Threatened and Endangered Species

The use of rare plant habitat models in land management decisions can be constrained by issues surrounding data access, model quality, and institutional capacity, among other factors. This project seeks to understand challenges associated with using habitat models and explore avenues for addressing these challenges to facilitate greater use of habitat models in public lands decision making.

Sage-grouse, iconic birds of the American West, have experienced dramatic reductions and fragmentation of habitat, resulting in significant conservation concern. Genetic information can help inform priorities for protection and habitat restoration as well as strategies for translocations, but may be difficult for resource managers to find, interpret, and use in their decision making. In this work...

Below are ongoing or completed research projects related to wildlife at the New Mexico Landscapes Field Station.

Resource management decisions need to be informed by up-to-date, quality science and data. However there is sometimes an overwhelming number of scientific publications for managers to consider in their decisions. This project provides concise summaries of recent, peer-reviewed science and data products about different resources and topics of management concern, integrated into a searchable tool.

In partnership with the Bureau of Land Management and Colorado Parks and Wildlife, scientists from USGS Fort Collins Science Center and Western Ecological Research Center are applying a hierarchical monitoring framework to Gunnison sage-grouse ( Centrocercus minimus) to evaluate population trends and inform adaptive management.

Research on Guam has led to development and validation of numerous effective control tools, including the advancement of reptile control to support native species recovery.

Little is known about the role of fire in the sagebrush ecosystem within the range of the Gunnison sage-grouse ( Centrocercus minimus), and fire has been mostly absent from these systems in the 20th century, partially owing to active fire suppression.

USGS scientists are evaluating the use of quantile regression to develop models of sage-grouse population changes across the United States.

States across the U.S. have developed Wildlife Action Plans, with the purpose of preventing future listings under the federal Endangered Species Act. Habitat loss and fragmentation are key threats to wildlife in the U.S., and housing development is a major driver of both. USGS is working to quantify the vulnerability of and threat to priority areas in State Wildlife Action Plans from future...

Large-scale changes are occurring to our natural landscapes, often resulting in changes to the distribution and abundance of species living within these landscapes. Populations of many species affected by these natural or anthropogenic changes require focused management to ensure their conservation and sometimes recovery from the brink of extinction.

Grasslands are arguably one of the most anthropogenically stressed ecosystems of the western United States. The highly endangered black-footed ferret and prairie dogs epitomize grassland mammals of high conservation concern.