Land Management Practices

USGS is working closely with partners in the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and the Intermountain West Joint Venture (IMJV) to collect and summarize spatial datasets that describe measurable aspects of invasive annual grasses (e.g., biomass or presence) across the western United Stated and beyond. The products developed through this project provide...

USGS researchers, in collaboration with the Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative and other partners, are developing a statistically based prioritization tool that will aid agencies in their management decisions.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manages for conditions that sustain land health on over 1 million acres of public rangelands. The BLM has traditionally assessed rangelands using small-scale data, but agency guidance suggests assessment of land health standards at watershed scales. We are exploring methods to integrate remotely sensed data into BLM land health processes.

The Social and Economic Analysis (SEA) branch is an interdisciplinary group of scientists whose primary functions are to conduct both theoretical and applied social science research, provide technical assistance, and offer training to support the development of skills in natural resource management activities.

USGS scientists are developing multiple products to directly inform the Bureau of Land Management's Sage-grouse Habitat Assessment Framework process.

Using the existing rangewide genetic and demographic data, scientists from the USGS, USDA Forest Service, and University of Waterloo will assess the relative contributions of habitat and genetic connectivity to lek size and stability.

USGS and Colorado State University scientists are modelling multispecies connectivity through intact and disturbed areas of the sagebrush landscape.

USGS and Colorado State University scientists will use data about sage-grouse and mule deer population data across Wyoming to evaluate the effectiveness of disturbance thresholds and investigate the efficacy of other disturbance metrics.

Fuel breaks have the potential to minimize catastrophic losses of sagebrush habitat and sage-grouse populations by altering fire behavior and facilitating fire suppression. However, they may carry risks to sage-grouse populations—of habitat loss, fragmentation, cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) invasion, and alteration of sage-grouse movements—that have not been quantified.

USGS led an interagency team of Federal and State agency biologists to develop a report that synthesizes greater sage-grouse scientific literature.

Ecological integrity describes the condition of ecological systems, and has been quantified in aquatic systems for decades. The U.S. Forest Service is now required to monitor ecological integrity, and the Bureau of Land Management has an interest in doing so as well. As a result, USGS is working to define and quantify the concept of ecological integrity in terrestrial, multiple use landscapes to...

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is committed to implementing a landscape approach to resource management to help achieve sustainable social, environmental, and economic outcomes on the public lands it manages. USGS is providing science support for the effort, including identifying core principles of a landscape approach, demonstrating the benefits of multiscale data for evaluating potential...