The Sage Hen in Washington State

Distribution of Sage-Grouse in North America

“…Periodic fluctuations in the abundance of sage-grouse (or cycles, Rich 1985) may also have had an impact. Because of these considerations, we constrained eastern portions of the presettlement range to areas of known occupation and did not expand Nice (1931), Bent (1932), Girard (1937), Huey (1939), Behle (1943), Patterson (1952), Aldrich and Duvall (1955), Yocom (1956), Christensen and Johnson (1964), Rogers (1964), Simpson (1964), Bandelier (1966), Cassin (1978), Thwaites (1978), Johnson (1984), Johnson and Knue (1989), Thompson and Ely (1989), Braun (1995), Roy (1996), Schroeder et al (2000), Beck et al (2003), Smith (2003, and Zwickel and Schroeder (2003). them to include all observations and specimens (Fig.…”

Broad-Scale Assessment of Rangeland Health, Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument, USA

“…Jewett et al (1953) and Aldrich and Duvall (1955) showed the past distribution of sagegrouse straddling the border of Idaho and Washington on the eastern edge of the Palouse Prairie. However, because the potential pre-settlement habitat of the Palouse Prairie was likely dominated by perennial grasses with little sagebrush (Daubenmire 1970, Kuchler 1985 and because there are no observations or museum specimens in these portions of Idaho and Washington (Yocom 1956, the revised map of potential pre-settlement habitat does not include this area. Potential pre-settlement habitat in Washington was probably continuous with north-central Oregon .…”

Sage grouse on the Yakima Training Center: A summary of studies conducted during 1991 and 1992

“…During the last four decades, the distribution of sage grouse in Washington has steadily declined ( Figure lb) (Yocom 1956;Pedersen 1981). Although no "official" estimates of the Washington State sage grouse population have been made, it is probably safe to assume that there are, at most, a few thousand birds still residing in remnants of the birds' former range.…”

“…Although no "official" estimates of the Washington State sage grouse population have been made, it is probably safe to assume that there are, at most, a few thousand birds still residing in remnants of the birds' former range. This reduction in the distribution of sage grouse in Washington has been attributed to the removal of sagebrush over large areas for agricultural and other purposes (Yocom 1956). The current distribution of sage grouse in Washington (Figure lb) consists of a northern population that occupies fragmented habitat in Douglas County and the YTC population in more or less contiguous habitat in Kittitas and Yakima counties.…”