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The ability of prescribed fire to enhance habitat features for Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) in Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata wyomingensis) in western North America is poorly understood. We evaluated recovery of habitat features important to wintering, nesting, and early brood-rearing Sage-Grouse in Wyoming big sagebrush following prescribed fire. Our case study included 1 year of preburn (1989) and 10 years of postburn data collected over 14 years (1990)(1991)(1992)(1993)(1994)(1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003) from control and burned study areas in the Big Desert of southeastern Idaho, U.S.A. We compared recovery and rate of change for 12 features in four categories between burned and control transects and recovery in burned transects including change in variation. Our results indicate that prescribed fire induced quantifiable changes in wintering, nesting, and early brood-rearing Sage-Grouse habitat features 14 years after fire in Wyoming big sagebrush in our study area. Specifically, grass and litter required by SageGrouse for nest and brood concealment recovered relatively rapidly following fire; major forb cover was similar between burned and control sites, but the rate of increase for major forb cover and richness was greater in control transects, and structurally mediated habitat features required by Sage-Grouse for food and cover in winter and for nest and brood concealment in spring recovered slowly following fire. Because shrub structural features in our study did not recover in magnitude or variability to preburn levels 14 years after fire, we recommend that managers avoid burning Wyoming big sagebrush to enhance Sage-Grouse habitat, but rather implement carefully planned treatments that maintain Sagebrush.

Low recruitment has been suggested as a primary factor contributing to declines in greater sage‐grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) populations. We evaluated movements and survival of 58 radiomarked juvenile greater sage‐grouse from 1 September (≥10 weeks of age) to 29 March (≥40 weeks of age) during 1997–1998 and 1998–1999 in lowland and mountain valley study areas in southeastern Idaho, USA. Juvenile sage‐grouse captured in the mountain valley area moved an average of 2.2 km (20%) farther (x̄ = 13.0 km, SE = 1.2 km) from autumn to winter ranges than juvenile grouse captured in the lowland area (x̄ = 10.8 km, SE = 1.2 km). Ten of 11 deaths occurred from September to December. Fifty percent of deaths in the lowland population were attributable to human‐related mortality including power‐line collisions and legal harvest, while 33% and 17% of deaths were attributable to mammalian predators and unknown cause, respectively. All deaths in the mountain valley population were attributed to avian or mammalian predators. Survival was relatively high for birds from both populations, but was higher across years in the lowland (Ŝ = 0.86, SE = 0.06, n = 43) than in the mountain valley population (Ŝ = 0.64, SE = 0.13, n = 14). In our study juvenile sage‐grouse that moved farther distances to seasonal ranges experienced lower survival than juveniles from a more sedentary population. Moreover, high juvenile survival in our study suggests that if low recruitment occurs in sage‐grouse populations it may be due to other factors, especially poor nesting success or low early chick survival.