This folder includes a letter to Congressman Dicks regarding a request for funds to implement the passage of H.R. 4828, the Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Act.
Thirteen different habitat parameters were measured either quantitatively or
qualitatively around seven different Salix (willow) species on a defined reach of stream
on the southwestern slope of Steens Mountain in southeastern Oregon in order to both
broaden the current information base of riparian ecology and inform future willow
plantings aimed...
Western juniper has rapidly expanded into sagebrush steppe communities in the Intermountain West during the past 120 years. This expansion has occurred across a wide range of soil types and topographic positions. These plant communities, however, are typically treated in current peer-reviewed literature generically. The focus of this research is...
Sage grouse are a species of concern because their abundance, distribution, and productivity have declined during the past century. Sage grouse productivity has been linked to specific habitat components including particular forbs and native bunchgrasses. Studies on the effects of fire were conducted in Southeastern Oregon in mountain big sagebrush...
Since the late 1880's western juniper has expanded in range and
increased in density in sagebrush-bunchgrass, riparian, and forested plant
communities of the Pacific Northwest. Succession to western juniper
woodland has been shown to reduce the productivity and diversity of the
understory component, result in concentration of soil nutrients beneath...
Continental flood basalts represent short-lived but immense blasts of mafic magma to the continental crust. The youngest and smallest continental flood basalt worldwide, the Columbia River Basalt, initiated with the eruption of the most mafic member, the Steens Basalt (~16.9 Ma). The Steens Basalt is exposed in southeast Oregon, southwest...
Steens Mountain is a major horst block near the northern terminus of the Basin and Range geomorphic province of southeastern Oregon. A section of Miocene volcanic rocks totaling 5000 feet in thickness are exposed in a fault escarpment on the eastern side of Steens Nountain. These include: the Pike Creek...
Fire suppression in high-elevation sagebrush steppe over the last century has
profoundly influenced the structure and complexity of vegetation communities.
Although fire is the primary management tool used to restore these areas, the impact
of this management practice on associated avian communities is poorly understood.
We examined patterns of habitat...
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...