Fish and Wildlife

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.

USGS and Colorado State University scientists are using data and hierarchical community models to create predictive surfaces of bird use by habitat type and comparing these predictions to habitat prioritization derived from sage-grouse locations.

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.

This research effort is an interagency partnership between U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to systematically explore the issues, viewpoints, and concerns within the Service in relation to conservation introductions. Conservation introduction is the planned, intentional moving of species, populations or genotypes to a location outside a target’s native range.

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.

From the benefits of tourism and hunting, to the protection of rare and endangered species, economics can play an important role in understanding humans’ relationship with wildlife.

The USGS Community for Data Integration (CDI) funded Data at Risk (DaR) project preserved and released migratory bird survey data from 1989-1994 from the San Pedro River in Arizona.

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

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

The USGS is developing science and decision support tools to inform policy and management decisions about various aspects of the energy development life cycle.

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...

There is increasing support for adopting landscape approaches to resource management, including monitoring threats that affect multiple resources across broad extents. However, there remains a need to assess potential threats to individual species of conservation concern. USGS is evaluating the extent to which a generalized indicator of terrestrial development can be used to inform and evaluate...