Field Methods for Translocating Female Greater Sage‐Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) with their Broods

Abstract

Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) have experienced considerable range contraction and reduced abundance in response to habitat loss and degradation. Translocation is a conservation action that is often used to reintroduce extirpated populations or augment existing small populations. Translocations have had limited success in restoring viable populations of sage-grouse; a lack of success is attributed to longdistance post-release movements away from release sites, reduced survival, and lack of reproductive success of translocated individuals. Translocating female sage-grouse with their chicks (brood translocation) is a technique aimed at promoting breeding area fidelity and reproduction and may be beneficial to population restoration efforts. Furthermore, the ability to capture, relocate, and release individuals while minimizing translocation-induced loss increases the overall probability of restoration success. Accordingly, we developed a protocol to translocate female sage-grouse and their broods simultaneously, using a delayed-release system that included a custom release box and acclimation pen. We tested our protocol across 2 separate restoration projects in North Dakota and California during 2017-2019 with a total of 38 translocated females and 196 chicks. We successfully released 174/196 chicks (88.8%) from 32/38 (84.2%) broods. Our protocol builds on existing translocation methods used to translocate sage-grouse and will likely prove to be a critical technique in restoring sage-grouse populations.

Behavioural state‐dependent habitat selection and implications for animal translocations

“…Captured sage‐grouse were transported overnight to the release site in Bowman County, ND and released in the morning. For a detailed description of translocation protocols, see Lazenby et al., 2021 and Meyerpeter et al., 2021. All sage‐grouse were handled in accordance with Utah State University Institutional Animal Care and Use (IACUC; permit #2729).…”

Long distance spruce grouse translocations as an effective means of population recovery in New York

“…Releasing females with broods may be advantageous because broods may help encourage females to remain in release areas (Meyerpeter et al 2021). However, we contend that releasing brooding spruce grouse females may not be necessary to ensure females remain in release areas; of 25 non‐brooding females, all remained at release sites or in an adjacent boreal forest patch.…”

Individual Variation in Temporal Dynamics of Post-release Habitat Selection

“…We captured female sage-grouse during summers 2018-2020 from the source population near Stewart Creek, WY at night using spotlights and dip-nets cast from all-terrain vehicles (Wakkinen et al, 1992). The captured individuals included brood-rearing females (captured in June with their young chicks, 7-40 days old; Meyerpeter et al, 2021) and non-brood-rearing females (captured in June without a brood). All individuals were translocated within 24 h post-capture (Lazenby et al, 2021).…”

“…In the case of brood-rearing females, we also captured their chicks, weighed them, and equipped them with Very High Frequency (VHF) suture-style tracking devices (1.1 g, Holohil Systems©, Ltd.). During transport, females and their chicks were kept separated to prevent injury but within audio-visual contact in specialized transport boxes (Meyerpeter et al, 2021). We translocated captured sage-grouse to Bowman County, ND and released them using a soft-release method, i.e., allowing for an acclimation period (∼30-45 min) in a release pen.…”