Management agencies are increasingly restoring sagebrush systems by removing conifers. These treatments likely result in mixed effects for wildlife species, and wildlife response may vary across the landscape. Declining sagebrush and pinyon-juniper associated bird populations highlight a clear need for tools that can help guide conifer management across the sagebrush ecosystem.
To address the need for tools that can help guide conifer management across the sagebrush ecosystem, USGS researchers and partners have initiating a two-phase project to (1) develop local and landscape-scale bird habitat relationship models for eight sagebrush and pinyon-juniper associated species—Brewer’s sparrow, gray vireo (Vireo vicinior), green-tailed towhee (Pipilo chlorurus), juniper titmouse (Baeolophus ridgwayi), pinyon jay (Gymnorhinus), sagebrush sparrow, sage thrasher, and Townsend’s solitaire (Myadestes townsendi); (2) use these models to predict current locations of high-quality habitat; and (3) develop a tool that prioritizes future conifer removal sites by quantifying the expected effects of treatments on these species. USGS researchers and partners are developing interannual abundance models at local and landscape scales using bird data collected under the Integrated Monitoring in Bird Conservation Regions (IMBCR) program (which has data from more than 199,000 point counts) and vegetation data from the IMBCR program and remotely-sensed data (for example, the Shrubland Components of the National Land Cover Database), respectively. The models and optimization framework developed will increase public land managers’ ability to assess conifer removal treatment effects on wildlife. This work is being conducted in collaboration with Nick Van Lanen at Colorado State University.
- Overview
Management agencies are increasingly restoring sagebrush systems by removing conifers. These treatments likely result in mixed effects for wildlife species, and wildlife response may vary across the landscape. Declining sagebrush and pinyon-juniper associated bird populations highlight a clear need for tools that can help guide conifer management across the sagebrush ecosystem.
To address the need for tools that can help guide conifer management across the sagebrush ecosystem, USGS researchers and partners have initiating a two-phase project to (1) develop local and landscape-scale bird habitat relationship models for eight sagebrush and pinyon-juniper associated species—Brewer’s sparrow, gray vireo (Vireo vicinior), green-tailed towhee (Pipilo chlorurus), juniper titmouse (Baeolophus ridgwayi), pinyon jay (Gymnorhinus), sagebrush sparrow, sage thrasher, and Townsend’s solitaire (Myadestes townsendi); (2) use these models to predict current locations of high-quality habitat; and (3) develop a tool that prioritizes future conifer removal sites by quantifying the expected effects of treatments on these species. USGS researchers and partners are developing interannual abundance models at local and landscape scales using bird data collected under the Integrated Monitoring in Bird Conservation Regions (IMBCR) program (which has data from more than 199,000 point counts) and vegetation data from the IMBCR program and remotely-sensed data (for example, the Shrubland Components of the National Land Cover Database), respectively. The models and optimization framework developed will increase public land managers’ ability to assess conifer removal treatment effects on wildlife. This work is being conducted in collaboration with Nick Van Lanen at Colorado State University.
- Partners