Big sagebrush with rainbow at the SageSTEP project Five Creeks study site north of Steens Mountain in southeast Oregon. Photo by Steve Hanser (USGS).
Steven E Hanser
Since 2019, Steve Hanser has provided senior leadership at the Fort Collins Science Center, serving as Deputy Center Director and, since April 2025, as Acting Center Director. He guides major scientific initiatives that support management of complex natural‑resource challenges.
Steve Hanser’s career centers on advancing applied science that supports decision‑making across the Department of the Interior, Federal agencies, State wildlife agencies, and partner organizations. His scientific work spans landscape ecology, species and habitat assessments, and the development of integrated data and decision‑support tools. Steve has led interdisciplinary teams that produce high‑impact science used to inform policy and on‑the‑ground management. His work includes synthesizing natural resource information across large landscapes, developing multi‑agency research priorities, and improving access to authoritative data for species and habitat management. He has overseen the development of geospatial analyses, monitoring frameworks, and integrative modeling tools that help agencies evaluate vegetation conditions, assess risk, and allocate resources more effectively.
In his leadership roles, Steve has strengthened inter‑agency coordination, expanded collaborative research networks, and championed efforts to improve communication and data sharing across the natural resource community. His focus on transparent, accessible, and actionable science has helped ensure that research produced by USGS and the Fort Collins Science Center directly supports management needs across ecosystems and jurisdictions.
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 32
Greater Sage-Grouse Population Monitoring Framework: Cheat Sheet
The Greater Sage-grouse Population Monitoring Framework fills a prominent information gap to help inform current assessments of sage-grouse population trends at nested spatial and temporal scales. It is centered on four objectives: (1) create a standardized database of lek counts; (2) develop biologically based spatial population structures by clustering leks; (3) estimate spatial trends at...
Greater Sage-Grouse Population Monitoring Framework: Trends Analysis Information Sheet
Land and wildlife managers require accurate estimates of sensitive species’ trends to help guide conservation decisions that maintain biodiversity and promote healthy ecosystems. Accurately assessing greater sage-grouse ( Centrocercus urophasianus; sage-grouse) population trends can be difficult because of (1) missing lek counts or incomplete repeat counts, (2) variation in counts from observer...
Greater Sage-Grouse Population Monitoring Framework: Targeted Annual Warning System Information Sheet
The Greater Sage-grouse Population Monitoring Framework helps fill a major information gap to aid current assessments of sage-grouse population trends across spatial and temporal scales. It centers on four objectives: 1) create a standardized database of lek counts; 2) cluster leks to develop spatial population structures; 3) estimate spatial trends across temporal extents; and 4) develop a system...
Data Harmonization for Greater Sage-Grouse Populations
Long-term wildlife monitoring is imperative for understanding population changes that can inform managers. However, working with population data collected by different organizations across multiple jurisdictions and over long time periods can be challenging due to varying data management approaches and organizational priorities. Through this project, we aimed to collaborate with eleven state...
Greater Sage-Grouse Population Monitoring Framework: Glossary of Terms
The Greater Sage-grouse Population Monitoring Framework helps aid current assessments of sage-grouse population trends across spatial and temporal scales. It centers on four objectives: 1) create a standardized database of lek counts; 2) cluster leks to develop spatial population structures; 3) estimate spatial trends across temporal extents; and 4) develop a system to estimate where and when...
Greater Sage-Grouse Population Monitoring Framework: Frequently Asked Questions
The Greater Sage-grouse Population Monitoring Framework helps aid current assessments of sage-grouse population trends across spatial and temporal scales. It centers on four objectives: 1) create a standardized database of lek counts; 2) cluster leks to develop spatial population structures; 3) estimate spatial trends across temporal extents; and 4) develop a system to estimate where and when...
Greater Sage-Grouse Population Monitoring Framework
Greater sage-grouse ( Centrocercus urophasianus) are at the center of state and national land use policies largely because of their unique life-history traits and their role as an ecological indicator for the health of sagebrush ecosystems. Multiple science centers with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in conjunction with Colorado State University (CSU) have developed the Greater Sage-Grouse...
A user-friendly decision support tool for monitoring and managing greater sage-grouse populations
Researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Colorado State University (CSU) collaborated with the Bureau of Land Management and state wildlife agencies to develop a hierarchical population monitoring framework for managing greater sage-grouse ( Centrocercus urophasianus) populations and the sagebrush ecosystems they depend on for survival and reproduction. This greater sage-grouse...
Greater Sage-Grouse Population Monitoring Framework Data Inputs Information Sheet
To support management decisions, western state wildlife agencies identified the need for a range-wide database that tracks annual counts of greater sage-grouse ( Centrocercus urophasianus; sage-grouse) at leks (breeding sites), which have been recorded since the early 1950s. Researchers at Colorado State University (CSU) and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) worked with state wildlife agencies to: 1)...
A targeted annual warning system (TAWS) for identifying aberrant declines in greater sage-grouse populations
Land and wildlife managers require accurate estimates of sensitive species’ trends to help guide conservation decisions that maintain biodiversity and promote healthy ecosystems. Multiple science centers with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in conjunction with Colorado State University (CSU), developed a hierarchical population monitoring framework for managing greater sage-grouse (...
Estimating trends for greater sage-grouse populations within highly stochastic environments
Land and wildlife managers require accurate estimates of sensitive species’ trends to help guide conservation decisions that maintain biodiversity and promote healthy ecosystems. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in conjunction with Colorado State University (CSU), developed a hierarchical population monitoring framework for managing greater sage-grouse ( Centrocercus urophasianus; sage-grouse)...
Ecosystem change science in support of wildfire management, water conservation, public land reclamation, and food security
FORT researchers provide sound science to support the Department of the Interior in its efforts to manage wildfires, conserve water, reclaim public lands for multiple uses, and promote food security. This research is developed in partnership with resource managers from local, State, Federal and Tribal governments, industry, and nongovernmental organizations, empowering local and rural communities...
Big sagebrush with rainbow in southeast Oregon
Big sagebrush with rainbow at the SageSTEP project Five Creeks study site north of Steens Mountain in southeast Oregon. Photo by Steve Hanser (USGS).
Cheatgrass on a frosty morning
Cheatgrass on a frosty morning at the SageSTEP project Five Creeks study site north of Steens Mountain in southeast Oregon.
Cheatgrass on a frosty morning at the SageSTEP project Five Creeks study site north of Steens Mountain in southeast Oregon.
Pinyon-juniper and sagebrush on Juniper Mountain, NV
Pinyon-juniper and sagebrush on Juniper Mountain, NVPinyon-juniper and sagebrush on Juniper Mountain, Nevada.
Pinyon-juniper and sagebrush on Juniper Mountain, NV
Pinyon-juniper and sagebrush on Juniper Mountain, NVPinyon-juniper and sagebrush on Juniper Mountain, Nevada.
Sagebrush after juniper removal in Utah
Sagebrush after juniper removal in Utah.
Big sagebrush landscape in southeast Oregon
Big sagebrush landscape in southeast Oregon, Owyhee Uplands. Photo by Steve Hanser (USGS).
Big sagebrush landscape in southeast Oregon, Owyhee Uplands. Photo by Steve Hanser (USGS).
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 32
Greater Sage-Grouse Population Monitoring Framework: Cheat Sheet
The Greater Sage-grouse Population Monitoring Framework fills a prominent information gap to help inform current assessments of sage-grouse population trends at nested spatial and temporal scales. It is centered on four objectives: (1) create a standardized database of lek counts; (2) develop biologically based spatial population structures by clustering leks; (3) estimate spatial trends at...
Greater Sage-Grouse Population Monitoring Framework: Trends Analysis Information Sheet
Land and wildlife managers require accurate estimates of sensitive species’ trends to help guide conservation decisions that maintain biodiversity and promote healthy ecosystems. Accurately assessing greater sage-grouse ( Centrocercus urophasianus; sage-grouse) population trends can be difficult because of (1) missing lek counts or incomplete repeat counts, (2) variation in counts from observer...
Greater Sage-Grouse Population Monitoring Framework: Targeted Annual Warning System Information Sheet
The Greater Sage-grouse Population Monitoring Framework helps fill a major information gap to aid current assessments of sage-grouse population trends across spatial and temporal scales. It centers on four objectives: 1) create a standardized database of lek counts; 2) cluster leks to develop spatial population structures; 3) estimate spatial trends across temporal extents; and 4) develop a system...
Data Harmonization for Greater Sage-Grouse Populations
Long-term wildlife monitoring is imperative for understanding population changes that can inform managers. However, working with population data collected by different organizations across multiple jurisdictions and over long time periods can be challenging due to varying data management approaches and organizational priorities. Through this project, we aimed to collaborate with eleven state...
Greater Sage-Grouse Population Monitoring Framework: Glossary of Terms
The Greater Sage-grouse Population Monitoring Framework helps aid current assessments of sage-grouse population trends across spatial and temporal scales. It centers on four objectives: 1) create a standardized database of lek counts; 2) cluster leks to develop spatial population structures; 3) estimate spatial trends across temporal extents; and 4) develop a system to estimate where and when...
Greater Sage-Grouse Population Monitoring Framework: Frequently Asked Questions
The Greater Sage-grouse Population Monitoring Framework helps aid current assessments of sage-grouse population trends across spatial and temporal scales. It centers on four objectives: 1) create a standardized database of lek counts; 2) cluster leks to develop spatial population structures; 3) estimate spatial trends across temporal extents; and 4) develop a system to estimate where and when...
Greater Sage-Grouse Population Monitoring Framework
Greater sage-grouse ( Centrocercus urophasianus) are at the center of state and national land use policies largely because of their unique life-history traits and their role as an ecological indicator for the health of sagebrush ecosystems. Multiple science centers with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in conjunction with Colorado State University (CSU) have developed the Greater Sage-Grouse...
A user-friendly decision support tool for monitoring and managing greater sage-grouse populations
Researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Colorado State University (CSU) collaborated with the Bureau of Land Management and state wildlife agencies to develop a hierarchical population monitoring framework for managing greater sage-grouse ( Centrocercus urophasianus) populations and the sagebrush ecosystems they depend on for survival and reproduction. This greater sage-grouse...
Greater Sage-Grouse Population Monitoring Framework Data Inputs Information Sheet
To support management decisions, western state wildlife agencies identified the need for a range-wide database that tracks annual counts of greater sage-grouse ( Centrocercus urophasianus; sage-grouse) at leks (breeding sites), which have been recorded since the early 1950s. Researchers at Colorado State University (CSU) and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) worked with state wildlife agencies to: 1)...
A targeted annual warning system (TAWS) for identifying aberrant declines in greater sage-grouse populations
Land and wildlife managers require accurate estimates of sensitive species’ trends to help guide conservation decisions that maintain biodiversity and promote healthy ecosystems. Multiple science centers with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in conjunction with Colorado State University (CSU), developed a hierarchical population monitoring framework for managing greater sage-grouse (...
Estimating trends for greater sage-grouse populations within highly stochastic environments
Land and wildlife managers require accurate estimates of sensitive species’ trends to help guide conservation decisions that maintain biodiversity and promote healthy ecosystems. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in conjunction with Colorado State University (CSU), developed a hierarchical population monitoring framework for managing greater sage-grouse ( Centrocercus urophasianus; sage-grouse)...
Ecosystem change science in support of wildfire management, water conservation, public land reclamation, and food security
FORT researchers provide sound science to support the Department of the Interior in its efforts to manage wildfires, conserve water, reclaim public lands for multiple uses, and promote food security. This research is developed in partnership with resource managers from local, State, Federal and Tribal governments, industry, and nongovernmental organizations, empowering local and rural communities...
Big sagebrush with rainbow in southeast Oregon
Big sagebrush with rainbow at the SageSTEP project Five Creeks study site north of Steens Mountain in southeast Oregon. Photo by Steve Hanser (USGS).
Big sagebrush with rainbow at the SageSTEP project Five Creeks study site north of Steens Mountain in southeast Oregon. Photo by Steve Hanser (USGS).
Cheatgrass on a frosty morning
Cheatgrass on a frosty morning at the SageSTEP project Five Creeks study site north of Steens Mountain in southeast Oregon.
Cheatgrass on a frosty morning at the SageSTEP project Five Creeks study site north of Steens Mountain in southeast Oregon.
Pinyon-juniper and sagebrush on Juniper Mountain, NV
Pinyon-juniper and sagebrush on Juniper Mountain, NVPinyon-juniper and sagebrush on Juniper Mountain, Nevada.
Pinyon-juniper and sagebrush on Juniper Mountain, NV
Pinyon-juniper and sagebrush on Juniper Mountain, NVPinyon-juniper and sagebrush on Juniper Mountain, Nevada.
Sagebrush after juniper removal in Utah
Sagebrush after juniper removal in Utah.
Big sagebrush landscape in southeast Oregon
Big sagebrush landscape in southeast Oregon, Owyhee Uplands. Photo by Steve Hanser (USGS).
Big sagebrush landscape in southeast Oregon, Owyhee Uplands. Photo by Steve Hanser (USGS).