LARAMIE, Wyo. — The Wildlife Society, an international association for professionals working in wildlife management, recently recognized a group of University of Wyoming researchers due to their multi-faceted study on the effects of sagebrush reduction on the greater sage grouse.
That’s according to a release from the University of Wyoming.
Recently, the Wildlife Society held its annual awards program, which recognizes scientists, wildlife managers, educators and others who have made outstanding contributions to wildlife science and management. At the event, researchers, collaborators and former students from the University of Wyoming received the 2024 Best Monograph award for their paper entitled “Response of Greater Sage-Grouse to Sagebrush Reduction Treatments in Wyoming Big Sagebrush.” The paper was published in the journal “Wildlife Monographs.”
“It’s a great honor to be recognized with this award, which highlights studies that have long-term, robust datasets that ask both broad and specific questions,” Jeff Beck, UW professor of ecosystem science and management, said in the UW release.
Beck’s co-authors were UW alum Kurt Smith, who is now a senior research scientist with the UWQ Department of Zoology and Physiology; UW alum Jason LeVan, who is a rangeland management specialist with the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service in Pinedale; Anna Chalfoun, a UW associate professor and assistant unit leader of the USGS Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unity; Thomas Christiansen, the retired sage-grouse program coordinator for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department; Stanley Harter, a wildlife biologist with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department; and Sue Oberlie, a retired biologist with the Bureau of Land Management.
The paper detailed the results of a nine-year study in central Wyoming. The study revealed that sagebrush reduction strategies, such as mowing and herbicide applications, did not actually benefit the local sage grouse populations. In fact, while sagebrush reduction is a common management practice in Wyoming, the researchers found that the effects on the birds were “neutral at best.”
Chalfoun said that their results might challenge a historic paradigm for sagebrush management.
According to the paper, six years after sagebrush reduction treatments were applied, scientists tracked the behaviors and the survival rates of more than 600 female greater sage grouse. Additionally, they monitored effects on invertebrate populations and herbaceous forbs, two things that sage grouse depend on as food sources.
The results they found indicated that neither mowing nor application of the herbicide tebuthiuron influenced nest success, brood success or female survival, and they even observed a small avoidance of habitat that had undergone sagebrush reduction treatments. Similarly, the treatments did not appear to positively affect sage grouse food sources.
“We were able to answer questions about whether or not specific habitat treatments consistent with the Wyoming Sage-Grouse Core Area Policy were beneficial, benign or harmful to sage-grouse, thereby ensuring future conservation efforts and dollars are more effectively spent,” Christiansen said in the release.
The paper can be read in its entirety here.
