Fire patterns in the range of the greater sage-grouse, 1984-2013 - Implications for conservation and management

Brooks, Matthew L.; Matchett, John R.; Shinneman, Douglas J.; Coates, Peter S.

doi:10.3133/ofr20151167

Cited by 41 publications

(78 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…S3) conducive for cheatgrass, the chronic effect of CBA on λ was driven strongly by the lack of modeled recovery within low R&R areas. Accordingly, large swaths of sagebrush ecosystems and sage-grouse habitat are at high risk of wildfire if cheatgrass expansion continues at its unfettered pace (11,31). Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1), and wildfire and climate variables were sampled within 5 km and 10 km (grain) of sage-grouse leks (26). Sagebrush communities occur on 63% of landscapes within the western range of sage-grouse populations (11) and encompassed over 80% of our sampled areas within 5 km of leks.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Critical to these large-scale efforts is a sound understanding of how sage-grouse populations respond to spatiotemporal variation in wildfire, while accounting for modeled postwildfire recovery times and R&R-dependent probability of state transition to cheatgrass, as well as complex relationships with climatic and demographic processes (22,23). Direct and indirect effects of wildfire have been identified qualitatively as a threat to sage-grouse persistence in the western portion of their range (11). However, we lack rigorous and long-term evaluations that quantify mechanisms (e.g., wildfire) driving prevailing trends in sage-grouse population size and can identify populations most at risk.…”

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

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Wildfire, climate, and invasive grass interactions negatively impact an indicator species by reshaping sagebrush ecosystems

Coates

Ricca

Prochazka

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Iconic sagebrush ecosystems of the American West are threatened by larger and more frequent wildfires that can kill sagebrush and facilitate invasion by annual grasses, creating a cycle that alters sagebrush ecosystem recovery post disturbance. Thwarting this accelerated grass–fire cycle is at the forefront of current national conservation efforts, yet its impacts on wildlife populations inhabiting these ecosystems have not been quantified rigorously. Within a Bayesian framework, we modeled 30 y of wildfire and climatic effects on population rates of change of a sagebrush-obligate species, the greater sage-grouse, across the Great Basin of western North America. Importantly, our modeling also accounted for variation in sagebrush recovery time post fire as determined by underlying soil properties that influence ecosystem resilience to disturbance and resistance to invasion. Our results demonstrate that the cumulative loss of sagebrush to direct and indirect effects of wildfire has contributed strongly to declining sage-grouse populations over the past 30 y at large spatial scales. Moreover, long-lasting effects from wildfire nullified pulses of sage-grouse population growth that typically follow years of higher precipitation. If wildfire trends continue unabated, model projections indicate sage-grouse populations will be reduced to 43% of their current numbers over the next three decades. Our results provide a timely example of how altered fire regimes are disrupting recovery of sagebrush ecosystems and leading to substantial declines of a widespread indicator species. Accordingly, we present scenario-based stochastic projections to inform conservation actions that may help offset the adverse effects of wildfire on sage-grouse and other wildlife populations.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

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Wildfire, climate, and invasive grass interactions negatively impact an indicator species by reshaping sagebrush ecosystems

Coates

Ricca

Prochazka

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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151

183

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“…) than that often described for the xeric end of the sagebrush steppe (Brooks et al. , ). Remaining good condition Wyoming big sagebrush ecosystem patches are thus uniquely important as model ecosystems for understanding ecosystem processes, including the natural role of disturbance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 62%

Ecosystem resilience is evident 17 years after fire in Wyoming big sagebrush ecosystems

et al. 2016

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Abstract. Recent policy has focused on prevention of wildfire in the sagebrush steppe in an effort to protect habitat for the greater sage grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus). Historically, fire return intervals in Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata ssp. wyomingensis) ecosystems were 50-100 yr or more, but invasive species, climate change, and a legacy of intensive grazing practices have led to degraded rangeland condition, altered fire regimes and fire effects, and declines in sagebrush cover. Little is known about the long-term impacts of fire in this ecosystem in areas where grazing pressure has been removed, few invasive species exist, and fire return intervals are maintained. In this study, we quantified vegetation composition prior to prescribed burning, 1 year following fire, and 17 years after fire in a native-dominated Wyoming big sagebrush ecosystem at Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge, Oregon, United States. Seventeen years following fire, the ecosystem was dominated by native herbaceous vegetation, with 8.3% cover of broad-leaved forbs and bunchgrasses in the understory, compared to just 3.8% cover of native herbaceous vegetation in unburned controls. Invasive annual grass cover ranged from 0.2% to 8.4% across all treatments and years (P = 0.56). One year following fire, the distance from a randomly located point and the nearest mature sagebrush was 16.6 m, but by 17 years after the fire, that distance had decreased to 2.5 m. Seventeen years after fires, shrub cover was 0.4-4% in burned plots compared to 13-24% in unburned controls. Collectively, these data demonstrate that good condition ungrazed Wyoming big sagebrush plant communities exhibited resilience following fire and maintained a native-dominated mosaic of shrubs, bunchgrasses, and forbs. Further, unburned control plots were dominated by woody vegetation and exhibited losses in herbaceous understory, possibly indicating that they are outside of their natural fire return interval. Our results illustrate that management of all habitat components, including natural disturbance and a mosaic of successional stages, is important for persistent resilience and that suppression of all fires in the sagebrush steppe may create long-term losses of heterogeneity in good condition Wyoming big sagebrush ecosystems.

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“…Wildfires in the Great Basin burn in the late spring and summer, and occasionally into the fall (Brooks, Matchett, Shinneman, & Coates, ). On average, wildfire ignitions occur between 14 May and 9 October each year, but fire ignitions have occurred as early as 5 March and as late as 23 November (1984–2014, n = 2,593 fires; Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity; http://www.mtbs.gov, accessed 7 July 2017).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Refining the cheatgrass–fire cycle in the Great Basin: Precipitation timing and fine fuel composition predict wildfire trends

Pilliod

Welty

Arkle

2017

Ecology and Evolution

154

153

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Larger, more frequent wildfires in arid and semi‐arid ecosystems have been associated with invasion by non‐native annual grasses, yet a complete understanding of fine fuel development and subsequent wildfire trends is lacking. We investigated the complex relationships among weather, fine fuels, and fire in the Great Basin, USA. We first modeled the annual and time‐lagged effects of precipitation and temperature on herbaceous vegetation cover and litter accumulation over a 26‐year period in the northern Great Basin. We then modeled how these fine fuels and weather patterns influence subsequent wildfires. We found that cheatgrass cover increased in years with higher precipitation and especially when one of the previous 3 years also was particularly wet. Cover of non‐native forbs and native herbs also increased in wet years, but only after several dry years. The area burned by wildfire in a given year was mostly associated with native herb and non‐native forb cover, whereas cheatgrass mainly influenced area burned in the form of litter derived from previous years’ growth. Consequently, multiyear weather patterns, including precipitation in the previous 1–3 years, was a strong predictor of wildfire in a given year because of the time needed to develop these fine fuel loads. The strong relationship between precipitation and wildfire allowed us to expand our inference to 10,162 wildfires across the entire Great Basin over a 35‐year period from 1980 to 2014. Our results suggest that the region's precipitation pattern of consecutive wet years followed by consecutive dry years results in a cycle of fuel accumulation followed by weather conditions that increase the probability of wildfire events in the year when the cycle transitions from wet to dry. These patterns varied regionally but were strong enough to allow us to model annual wildfire risk across the Great Basin based on precipitation alone.

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Fire patterns in the range of the greater sage-grouse, 1984-2013 - Implications for conservation and management

Cited by 41 publications

References 18 publications

Wildfire, climate, and invasive grass interactions negatively impact an indicator species by reshaping sagebrush ecosystems

Wildfire, climate, and invasive grass interactions negatively impact an indicator species by reshaping sagebrush ecosystems

Ecosystem resilience is evident 17 years after fire in Wyoming big sagebrush ecosystems

Refining the cheatgrass–fire cycle in the Great Basin: Precipitation timing and fine fuel composition predict wildfire trends

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