Cheatgrass

The SAGE Wildlife Research Group consists of a large team of research scientists with an interest in conservation and management of wildlife and their ecosystems. Broadly, research involves understanding animal-habitat relationships, with an emphasis on conservation ecology and population demography, and a focus on shrubland, alpine, and grassland ecosystems. We are addressing the effects of...

FORT researchers provide sound science to support the Department of the Interior in its efforts to streamline reliable energy development, enhance cost efficiency in public lands management, and manage fire-prone habitats for public safety. This research is developed in partnership with resource managers from local, State, Federal and Tribal governments, industry, and nongovernmental organizations...

This interdisciplinary project combines expert judgment on treatment costs with spatially explicit ecological modeling to estimate the financial resources needed to address the threat of invasive annual grass across the entire sagebrush biome. Results of the assessment will provide economic insights that can inform cost-effective resource allocation to efficiently achieve sagebrush conservation...

Through a collaborative effort with multiple state and federal agencies, university researchers, and individual stakeholders, we are producing a set of predictive seasonal habitat maps for greater sage-grouse ( Centrocercus urophasianus) spanning the entirety of the species’ U.S. distribution. This is the largest habitat modeling effort of its kind for the species and uses a large, compiled...

INHABIT is a desktop-optimized web application and decision support tool with mapped and tabular summaries of habitat suitability models for over two hundred fifty terrestrial invasive plant species of management concern across the contiguous United States. It is the product of a scientist-practitioner partnership and is designed to facilitate enhanced invasive species management actions...

The Southwest Montana Sagebrush Partnership (SMSP) team, including land managers, landowners, and scientists, is implementing conifer removal projects encompassing over 55,000 acres of private, state, and federal lands throughout the region. To date, little place-based information exists regarding likely vegetation and bird responses to such treatments in Southwestern Montana. To address this...

Invasive annual grasses are spreading across the sagebrush ecosystem, threatening the survival of native plant species and the wildlife habitats they support. Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey, Colorado State University, University of Wyoming, the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are collaboratively investigating the factors that...

Invasive annual grasses, facilitated by a range of disturbances, are invading many areas within the sagebrush biome. Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey, Colorado State University, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management are investigating which non-fire disturbances are most associated with the spread of invasive grasses. The findings from this study could guide...

Invasive annual grasses can replace native vegetation and alter fire behavior, impacting a range of habitats and species. A team of researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey, Colorado State University, the Bureau of Land Management, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are working to identify factors that influence changes in the distribution and abundance of invasive annual grasses (IAGs)...

Within areas of overlapping sagebrush and pinyon-juniper ecosystems, wildlife populations are declining due to habitat fragmentation and degradation, changing environments, and human development. However, management to bolster species associated with one ecosystem may result in negative consequences for species associated with the other. Thus, land managers are challenged with balancing which...

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.

This project analyzes on-the-ground plant monitoring data across sagebrush and rangeland ecosystems to examine how fire, climate, topography, and plant communities influence the success of invasive annual grasses after fires.