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9/28/2018 | 3:15 PM - 3:30 PM | Wildfire and Sage-Grouse in the Great Basin: Broad Scale Demographic Patterns, Mechanisms for Impacts, and Conservation Solutions | Eccles Conference Center Auditorium

Wildfire and Sage-Grouse in the Great Basin: Broad Scale Demographic Patterns, Mechanisms for Impacts, and Conservation Solutions

Iconic sagebrush ecosystems of the Great Basin in the American West are threatened by accelerated wildfires that can kill sagebrush and facilitate invasion by flammable annual grasses. The result is a non-analog positive feedback loop that continually consumes large expanses of sagebrush that often do not recover, which can negatively impact populations of sagebrush obligate species, such as greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; hereafter, sage-grouse). Understanding and thwarting this disturbance lie at the forefront of national conservation efforts. Here, we describe the demographic patterns, mechanisms, and possible conservation solutions pertaining to the interaction of wildfire and sage-grouse populations. For patterns, we present quantitative results based on 30 years of lek count data, annual rates of wildfire, and sagebrush recovery that implicate cumulative impacts of wildfire as a major driver of past and projected sage-grouse population declines across the Great Basin. Mechanistically, wildfire nullified the pulses of sage-grouse population growth that typically follow years of high precipitation. Field studies further illuminate demographic mechanisms, whereby the nesting life-stage appears most strongly impacted by wildfire owing to the reduction in sagebrush cover coupled with female site fidelity to fire impacted habitats and increased functional efficiency of nest predators, such as common ravens (Corvus corax). Solutions-based research via simulation analyses indicates that sage-grouse populations can stabilize if annual rates of cumulative area burned by wildfire are reduced by 75%, and managers can implement effective tools to help reach this threshold. Retrospective analysis indicate that wildfire prevention and suppression, if targeted within areas of concentrated sage-grouse density and habitat, would most efficiently reach the threshold reduction. Targeted restoration activities within critical nesting habitats appear to help local populations persist while larger fire-impacted landscapes recover. Findings are preliminary and provided to meet the need for timely best science.

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Presenters/Authors

Mark Ricca (), US Geological Survey, mark_ricca@usgs.gov;