A Landscape Approach for Ecologically Based Management of Great Basin Shrublands

Abstract

Native shrublands dominate the Great Basin of western of North America, and most of these communities are at moderate or high risk of loss from non-native grass invasion and woodland expansion. Landscape-scale management based on differences in ecological resistance and resilience of shrublands can reduce these risks. We demonstrate this approach with an example that focuses on maintenance of sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) habitats for Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus), a bird species threatened by habitat loss. The approach involves five steps: (1) identify the undesired disturbance processes affecting each shrubland community type; (2) characterize the resistance and resilience of each shrubland type in relation to the undesired processes; (3) assess potential losses of shrublands based on their resistance, resilience, and associated risk; (4) use knowledge from these steps to design a landscape strategy to mitigate the risk of shrubland loss; and (5) implement the strategy with a comprehensive set of active and passive management prescriptions. Results indicate that large areas of the Great Basin currently provide Sage-grouse habitats, but many areas of sagebrush with low resistance and resilience may be lost to continued woodland expansion or invasion by non-native annual grasses. Preventing these losses will require landscape strategies that prioritize management areas based on efficient use of limited resources to maintain the largest shrubland areas over time. Landscape-scale approaches, based on concepts of resistance and resilience, provide an essential framework for successful management of arid and semiarid shrublands and their native species.

Preemergence Control of Nine Invasive Weeds with Aminocyclopyrachlor, Aminopyralid, and Indaziflam

“…Our ability to address the changes occurring in sagebrush habitats can be greatly enhanced by understanding the effects of environmental conditions on resilience to stress and disturbance, and resistance to invasion (Wisdom and Chambers 2009;Brooks and Chambers 2011;Chambers et al 2014). In cold desert ecosystems, resilience of native ecosystems to stress and disturbance changes along climatic and topographic gradients.…”

“…Consequently, a strategic approach is necessary to conserve sagebrush habitat and sage-grouse Meinke et al 2009;Wisdom and Chambers 2009;Pyke 2011). This strategic approach requires the ability to (1) identify those locations that provide current or potential habitat for sage-grouse and (2) prioritize management actions based on the capacity of the ecosystem to respond in the desired manner and to effectively allocate resources to achieve desired objectives.…”

“…Management responses to date have not been able to match the scale of this problem. Natural resource managers are seeking coordinated approaches that focus appropriate management actions in the right places to maximize conservation effectiveness (Wisdom and Chambers 2009;Murphy et al 2013).…”

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“…(Wisdom and Chambers, 2009;Brooks and Chambers, 2011;Chambers and others, 2013). In cold desert shrublands (Great Basin, Columbia Basin, Snake River Plain, and western parts of the Wyoming Basin), resilience of native ecosystems changes along climatic and topographic gradients.…”

Inhabiting the Delta: A Landscape Approach to Transformative Socio-Ecological Restoratio

“…The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) forest service has adopted a landscape approach to manage native species, such as greater sage-grouse, and their semi-arid shrubland habitat (Wisdom and Chambers 2009), and the BLM has applied similar techniques to evaluate bighorn sheep habitat (Dunn 1996). Relevant applications in California include the Russian River watershed (NOAA 2014), in which initiatives to rebuild fish stocks were considered alongside flood risk management, the effects of drought, and competing water uses (Chabot et al 2016).…”