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From: USGS Newsroom <noreply+feedproxy@google.com>
Date: Tue, Dec 8, 2015 at 4:39 PM
Subject: Restoration Handbook for Sagebrush Steppe Ecosystems, Part 2
To: asimpson@usgs.gov
From: USGS Newsroom <noreply+feedproxy@google.com>
Date: Tue, Dec 8, 2015 at 4:39 PM
Subject: Restoration Handbook for Sagebrush Steppe Ecosystems, Part 2
To: asimpson@usgs.gov
Restoration
Handbook for Sagebrush Steppe Ecosystems, Part 2
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Posted: 07 Dec 2015 08:00 AM PST
Summary: Ecosystem restoration is complex and requires an understanding
of how the land, plants, and animals all interact with each other over large
areas and over time
Landscape Level Restoration Decisions
Contact Information:
Susan Kemp ( Phone: 541-750-1047 ); Paul Laustsen (
Phone: 650-328-4046 );
CORVALLIS, Ore. — Ecosystem
restoration is complex and requires an understanding of how the land, plants,
and animals all interact with each other over large areas and over time.
Today, the U.S. Geological Survey published part two of a three-part handbook
addressing restoration of sagebrush ecosystems from the landscape to the site
level.
“Land managers do not have resources
to restore all locations because of the extent of the restoration needed and
are challenged to meet multiple management objectives, including restoring
habitat for wildlife,” said David Pyke, USGS ecologist and lead author of the
new USGS Circular.
“Focusing restoration efforts on enhancing goals of a functioning landscape
is necessary to gain the greatest benefit for sagebrush-steppe ecosystems.”
Part two of the handbook introduces
habitat managers and restoration practitioners to a landscape restoration
decision tool to assist them in determining landscape objectives, identifying
and prioritizing landscape areas where sites for restoration projects might
be located, and ultimately selecting restoration sites guided by criteria
used to define the landscape objectives.
The tool is structured in five
sections, addressed sequentially. Each section has related questions or
statements to assist the user in addressing the primary question or
statement:
“Most restoration projects are
conducted at the site or local level,” said Pyke. “But where restoration
projects occur influences whether benefits from those projects can be seen at
a landscape level. This is especially important for species, such as the
greater sage-grouse, whose home range can extend beyond the boundaries of an
individual restoration site.”
Pyke noted that greater sage-grouse
and sagebrush-steppe habitat is used in the handbook only as an example of
landscape restoration. The process presented by this series can be modified
and used for other landscape-related restoration issues as well.
Part one
of the handbook introduced basic concepts about sagebrush ecosystems,
landscape ecology and restoration ecology. Part two
helps guide selection of potential sites for restoration from a landscape
perspective. Part three will help guide restoration decisions at a selected
site.
The handbook was funded by the U.S.
Joint Fire Science Program and National Interagency Fire Center, Bureau of
Land Management, Great Northern Landscape Conservation Cooperative, USGS and
Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, with authors from the
USGS, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Oregon State
University, Utah State University and Brigham Young University.
Greater sage-grouse occur in parts
of 11 U.S. states and 2 Canadian provinces in western North America. Implementation
of effective management actions for the benefit of sage-grouse continues to
be a focus of Department of the Interior agencies following the decision by
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that the species is not warranted for
listing under the Endangered Species Act.
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