Rangeland Ecology & Management

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USING AIM CORE INDICATORS FOR SAGE-GROUSE HABITAT MANAGEMENT: AN EXAMPLE FROM NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
Author
Lyseng, Mark P.
Bork, Edward
Carlyle, Cameron N.
Hewins, Daniel B.
Adams, Barry
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
2015
Body

The conservation and management of greater sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) and its habitat is one of the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) priorities. To effectively manage greater sage-grouse populations, we recognised the need to collect information about the habitat across the landscape to support adaptive management decisions. The Eagle Lake Field Office has used BLM's Assessment Inventory and Monitoring (AIM) core terrestrial indicators in conjunction with other information to assess habitat conditions and to inventory important resources needed by sage-grouse. Through the assessment we were able to identify several issues potentially affecting the survival of sage-grouse across the landscape such as loss of habitat as a result of fire, invasive annual grass expansion, and juniper encroachment. AIM monitoring points were collected in 2013 and 2014 to answer several management question including the status and trend of sage-grouse habitat condition. The use of the core indicators monitoring data, coupled with sage-grouse telemetry data and local knowledge about sage-grouse habits, have resulted in prioritized actions to be taken in subsequent years to improve the chance of the bird's survival into the future. Actions include: restoring sage-brush steppe vegetation, removing juniper invading into habitat, protecting important areas from wildfire, establishing new stands of sagebrush, and establishing site specific objectives for livestock grazing and wild horse and burro management to maintain sage-grouse habitat. This example shows the utility of AIM data for adaptive management of sage-grouse habitat.

Language
English
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Conference Name
SRM Sacramento, CA