It) •' %bJZ535 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION.2 ECOLOGY OF SAGEBRUSH HABITAT.3 Climate. 3 Vegetation.3 Wildlife Dependence on Sagebrush.5 THE SAGEBRUSH LANDSCAPE BEFORE EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT.5 Wildfire Patterns.6 CHANGES IN SAGEBRUSH COUNTRY.7 Influence of Livestock Grazing.7 Non-native Grasses and Sagebrush Habitat Conversion.8 HOW TO HELP BIRDS IN SAGEBRUSH HABITATS.9 General Sagebrush Habitat Management.10 Sagebrush.12 Understory Grasses and Forbs.14 Biological Soil Crusts.15 Grazing.15 Water Developments.16 Insecticides.17 Recreation.18 Prescribed Fire and Wildfire.18 Habitat Fragmentation. 19 Invasion of Non-native Grasses and Forbs.20 Farming.21 Mining and Oil/Gas Development.21 Residential and Urban Development.22 SUMMARY OF BIRD MANAGEMENT GOALS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.24 LITERATURE CITED.27 APPENDIX I. SAGEBRUSH BIRDS OF CONCERN.33 SAGEBRUSH OBLIGATE SPECIES.33 Sage Grouse.33 Sage Thrasher.34 Sage Sparrow.35 Brewer's Sparrow.36 SHRUBLAND SPECIES.37 Green-tailed Towhee.37 Black-throated Sparrow.38 Lark Sparrow.38 SHRUBLAND AND GRASSLAND SPECIES.39 Swainson's Hawk.39 Ferruginous Hawk.40 Prairie Falcon.40 Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse.41 Loggerhead Shrike.42 GRASSLAND SPECIES...43 Long-billed Curlew.43 Burrowing Owl.44 Short-eared Owl.44 Vesper Sparrow.45 PRIMARILY DRY WOODLAND SPECIES.46 Gray Flycatcher.46 APPENDIX II. SCIENTIFIC NAMES OF SAGEBRUSH, OTHER PLANTS, AND ANIMALS.47 at i W3 ?35 I (\(\a BACKGROUND BIRDS IN A SAGEBRUSH SEA To many of us, sagebrush country symbolizes the wild, wide-open spaces of the West, populated by scattered herds of cattle and sheep, a few pronghorn antelope, and a loose-knit community of