USU Forges Sage-Grouse Habitat Restoration Agreement with USDA

Utah State University is a key player in a newly formed cooperative study agreement aimed at evaluating the 2002 Farm Bill's efforts in protecting sensitive wildlife species, including the sage-grouse, which depend on sagebrush-steppe ecosystems.

 

Funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Sage-grouse Restoration Project or "SGRP" will help the NRCS, soil conservation districts, state wildlife agencies and private landowners in planning and implementing wildlife habitat restoration projects on private lands.

 

"In addition to reviewing past projects, the SGRP will evaluate multi-state experiments in cooperation with local sage-grouse working groups," said principal investigator Terry Messmer, who is a professor in the College of Natural Resources' Forest, Range and Wildlife Sciences Department and wildlife specialist for USU Extension. "We are hopeful the combined information will help the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, state wildlife agencies and other policymakers better evaluate decisions relating to Endangered Species Act determinations."

 

Current research indicates sage-grouse, a bird first described for science by Lewis and Clark during their 1804 expedition, are dependent on large expanses of sagebrush. Little information is available, however, regarding the appropriate sagebrush patch sizes needed to sustain a healthy sage-grouse population, Messmer said. By evaluating these projects, researchers hope to identify the type of treatments that can be implemented to provide optimum sage-grouse habitat and benefit to local communities.

 

"A major goal of SGRP is to create greater awareness of private land conservation planning needs among researchers," said Messmer. "To help attract the best researchers in the field, we will develop an 'SGRP library' that will provide visual information and data regarding the role of NRCS conservation programs that improve productivity and conservation of natural resources."

 

Sylvia Gillen, NRCS state conservationist, said her agency and USU Extension will take the lead roles in establishing and overseeing the project.

 

Other SGRP partners include USU's College of Natural Resources, the Western Governors' Association, the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies Sage and Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse Technical Committee, the North American Grouse Partnership, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and the Jack H. Berryman Institute.