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Saving sage-grouse from the trees: A proactive solution to reducing a key threat to a candidate species

ScholarsArchive at Oregon State University

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Title Saving sage-grouse from the trees: A proactive solution to reducing a key threat to a candidate species
Names Baruch-Mordo, Sharon (creator)
Evans, Jeffrey S. (creator)
Severson, John P. (creator)
Naugle, David E. (creator)
Maestas, Jeremy D. (creator)
Kiesecker, Joseph M. (creator)
Falkowski, Michael J. (creator)
Hagen, Christian A. (creator)
Reese, Kerry P. (creator)
Date Issued 2013-11 (iso8601)
Note To the best of our knowledge, one or more authors of this paper were federal employees when contributing to this work. This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by Elsevier and can be found at: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/biological-conservation/.
Abstract Conservation investment in management of at-risk species can be less costly than a delay-and-repair
approach implemented after species receive legal protection. The United States Endangered Species
Act candidate species designation represents an opportunity to implement proactive management to
avoid future listing. Such efforts require substantial investments, and the challenge becomes one of optimization
of limited conservation funds to maximize return. Focusing on conifer encroachment threats to
greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus), we demonstrated an approach that links species demographics
with attributes of conservation threats to inform targeting of investments. We mapped conifer
stand characteristics using spatial wavelet analysis, and modeled lek activity as a function of conifer-related
and additional lek site covariates using random forests. We applied modeling results to identify
leks of high management potential and to estimate management costs. Results suggest sage-grouse incur
population-level impacts at very low levels of encroachment, and leks were less likely to be active where
smaller trees were dispersed. We estimated costs of prevention (treating active leks in jeopardy) and restoration
(treating inactive leks with recolonization potential) management across the study area (2.5 million
ha) at a total of US$17.5 million, which is within the scope of landscape-level conservation already
implemented. An annual investment of US$8.75 million can potentially address encroachment issues
near all known Oregon leks within the next decade. Investments in proactive conservation with public
and private landowners can increase ecosystem health to benefit species conservation and sustainable
land uses, replace top-down regulatory approaches, and prevent conservation reliance of at-risk species.
Genre Article
Topic Conifer encroachment
Identifier Baruch-Mordo, S., Evans, J. S., Severson, J. P., Naugle, D. E., Maestas, J. D., Kiesecker, J. M., ... & Reese, K. P. (2013). Saving sage-grouse from the trees: A proactive solution to reducing a key threat to a candidate species. Biological Conservation, 167, 233-241. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2013.08.017

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