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Sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystems occupy more than 100 million acres of the western United States. Big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) communities are among the most widespread of sagebrush communities. The land area historically occupied by sagebrush has been reduced by nearly half due to a variety of causes, including human development, agriculture, woodland expansion, nonnative plant invasions, overgrazing by livestock, and climate changes. About 30% of the land formerly occupied by sagebrush communities has been converted to other land cover types, including conifer woodlands and nonnative annual grasslands, and additional areas are under threat of conversion.

sagebrush burningNot only do many species rely on sagebrush communities, but these altered land cover types differ from sagebrush communities in their fire ecology and fire regimes. For example, conifer woodlands have higher woody fuel loads and altered fuel structures that increase the potential for high-intensity, stand-replacing crown fire. Fires in nonnative annual grasslands tend to be more frequent, larger, faster spreading, and more severe than in sagebrush communities, which can result in a grass/fire cycle that prevents sagebrush from reestablishing.

Resources listed here contain the most recent and applicable information on these topics for big sagebrush ecosystems in the Northern Rocky Mountains.

This hot topic was developed in partnership with the Fire Effects Information System.

Research Briefs

Syntheses

Management Documents

Conference Proceedings

Technical Reports/White Papers

Publications

2024

Targeted Cattle Grazing to Alter Fuels and Reduce Fire Behavior Metrics in Shrub-Grasslands
Christopher L. Schachtschneider et al.
Vegetation, fuels, and fire-behavior responses to linear fuel-break treatments in and around burned sagebrush steppe: are we breaking the grass-fire cycle?
Matthew J. Germino et al.
Review of fuel treatment effects on fuels, fire behavior and ecological resilience in sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystems in the Western U.S.
Jeanne C. Chambers et al.
Wildfire probability estimated from recent climate and fine fuels across the big sagebrush region
Martin C. Holdrege et al.
Fuel treatment response groups for fire‑prone sagebrush landscapes
Jeanne C. Chambers et al.

2023

Fuel treatment response groups for fire-prone sagebrush landscapes
Jeanne C. Chambers et al.
Fuel treatments in shrublands experiencing pinyon and juniper expansion result in trade‑offs between desired vegetation and increased fire behavior
Claire Williams et al.
Prescribed Burning Alters Insects and Wood Decay in a Sagebrush-Steppe Rangeland in Southwestern Idaho, United States
Deborah S. Page-Dumroese et al.
Fuel treatments in shrublands experiencing pinyon and juniper expansion result in trade-offs between desired vegetation and increased fire behavior
Claire Williams et al.
Trends, Impacts, and Cost of Catastrophic and Frequent Wildfires in the Sagebrush Biome
Michele R. Crist et al.
Future Direction of Fuels Management in Sagebrush Rangelands
Douglas J. Shinneman et al.
Historical fire regimes and contemporary fire effects within sagebrush habitats of Gunnison Sage-grouse
Petar Z. Simic et al.
Effect of burn season and grazing deferment on mountain big sagebrush plant communities
Hailey Wilmer et al.
Could biological soil crusts act as natural fire fuel breaks in the sagebrush steppe?
Lea A. Condon et al.
Effects of Pre-Fire Vegetation on the Post-Fire Plant Community Response to Wildfire along a Successional Gradient in Western Juniper Woodlands
Eva K. Strand et al.
Future Direction of Fuels Management in Sagebrush Rangelands
Douglas J. Shinneman et al.

2022

Maladaptive nest-site selection and reduced nest survival in female sage-grouse following wildfire
Ian F. Dudley et al.
Predictive Models of Selective Cattle Use of Large, Burned Landscapes in Semiarid Sagebrush-steppe
Christopher R. Anthony et al.
Modeling of fire spread in sagebrush steppe using FARSITE: an approach to improving input data and simulation accuracy
Samuel Price et al.
Factors influencing the persistence of a fire-sensitive Artemisia species in a fire-dependent ecosystem
Megan J. Dornbusch et al.
Ten-year ecological responses to fuel treatments within semiarid Wyoming big sagebrush ecosystems
David A. Pyke et al.
Bridging the gap between spatial modeling and management of invasive annual grasses in the imperiled sagebrush biome
Bryan C. Tarbox et al.

2021

Fall-Winter Grazing After Fire in Annual Grass-Invaded Sagebrush Steppe Reduced Annuals and Increased a Native Bunchgrass
Kirk W. Davies et al.
Fire frequency impacts soil properties and processes in sagebrush steppe ecosystems of the Columbia Basin
Leslie Nichols et al.
Disentangling the effects of multiple fires on spatially interspersed sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) communities
Douglas J. Shinneman et al.
Effects of elevation and selective disturbance on soil climate and vegetation in big sagebrush communities
Bruce A. Roundy et al.
Sagebrush recovery patterns after fuel treatments mediated by disturbance type and plant functional group interactions
Jeanne C. Chambers et al.
Episodic occurrence of favourable weather constrains recovery of a cold desert shrubland after fire
Alexandra K. Urza et al.
Understanding the future of big sagebrush regeneration: challenges of projecting complex ecological processes
Daniel Schlaepfer et al.
Dormant-Season Moderate Grazing Prefire Maintains Diversity and Reduces Exotic Annual Grass Response Postfire in Imperiled Artemisia Steppe
Kirk W. Davies et al.
Plant functional groups and species contribute to ecological resilience a decade after woodland expansion treatments
Stephanie M. Freund et al.
Detecting shrub recovery in sagebrush steppe: comparing Landsat-derived maps with field data on historical wildfires
Cara Applestein et al.
Understanding the effect of fire on vegetation composition and gross primary production in a semi-arid shrubland ecosystem using the Ecosystem Demography (EDv2.2) model
Karun Pandit et al.
A chemical and bio-herbicide mixture increased exotic invaders, both targeted and non-targeted, across a diversely invaded landscape after fire
Brynne E. Lazarus et al.
Seeding locally-sourced native compared to introduced bunchgrasses post-wildfire in frigid Wyoming big sagebrush communities
Kirk W. Davies et al.
Resilience to fire and resistance to annual grass invasion in sagebrush ecosystems of US National Parks
Thomas J. Rodhouse et al.
Practical postfire sagebrush shrub restoration techniques
Madeline N. Grant-Hoffman et al.
A synthesis of the effects of cheatgrass invasion on US Great Basin carbon storage
R. Chelsea Nagy et al.
Weather affects post‐fire recovery of sagebrush‐steppe communities and model transferability among sites
Cara Applestein et al.
The Effect of Seeding Treatments and Climate on Fire Regimes in Wyoming Sagebrush Steppe
Chris Bowman-Prideaux et al.

2020

Longer-term post-fire succession on Wyoming big sagebrush steppe
Jonathan D. Bates et al.
The effects of fire on the thermal environment of sagebrush communities
Christopher R. Anthony et al.
Quantifying pinyon-juniper reduction within North America's sagebrush ecosystem
Jason R. Reinhardt et al.
Re-introducing fire in sagebrush steppe experiencing decreased fire frequency: does burning promote spatial and temporal heterogeneity?
Kirk W. Davies et al.
Sagebrush rangelands and greater sage-grouse in Northeastern California [Chapter 4.3]
R. Kasten Dumroese
Earlier fall precipitation and low severity fire impacts on cheatgrass and sagebrush establishment
Tara B. B. Bishop et al.
Interaction of wind and cold-season hydrologic processes on erosion from complex topography following wildfire in sagebrush steppe
Samantha P. Vega et al.
Repeated fire altered succession and increased fire behavior in basin big sagebrush–native perennial grasslands
Lisa M. Ellsworth et al.
Response of planted sagebrush seedlings to cattle grazing applied to decrease fire probability
Kirk W. Davies et al.
Restoration of Sagebrush in Crested Wheatgrass Communities: Longer-Term Evaluation in Northern Great Basin
Kirk W. Davies et al.
Small-scale water deficits after wildfires create long-lasting ecological impacts
Rory O'Connor et al.
Repeated fire altered succession and increased fire behavior in basin big sagebrush–native perennial grasslands
Lisa M. Ellsworth et al.
Winter foraging ecology of Greater Sage-Grouse in a post-fire landscape
Marcella R. Fremgen-Tarantino et al.
Post-fire growth of seeded and planted big sagebrush - strategic designs for restoring Greater Sage-grouse nesting habitat
David A. Pyke et al.

2019

Potential for post-fire recovery of Greater Sage-grouse habitat
Corinna Riginos et al.
Validating a time series of annual grass percent cover in the sagebrush ecosystem
Stephen P. Boyte et al.
Repeated fires reduce plant diversity in low‐elevation Wyoming big sagebrush ecosystems (1984–2014)
Adam L. Mahood et al.
Got shrubs? Precipitation mediates long-term shrub and introduced grass dynamics in chaparral communities after fire
April G. Smith et al.
The ecological uncertainty of wildfire fuel breaks: examples from the sagebrush steppe
Douglas J. Shinneman et al.
The potential importance of unburned islands as refugia for the persistence of wildlife species in fire-prone ecosystems
Jasper Steenvoorden et al.
Prescribed Summer Fire and Seeding Applied to Restore Juniper-Encroached and Exotic Annual Grass-Invaded Sagebrush Steppe
Kirk W. Davies et al.
Looking to the future: key points for sustainable management of northern Great Plains grasslands
Lora Perkins et al.
Soil characteristics are associated with gradients of big sagebrush canopy structure after disturbance
David M Barnard et al.
Insect communities in big sagebrush habitat are altered by wildfire and post‐fire restoration seeding
Ashley T. Rohde et al.
Postwildfire seeding to restore native vegetation and limit exotic annuals: an evaluation in juniper-dominated sagebrush steppe
Kirk W. Davies et al.
Science framework for 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. Part 2. Management applications
Michele R. Crist et al.
Long-term evidence for fire as an ecohydrologic threshold-reversal mechanism on woodland‐encroached sagebrush shrublands
C. Jason Williams et al.
Designing multi‐scale hierarchical monitoring frameworks for wildlife to support management: a sage‐grouse case study
Michael S. O'Donnell et al.
Potential for post‐fire recovery of Greater Sage‐grouse habitat
Corinna Riginos et al.
Integrating anthropogenic factors into regional-scale species distribution models - a novel application in the imperiled sagebrush biome
Juan M. Requena-Mullor et al.
Bunchgrass root abundances and their relationship to resistance and resilience of a burned shrub-steppe landscape
Matthew J. Germino et al.
Long-term effects of fire on vegetation structure and predicted fire behavior in Wyoming Big Sagebrush ecosystems
Schyler A. Reis et al.
Post-fire recruitment of Great Basin big sagebrush species: spatial and temporal controls along regional gradients of soil temperature and moisture - JFSP Final Report
Alexandra K. Urza et al.
Landscape and organismal factors affecting sagebrush-seedling transplant survival after megafire restoration
Bill E. Davidson et al.
Transient population dynamics impede restoration and may promote ecosystem transformation after disturbance
Robert K. Shriver et al.
Pre‐fire vegetation drives post‐fire outcomes in sagebrush ecosystems: evidence from field and remote sensing data
Brittany S. Barker et al.

2018

The response of big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) to interannual climate variation changes across its range
Andrew R. Kleinhesselink et al.
The genetic network of greater sage-grouse: Range-wide identification of keystone hubs of connectivity
Todd Cross et al.
Resilience and resistance in sagebrush ecosystems are associated with seasonal soil temperature and water availability
Bruce A. Roundy et al.
Spectrophotometry of Artemisia tridentata to quantitatively determine subspecies
Bryce A. Richardson et al.
Weak interspecific interactions in a sagebrush steppe? Conflicting evidence from observations and experiments
Peter B. Adler et al.
Prairie dogs and wildfires shape vegetation structure in a sagebrush grassland more than does rest from ungulate grazing
L.C. Connell et al.
Vegetation dynamics at the woodland-shrubland interface: Role of climate, disturbance, and species interactions
Alexandra K. Urza
Insect communities in big sagebrush habitat are altered by wildfire and post‐fire restoration seeding
Ashley T. Rohde et al.
Plant community factors correlated with wyoming big sagebrush site responses to fire
John C. Swanson et al.
A conservation planning tool for Greater Sage-grouse using indices of species distribution, resilience, and resistance
Mark A. Ricca et al.
Fuel bed response to vegetation treatments in juniper-invaded sagebrush steppe
Christopher R. Bernau et al.
Adapting management to a changing world: Warm temperatures, dry soil, and interannual variability limit restoration success of a dominant woody shrub in temperate drylands
Robert K. Shriver et al.
Appropriate Sample Sizes for Monitoring Burned Pastures in Sagebrush Steppe: How Many Plots are Enough, and Can One Size Fit All?
Cara Applestein et al.

2017

Refining the cheatgrass–fire cycle in the Great Basin: Precipitation timing and fine fuel composition predict wildfire trends
David S. Pilliod et al.
Climate adaption and post-fire restoration of a foundational perennial in cold desert: Insights from intraspecific variation in response to weather
Martha M. Brabec et al.
Genetic recapture identifies long-distance breeding dispersal in Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus)
Todd Cross et al.
Targeted woodland removal to recover at-risk grouse and their sagebrush-steppe and prairie ecosystems
Richard F. Miller et al.
Pretreatment tree dominance and conifer removal treatments affect plant succession in sagebrush communities
Rachel E. Williams et al.
Emerging technology to measure habitat quality and behavior of grouse: Examples from studies of greater sage-grouse
Jennifer Sorensen Forbey et al.
Seed Production Estimation for Mountain Big Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata ssp. vaseyana)
Melissa L. Landeen et al.
Using resilience and resistance concepts to manage persistent threats to sagebrush ecosystems and greater sage-grouse
Jeanne C. Chambers et al.
Effects of conifer treatments on soil nutrient availability and plant composition in sagebrush steppe
Jonathan D. Bates et al.

2016

Identifying key climate and environmental factors affecting rates of post-fire big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) recovery in the northern Columbia Basin, USA
Douglas J. Shinneman et al.
Occupancy and Abundance of American Badgers and Piute Ground Squirrels in the Sagebrush-Steppe: Implications of the Fire-Cheatgrass Cycle
Joseph D. Holbrook et al.
Seasonal relationships between foliar moisture content, heat content and biochemistry of lodgepole pine and big sagebrush foliage
Yi Qi et al.

2015

Corrigendum to - Challenges of establishing big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) in rangeland restoration: Effects of herbicide, mowing,whole-community seeding, and sagebrush seed sources
Martha M. Brabec et al.
Simulated big sagebrush regeneration supports predicted changes at the trailing and leading edges of distribution shifts
Daniel Schlaepfer et al.
Postfire shrub cover dynamics: A 70-year fire chronosequence in mountain big sagebrush communities
Corey A. Moffet et al.

2014

Quantifying restoration effectiveness using multi-scale habitat models: implications for sage-grouse in the Great Basin
Robert S. Arkle et al.
Cattle grazing and vegetation succession on burned sagebrush steppe
Jonathan D. Bates et al.
Resilience to stress and disturbance, and resistance to Bromus tectorum L. invasion in cold desert shrublands of western North America
Jeanne C. Chambers et al.
Quantifying restoration effectiveness using multi‐scale habitat models: implications for sage‐grouse in the Great Basin
Robert S. Arkle et al.
Patterns and mechanisms of plant succession after fire on Artemisia-grass sites in southeastern Idaho
David L. Humphrey

2013

The economics of fuel management: wildfire, invasive plants, and the dynamics of sagebrush rangelands in the western United States
Michael H. Taylor et al.
Managing high-elevation sagebrush steppe: do conifer encroachment and prescribed fire affect habitat for pygmy rabbits?
Bonnie A. Woods et al.
Aboriginal precedent for active management of sagebrush-perennial grass communities in the Great Basin
Kent J. McAdoo et al.
Historical fire regimes, reconstructed from land-survey data, led to complexity and fluctuation in sagebrush landscapes
Beth E. Bukowski et al.
Models for predicting fuel consumption in sagebrush-dominated ecosystems
Clinton S. Wright

2011

Saving the sagebrush sea: An ecosystem conservation plan for big sagebrush plant communities
Kirk W. Davies et al.
Greater sage-grouse: Ecology and conservation of a landscape species and its habitats
Steve Knick et al.
Converting crested wheatgrass stands to enhance big sagebrush: A literature review
Krystle A. Pehrson et al.
Potential and pitfalls of prescribed burning big sagebrush habitat to enhance nesting and early brood-rearing habitats for greater sage-grouse
Jeffrey L. Beck et al.

2009

Recovery of greater sage-grouse habitat features in Wyoming big sagebrush following prescribed fire
Jeffrey L. Beck et al.

2007

Recovery of big sagebrush following fire in southwest Montana
Peter Lesica et al.
Post-fire recovery of Wyoming big sagebrush shrub-steppe in central and southeast Montana
Stephen V. Cooper et al.

2006

Fire and restoration of sagebrush ecosystems
William L. Baker
Short- and longer-term effects of fire and herbivory on sagebrush communities in south-central Montana
Fred Van Dyke et al.
History of fire and Douglas-fir establishment in a savanna and sagebrush-grassland mosaic, southwestern Montana, USA
Emily K. Heyerdahl et al.

2005

The role of fire in structuring sagebrush habitats and bird communities
Steve Knick et al.
Effective management strategies for sage-grouse and sagebrush: a question of triage?
Michael J. Wisdom et al.

2000

Long-term effects of fire on sage grouse habitat
Pamela J. Nelle et al.

1996

An investigation on fire effects within xeric sage grouse brood habitat
Richard A. Fischer et al.
Long-term recovery of Wyoming big sagebrush after four treatments
Myles J. Watts et al.

1983

Fire history at the forest-grassland ecotone in southwestern Montana
Stephen F. Arno et al.

1975

Presettlement vegetation in the sagebrush-grass area of the Intermountain West
Thomas R. Vale

1973

30 years of vegetation change following burning of sagebrush-grass range
Roy O. Harniss et al.

Past Events