USGS | Sagebrush Conservation Strategy – Challenges to Sagebrush Conservation | Open-File Report 2020–1125
Preface
The sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) biome, its wildlife, and the services and benefits it provides people and local communities are at risk. Development in the sagebrush biome, for many purposes, has resulted in multiple and often cumulative negative impacts. These impacts, ranging from simple habitat loss to complex, interactive changes in ecosystem function, continue to accelerate even as the need grows for the resources provided by this biome. This Sagebrush Conservation Strategy is intended to provide guidance so that the unparalleled collaborative efforts to conserve the iconic greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) by State and Federal agencies, academia, Tribes, nongovernmental organizations, and stakeholders can be expanded to the entire sagebrush biome to benefit the people and wildlife that depend on this ecosystem.
The Sagebrush Conservation Strategy will be presented in two parts. Part I, Challenges to Sagebrush Conservation (this volume), is an overview and assessment of the challenges facing land managers and landowners in conserving sagebrush ecosystems, including change agents such as invasive plants, altered fire regimes, climate, land use and development, and other challenges associated with conservation, including restoration, communication, adaptive management, and monitoring. Part I updates and extends to other sagebrush-obligate, near-obligate, and -dependent species and human communities the information and content provided by the two-part “Science Framework for the Conservation and Restoration of the Sagebrush Biome — Linking the Department of the Interior’s Integrated Rangeland Fire Management Strategy to Long-Term Strategic Conservation Actions,” incorporating aspects of the threat assessments, habitat prioritization methods, and resistance and resilience concepts. When completed, Part II will summarize conservation needs at ecoregional scales, provide an analysis of barriers and impediments to successful conservation of the sagebrush biome at those scales, and present nonregulatory strategies developed through a stakeholder engagement process to overcome these challenges.
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