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Author(s):
Michael J. Wisdom, Mary M. Rowland, Robin J. Tausch
Year Published:

Cataloging Information

Topic(s):
Fire & Wildlife
Birds
Sage-grouse
Management Approaches
Recovery after fire
Resilience
Ecosystem(s):
Sagebrush steppe

NRFSN number: 8367
FRAMES RCS number: 8032
Record updated:

The sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystem once occupied over 150 million acres of western North America (Barbour and Billings 1988). The ecosystem still occupies over 100 million acres (Connelly et al. 2004, Wisdom et al. 2005), but the abundance and condition of sagebrush communities is declining rapidly in response to a variety of detrimental land uses and undesirable ecological processes (Knick et al. 2003). The ecosystem has been reduced in area by 40-50 percent since pre-European settlement (Connelly et al. 2004), and less than 10 percent remains in a condition unaltered by human disturbances (West 1999).

Citation

Wisdom, Michael J.; Rowland, Mary M.; Tausch, Robin J. 2005. Effective management strategies for sage-grouse and sagebrush: a question of triage? Transactions, North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference. 70: 206-227.