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An Assessment of Conservation Opportunities within Sagebrush Ecosystems of U.S. National Parks and Wildlife Refuges

Strategy for Protecting Cores in National Parks and Refuges

Key Findings: The Sagebrush Conservation Design can be readily used to create custom business plans and provides a common currency for tracking outcomes, including in National Parks and Wildlife Refuges, where biome threats are impacting sagebrush habitat despite current protection status and management efforts. Prioritizing investments in units with the largest tracts of core sagebrush would best protect these areas.

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Authors

William D. Sparklin *

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Highwood, Montana

Jordan Spaak

National Park Service, Biological Resources Division, Fort Collins, Colorado

Kevin E. Doherty

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Science Applications, Evergreen, Colorado & USDA Forest Service Research and Development, Missoula, Montana

Todd B. Cross

Crosswinds Ecological Consulting, LLC, Hartland, Vermont & Fedy Wildlife and Molecular Ecology Lab, School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Thomas J. Rodhouse

National Park Service, Inventory & Monitoring Division, Oregon State University-Cascades, Bend, Oregon

Jeffrey M. Warren

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Lima, Montana

Jeffrey J. Lonneker

National Park Service, Inventory & Monitoring Division, Moscow, Idaho

*Lead Author

Abstract and Keywords

Abstract: Strategic plans for landscape-scale conservation are preferable to ad-hoc decisions that lack evidence and cohesion. The Sagebrush Conservation Design (SCD) is a biome-wide geospatial decision-support framework for a “Defend the Core, Grow the Core” strategy. We mapped US National Parks and Refuges across the SCD to guide “defend and grow” investments. We summarized amounts of sagebrush “Core Sagebrush Areas” (CSAs) and “Growth Opportunity Areas” (GOAs) areas within Parks and Refuges and asked: 1) Where are the Parks and Refuges that contain substantial sagebrush resources and that are likely to retain these resources under future climate conditions? 2) What is the trend of loss across CSAs and GOAs within Parks and Refuges? 3) Do trends immediately surrounding Parks and Refuges correlate with those within? 4) Which Parks and Refuges contain the most CSAs and GOAs? 5) What will it cost to defend and grow CSAs in these places? Approximately 127 000 ha (313 824 ac) or 75% of CSAs was lost from Parks and 87 000 ha (214 982 ac) or 25% was lost from Refuges since 1998. Climate change is likely to reduce CSAs and GOAs in the northeastern and southwestern biome periphery and at low elevations. Similar trends of loss were observed surrounding Parks and Refuges. This underscores the ‘outside-in’ nature of changes occurring in the biome as fires, conifer encroachment, and invasive grasses move rapidly through permeable landscapes. Ten Parks and 10 Refuges contain >95% of CSAs and GOAs and exhibit climate durability under our examined future scenario, revealing how investments can be prioritized. Within this list, however, estimated costs of recommended actions (e.g., annual grass suppression) greatly exceeds plausible available amounts, emphasizing the need to use strategic prioritization within high-priority units. We examined application of the SCD for guiding “open” and “defined” investment decisions for Park and Refuge case studies.

Keywords: Sagebrush; Conifer encroachment; Invasive annual grass; National Parks; National Wildlife Refuges; Sagebrush Conservation Design

Citation

Bill D. Sparklin, Kevin E. Doherty, Thomas J. Rodhouse, Jeffrey J. Lonneker, Jordan Spaak, Todd B. Cross, Jeffrey M. Warren, "An Assessment of Conservation Opportunities Within Sagebrush Ecosystems of US National Parks and Wildlife Refuges," Rangeland Ecology & Management, Volume 97, 2024, Pages 94-106, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rama.2024.09.005

Related Resources

2024 Researcher Presentation

Watch Bill D. Sparklin's presentation about this article from the Sagebrush Conservation Design Symposia at the 2024 Society for Range Management conference.

Article Contributor Affiliations

Recommended Articles

If we are going to take a proactive approach and not a reactive approach, it’s going to look different than what we’ve done in the past. And with that, we’re managing change, we’re managing loss, and it’s going to look risky, or maybe riskier than things we’ve done in the past. And we’ve got to figure out how to bring people with us as we go through that process.

- Bill D. Sparklin

Explore the Research

The special issue of Rangeland Ecology & Management is broken into six themes outlined below. Each theme includes several articles. Navigate through the articles using the layout below by hovering and clicking on the dots at the bottom of each block (each dot is linked to an article that falls within that theme). A complete list of the articles (with links) is also included on the Explore the Research page.

START HERE: THE STATE OF THE SAGEBRUSH

THEME 1
Business-As-Usual Won’t Work to Save the Sagebrush Sea

THEME 2
Better Spatial Targeting Can Improve Outcomes

THEME 3
Conservation Planning is Needed to Develop Realistic Business Plans

THEME 4
Targeted Ecosystem Management: Monitoring Shows Managing for Sagebrush Ecological Integrity is Working

THEME 5
Maintaining Sagebrush Ecological Integrity is Ecologically Relevant

THEME 6
There is Only Hope if We Manage Change

The State of the Sagebrush: Implementing the Sagebrush Conservation Design to Save a Biome
Closing the Conservation Gap in the Sagebrush Biome: Spatial Targeting and Exceptional Coordination are Needed for Conservation Efforts to Keep Pace with Ecosystem Losses
Climate Change Amplifies Ongoing Declines of Sagebrush Ecological Integrity
Well-connected Core Areas Retain Ecological Integrity of Sagebrush Ecosystems Amidst Overall Declines from 2001-2021
A Spatial Prioritization of Conifer Management to Defend and Grow Sagebrush Cores
A Strategic and Science-based Framework for Management of Invasive Annual Grasses in the Sagebrush Biome
Modeling Cropland Conversion Risk to Scale-up Averted Loss of Core Sagebrush Rangelands
Will It Burn? Characterizing Wildfire Risk for the Sagebrush Conservation Design
An Assessment of Conservation Opportunities within Sagebrush Ecosystems of U.S. National Parks and Wildlife Refuges
An Interactive Tool to Promote Stepping Down the Sagebrush Conservation Design to Local Conservation Planning
From a Bird to a Biome: Do Sage Grouse Initiative Efforts Contribute to Conservation of the Sagebrush Ecosystem?
Using Satellite Remote Sensing to Assess Shrubland Vegetation Responses to Largescale Juniper Removal in the Northern Great Basin
Cooperative Conservation Actions Improve Sage-Grouse Population Performance within the Bi-State Distinct Population Segment
Evaluating the Sagebrush Conservation Design Strategy through the Performance of a Sagebrush Indicator Species
Defend and Grow the Core for Birds: How a Sagebrush Conservation Strategy Benefits Rangeland Birds
The Carbon Security Index: A Novel Approach to Assessing How Secure Carbon Is in Sagebrush Ecosystems within the Great Basin
Crossing the Chasm: Using Technical Transfer to Bridge Science Production and Management Action
Assessing Conservation Readiness: The Where, Who, and How of Strategic Conservation in the Sagebrush Biome
Where Do We Go from Here with Sagebrush Conservation: A Long-Term Perspective?
There is No Hope Without Change: A Perspective on How We Conserve the Sagebrush Biome

START HERE: THE STATE OF THE SAGEBRUSH

THEME 1
Business-As-Usual Won’t Work to Save the Sagebrush Sea

THEME 2
Better Spatial Targeting Can Improve Outcomes

THEME 3
Conservation Planning is Needed to Develop Realistic Business Plans

THEME 4
Targeted Ecosystem Management: Monitoring Shows Managing for Sagebrush Ecological Integrity is Working

THEME 5
Maintaining Sagebrush Ecological Integrity is Ecologically Relevant

THEME 6
There is Only Hope if We Manage Change

The State of the Sagebrush: Implementing the Sagebrush Conservation Design to Save a Biome
Closing the Conservation Gap in the Sagebrush Biome: Spatial Targeting and Exceptional Coordination are Needed for Conservation Efforts to Keep Pace with Ecosystem Losses
Climate Change Amplifies Ongoing Declines of Sagebrush Ecological Integrity
Well-connected Core Areas Retain Ecological Integrity of Sagebrush Ecosystems Amidst Overall Declines from 2001-2021
A Spatial Prioritization of Conifer Management to Defend and Grow Sagebrush Cores
A Strategic and Science-based Framework for Management of Invasive Annual Grasses in the Sagebrush Biome
Modeling Cropland Conversion Risk to Scale-up Averted Loss of Core Sagebrush Rangelands
Will It Burn? Characterizing Wildfire Risk for the Sagebrush Conservation Design
An Assessment of Conservation Opportunities within Sagebrush Ecosystems of U.S. National Parks and Wildlife Refuges
An Interactive Tool to Promote Stepping Down the Sagebrush Conservation Design to Local Conservation Planning
From a Bird to a Biome: Do Sage Grouse Initiative Efforts Contribute to Conservation of the Sagebrush Ecosystem?
Using Satellite Remote Sensing to Assess Shrubland Vegetation Responses to Largescale Juniper Removal in the Northern Great Basin
Cooperative Conservation Actions Improve Sage-Grouse Population Performance within the Bi-State Distinct Population Segment
Evaluating the Sagebrush Conservation Design Strategy through the Performance of a Sagebrush Indicator Species
Defend and Grow the Core for Birds: How a Sagebrush Conservation Strategy Benefits Rangeland Birds
The Carbon Security Index: A Novel Approach to Assessing How Secure Carbon Is in Sagebrush Ecosystems within the Great Basin
Crossing the Chasm: Using Technical Transfer to Bridge Science Production and Management Action
Operationalizing Strategic Conservation: A Multi-level Framework to Identify Opportunities and Actions
Where Do We Go from Here with Sagebrush Conservation: A Long-Term Perspective?
There is No Hope Without Change: A Perspective on How We Conserve the Sagebrush Biome