsorship from the US Forest Service, USDA, Stream Team, Six Rivers...
We have applied a normalized difference algorithm to 8 day composite chlorophyll-a (CHL) and fluorescence line height (FLH) imagery obtained from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer aboard the Aqua spacecraft in order to detect and monitor phytoplankton blooms in the Oregon coastal region. The resulting bloom products, termed CHL[subscript rel]...
Strongly bimodal, basalt-rhyolite volcanism of the High Lava Plains Province of Oregon followed the Middle Miocene flood basalts of the Pacific Northwest and extends to recent time. During the 8 m.y. of volcanism recorded in the central High Lava Plains, in western Harney Basin, three distinct mafic magmatic trends originate...
Summertime wind stress along the coast of the northwestern United States typically exhibits intraseasonal oscillations (ISOs) with periods from ≈15 to 40 days, as well as fluctuations on the 2- to 6-day “weather-band” and 1-day diurnal time scales. Coastal upwelling of cool, nutrient-rich water is driven by extended periods of...
An average of approximately 200,000 pounds of bay clams were harvested annually in Oregon for the years 1943-49, inclusive. The commercial harvest of bay clams is composed of the gaper, cockle, and softshell clams. The recreational, or noncommercial, harvest of bay clams is composed mainly of the gaper, cockle, softshell,...
Tillamook Bay chum salmon are caught commercially by gill-nets, both set and drift, and from 1928 through 1949 the landings have averaged 819,689 pounds per season. More chum salmon are caught on Tillamook Bay than on the rest of the Oregon coastal rivers combined. These fish enter the ocean only...
This book is a guide to the plant associations of the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. It includes general descriptions of the physical and biological setting of the Recreation Area: its climate, geology, landscape; soils, wildlife, and ecological processes. Analysis of quantitative field data identified 52 plant associations occurring in...