New website highlights the latest research from diverse group of experts to help land managers, conservationists, and anyone interested in saving the sagebrush biome.
In 2022, a group of experts from across the sagebrush biome came together to publish the Sagebrush Conservation Design. The SCD used new remote sensing technologies, like the Rangelands Analysis Platform, to map the entire sagebrush biome and categorize it into Core Sagebrush Areas, Growth Opportunity Areas, and Other Rangeland Areas. It also evaluated the different threats facing the biome and showed that 87% of degradation across the biome is caused by invasive annual grasses and conifer encroachment, and land-use modification is a severe, though localized threat, that fragments and reduces sagebrush ecological integrity.
At its core, the SCD is a roadmap for diverse stakeholders to proactively conserve the sagebrush biome in the American West. It identifies the last, best, ecologically intact sagebrush areas to safeguard. It also points out the largest threats that are degrading the biome today.
The SCD builds off a 15-year history of collaborative, innovative landscape conservation in the sagebrush biome. Further, the SCD complements existing species-based conservation efforts by providing an ecosystem-based approach to maintaining sagebrush rangelands.
Implementing meaningful, targeted conservation to effectively defend intact sagebrush cores at scale remains one of the most pressing challenges to saving the biome.
To continue moving sagebrush conservation forward and to best leverage the SCD’s insights and map products, a diverse group of researchers, land management professionals, federal agencies, and non-governmental organizations came together to identify research opportunities and answer questions that complicate sagebrush conservation.
Their work has been published in a special issue of the Journal of Rangeland Ecology & Management that was released October 15, 2024. Working Lands for Wildlife, in partnership with the other co-authors on these research papers, created the Sagebrush Conservation Gateway to better highlight the 20 peer-reviewed articles in the journal.
The Sagebrush Conservation Gateway features summaries of each article, along with interviews and presentations from the researchers, in an easy-to-navigate site. The Gateway delves into the science of how, where and why conservationists are deploying the SCD to conserve the sagebrush biome. The site presents key findings and related resources. It is geared towards conservation professionals, land managers, and anyone interested in sagebrush conservation.
Topics covered by the Sagebrush Conservation Gateway include:
There is no doubt the sagebrush biome is one of the most imperiled landscapes in the world. Each year, we lose more than 1.3 million acres of intact sagebrush core areas, despite ongoing conservation efforts.
But there are plenty of reasons to be hopeful for the future. The articles in the Sagebrush Conservation Gateway highlight how we can work together to save the sagebrush biome.