Assessing the Effectiveness of Fuel Breaks for Preserving Greater Sage-Grouse in the Great Basin
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 and Colorado State University (Colorado State University) scientists are working with the Bureau of Land Management (Bureau of Land Management) to (1) quantify sage-grouse response to fuel breaks; (2) use high-resolution data to compare fire sizes and spread among areas with and without fuel breaks; (3) combine data for fuel breaks and past fire behavior, sage-grouse habitat and population dynamics, and sage-grouse responses to fuel breaks and fires within a spatially explicit individual-based model; and (4) model the effects of fuel breaks on sage-grouse populations under alternative scenarios of population responses, altered fire regimes, fuel break designs, and fire management access. Results of this study will help identify the important factors needed for the strategic placement of fuel breaks to suppress wildfire in sage-grouse habitats, and minimize negative impacts on populations.
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 and Colorado State University (Colorado State University) scientists are working with the Bureau of Land Management (Bureau of Land Management) to (1) quantify sage-grouse response to fuel breaks; (2) use high-resolution data to compare fire sizes and spread among areas with and without fuel breaks; (3) combine data for fuel breaks and past fire behavior, sage-grouse habitat and population dynamics, and sage-grouse responses to fuel breaks and fires within a spatially explicit individual-based model; and (4) model the effects of fuel breaks on sage-grouse populations under alternative scenarios of population responses, altered fire regimes, fuel break designs, and fire management access. Results of this study will help identify the important factors needed for the strategic placement of fuel breaks to suppress wildfire in sage-grouse habitats, and minimize negative impacts on populations.