Conservation Planning Tool for the Bi-State Distinct Population Segment of Greater Sage-grouse

The Bi-State conservation planning tool provides a science-based approach for prioritizing pinyon (Pinus spp.) and juniper (Juniperus osteosperma, J. occidentalis), hereafter, 'conifer', removal to improve habitat for greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) in the Bi-State Distinct Population Segment (DPS, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 2010). Conifer negatively affects sage-grouse survival (Coates et al. 2017; Prochazka et al. 2017) and these detrimental effects can carry through to reduce the persistence of populations (Baruch-Mordo et al. 2013). Removal of trees improves sage-grouse nesting habitat within 3 years of treatment through increased herbaceous vegetation and sagebrush height (Severson et al. 2017). The conservation planning tool operationalizes a spatially explicit modeling framework developed to predict improvements to sage-grouse habitat following conifer removal in the Bi-State DPS (Ricca et al. 2018). This web-based software application, outfitted with a user-friendly interface, employs a recently developed high resolution conifer product (Gustafson et al. 2017; Roth et al. 2021) and guides managers through the steps of designing conifer removal sites and measuring outcomes of simulated conifer removal actions (Ricca et al. 2018; Miller et al. 2019). Specifically, the CPT interface, users have options to: (1) interact with pre-loaded maps of important sage-grouse boundaries to delineate proposed conifer treatment sites; (2) parameterize the conifer removal simulation with information specific to their treatment actions, including targeted conifer cover class, estimated cost, and management goal; (3) view maps of predicted improvement to sage-grouse habitat conditions and review tabular information ranking sites by desired treatment outcome, either total ecological benefit or cost effectiveness. All results are available for download within the interface.