Understanding Population Trends for the Gunnison Sage-Grouse to Inform Adaptive Management Active
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.
Background
Gunnison sage-grouse (Centrocercus minimus, hereafter GUSG) once occupied much of the four-corners region of southwestern Colorado, southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona, and northwestern New Mexico in the United States, but now occur in only eight population areas within southwestern Colorado and southeastern Utah (Figure 1). With approximately 5000 birds remaining across all populations, the Gunnison Basin population is estimated to contain 90% of all GUSG and has the greatest amount of remaining habitat. Improved understanding of population trends for GUSG across all populations is needed to inform how best to manage these populations and their habitats, including assessment of population viability, risk of local extinction, and mechanisms driving population changes.
Approach
Working with partners from multiple agencies, we will apply a similar framework used for greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) to compile and standardize individual count data, fit population models to count data, and use simulations to detect local declines in GUSG populations following the framework developed by Prochazka and others (2023) for greater sage-grouse. We will meet regualrly with our Interagency Research Team to prioritize objectives, which will inform how we compile relevant spatial products to evaluate factors associated with population trends. Objectives could include assessing population trends over time, developing extirpation probabilities for each population/unit based on model predictions, identifying when populations trigger watches or warnings, and identifying causal factors linked to population trends.
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.
Background
Gunnison sage-grouse (Centrocercus minimus, hereafter GUSG) once occupied much of the four-corners region of southwestern Colorado, southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona, and northwestern New Mexico in the United States, but now occur in only eight population areas within southwestern Colorado and southeastern Utah (Figure 1). With approximately 5000 birds remaining across all populations, the Gunnison Basin population is estimated to contain 90% of all GUSG and has the greatest amount of remaining habitat. Improved understanding of population trends for GUSG across all populations is needed to inform how best to manage these populations and their habitats, including assessment of population viability, risk of local extinction, and mechanisms driving population changes.
Approach
Working with partners from multiple agencies, we will apply a similar framework used for greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) to compile and standardize individual count data, fit population models to count data, and use simulations to detect local declines in GUSG populations following the framework developed by Prochazka and others (2023) for greater sage-grouse. We will meet regualrly with our Interagency Research Team to prioritize objectives, which will inform how we compile relevant spatial products to evaluate factors associated with population trends. Objectives could include assessing population trends over time, developing extirpation probabilities for each population/unit based on model predictions, identifying when populations trigger watches or warnings, and identifying causal factors linked to population trends.