Conservation planning efforts for sagebrush ecosystems of western North America increasingly focus on enhancing operational resilience though decision-support tools that link spatially explicit variation in soil and plant processes to outcomes of biotic and abiotic disturbances spanning large spatial extents. However, failure to consider higher trophic-level fauna (e.g. wildlife) in these tools can hinder efforts to operationalize resilience owing to spatiotemporal lags between slower reorganization of plant and soil processes following disturbance, and faster behavioral and demographic responses of fauna to disturbance. These spatial products provide additional examples for managers of sagebrush ecosystems and greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) populations in the Great Basin to aid with decisions regarding: 1) wildfire prevention, suppression, and management; and 2) removal of encroaching conifers. These products integrate models of ecological resilience mapped to variation in soil moisture and temperature regimes, wildlife risk and recovery processes, and potential ecological traps with measures of sage-grouse habitat selection and abundance. Please refer to Ricca and Coates (2019) and examples within for further details on methodology.

Managers require quantitative yet tractable tools that can identify areas for restoration yielding effective benefits for targeted wildlife species and the ecosystems they inhabit. A spatially explicit conservation planning tool that guides effective sagebrush restoration for sage-grouse can be made more effective by integrating baseline maps describing existing (pre-restoration) habitat suitability, and the distribution and abundance of breeding sage-grouse. Accordingly, we provide two rasters. The first is a floating point raster file informed by lek data, and derived from: 1) utilization distributions weighted by lek attendance, and 2) a non-linear probability of space-use relative to distance to lek. The second is a floating point raster file of baseline sage-grouse habitat modeled as a resource selection function and then relativized to bracket values between 1.0 (highest modeled suitability) and 0.0 (lowest modeled suitability). Note that this map differs slightly from previous unpublished maps of Bi-State habitat suitability owing to differences in data inputs and modeling methods. These data support the following publication: Ricca, M.A., Coates, P.S., Gustafson, K.B., Brussee, B.E., Chambers, J.C., Espinosa, S.P., Gardner, S.C., Lisius, S., Ziegler, P., Delehanty, D.J., and Casazza, M.L., 2018, A conservation planning tool for greater sage-grouse using indices of species distribution, resilience, and resistance, Ecological Applications, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/eap.1690

Managers require quantitative yet tractable tools that can identify areas for restoration yielding effective benefits for targeted wildlife species and the ecosystems they inhabit. A spatially explicit conservation planning tool that guides effective sagebrush restoration for sage-grouse can be made more effective by integrating baseline maps describing existing (pre-restoration) habitat suitability, and the distribution and abundance of breeding sage-grouse. Accordingly, we provide two rasters. The first is a floating point raster file informed by lek data, and derived from: 1) utilization distributions weighted by lek attendance, and 2) a non-linear probability of space-use relative to distance to lek. The second is a floating point raster file of baseline sage-grouse habitat modeled as a resource selection function and then relativized to bracket values between 1.0 (highest modeled suitability) and 0.0 (lowest modeled suitability). Note that this map differs slightly from previous unpublished maps of Bi-State habitat suitability owing to differences in data inputs and modeling methods. These data support the following publication: Ricca, M.A., Coates, P.S., Gustafson, K.B., Brussee, B.E., Chambers, J.C., Espinosa, S.P., Gardner, S.C., Lisius, S., Ziegler, P., Delehanty, D.J., and Casazza, M.L., 2018, A conservation planning tool for greater sage-grouse using indices of species distribution, resilience, and resistance, Ecological Applications, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/eap.1690

The sagebrush ecosystem spans over 175 million acres in the western United States, and is biologically, culturally, and economically significant to the country. Many disturbances including prolonged drought, pinyon-juniper encroachment, and cycles of invasive grasses and wildfire, pose significant threats to the resilience of the sagebrush biome. To conserve the sagebrush biome and promote community and economic sustainability, the Department of the Interior’s bureaus and offices are working together with many public and private partners to implement a “defend and grow the core” approach to conserve remaining intact sagebrush habitat and ecosystem functions, as well as restore other habitat types which are important to re-establish and maintain the sagebrush ecosystem. To aid in defending and growing the core, we conducted a spatial analysis of current (2017-2020) sagebrush core habitat and growth opportunity areas (Doherty et al. 2022) to identify areas of the sagebrush biome that have high ecological value, resilience to climate change, and existing collaborative partner capacities that facilitate delivery of on-the-ground actions (see "SCRL_Raster.tif"). Using our spatial analysis, we selected areas of the landscape using sub-watershed level polygons (Hydrologic Unit code 12 [HUC 12], Watershed Boundary Dataset) to aid in prioritizing strategic investments in conservation and restoration actions that will “defend and grow the core”. We asked for feedback from tribes, states, and federal resource management agencies to further refine the landscapes to areas of greatest conservation need and collaborative potential. We call these areas "Sagebrush Collaborative Restoration Landscapes" or SCRL (see "SCRL.shp" in SagebrushCollaborativeRestorationLandscapes.zip).

The sagebrush ecosystem spans over 175 million acres in the western United States, and is biologically, culturally, and economically significant to the country. Many disturbances including prolonged drought, pinyon-juniper encroachment, and cycles of invasive grasses and wildfire, pose significant threats to the resilience of the sagebrush biome. To conserve the sagebrush biome and promote community and economic sustainability, the Department of the Interior’s bureaus and offices are working together with many public and private partners to implement a “defend and grow the core” approach to conserve remaining intact sagebrush habitat and ecosystem functions, as well as restore other habitat types which are important to re-establish and maintain the sagebrush ecosystem. To aid in defending and growing the core, we conducted a spatial analysis of current (2017-2020) sagebrush core habitat and growth opportunity areas (Doherty et al. 2022) to identify areas of the sagebrush biome that have high ecological value, resilience to climate change, and existing collaborative partner capacities that facilitate delivery of on-the-ground actions (see "SCRL_Raster.tif"). Using our spatial analysis, we selected areas of the landscape using sub-watershed level polygons (Hydrologic Unit code 12 [HUC 12], Watershed Boundary Dataset) to aid in prioritizing strategic investments in conservation and restoration actions that will “defend and grow the core”. We asked for feedback from tribes, states, and federal resource management agencies to further refine the landscapes to areas of greatest conservation need and collaborative potential. We call these areas "Sagebrush Collaborative Restoration Landscapes" or SCRL (see "SCRL.shp" in SagebrushCollaborativeRestorationLandscapes.zip).

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Indices of habitat suitability and animal abundance provide useful proxy-based measures adaptive management (Coates et al. 2015a). Doherty et al. (in review) derived a range-wide population index model for sage-grouse using such indices that incorporated sage-grouse habitat suitability generated from Random Forest models (Evans et al. 2011), and spatially explicit abundance measures based on fixed kernel density functions informed by distributions of lek locations (lek locations defined by Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, see Coates et al. 2015b). The kernels were generated using two bandwidth distances representing the majority of breeding habitat in relation to leks (6.4 km) and seasonal movements (18.0 km). Relationships between abundance indices and the overall population index model were then evaluated to demarcate areas that are the most meaningful to sage-grouse populations (i.e., sage-grouse concentration areas). REFERENCES Coates, P. S., M. L. Casazza, M. A. Ricca, B. E. Brussee, E. J. Blomberg, K. B. Gustafson, C. T. Overton, D. Davis, L. Neill, S. P. Espinosa, S. C. Gardner, and D. J. Delehanty. 2015a. Integrating spatially explicit indices of abundance and habitat quality: an applied example for greater sage-grouse management. J. Appl. Ecol. (available at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.12558/epdf). Coates, P. S., M. A. Ricca, B. G. Prochazka, K. E. Doherty, M. L. Brooks, and M. L. Casazza. 2015b. Long-term effects of wildfire on greater sage-grouse - integrating population and ecosystem concepts for management in the Great Basin. Report 2015-1165, Reston, VA. http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/ofr20151165 Doherty, K. E., J. S. Evans, P. S. Coates, L. Juliusson, and B. C. Fedy. In review. Importance of regional variation in conservation planning and defining thresholds for a declining species: a range-wide example of the greater sage-grouse. Ecosphere. Evans, J. S., M. A. Murphy, Z. A. Holden, and S. A. Cushman. 2011. Modeling species distribution and change using Random Forests in Predictive species and habitat modeling.in C. A. Drew, W. Y.F., and F. Huettmann editors. Landscape ecology: concepts and applications. Springer, New York. Vander Wal, E., and A. R. Rodgers. 2012. An individual-based quantitative approach for delineating core areas of animal space use. Ecological Modelling 224:48-53.

This dataset contains observations used to better understand the initial establishment of sagebrush (Artemisia sp.), in the first 1-2 years post-wildfire. Field data come from 460 sagebrush populations sampled across the Great Basin and many GIS-derived co-variates are included as well.

This dataset contains observations used to better understand the initial establishment of sagebrush (Artemisia sp.), in the first 1-2 years post-wildfire. Field data come from 460 sagebrush populations sampled across the Great Basin and many GIS-derived co-variates are included as well.