Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unti, Rocky Mountain CESU

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The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Fort Collins Science Center (FORT) is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner for research to develop population models to inform conservation and management of wildlife that inhabit the sagebrush ecosystem, addressing both population and habitat management. Recent decisions (2016) and future evaluations (2021) by Fish and Wildlife Service regarding Greater Sage-grouse, revision of land-management plans (federal agencies) and priorities in wildlife management plans (state agencies), elevate the information needs for managing the many species that inhabit the sagebrush ecosystem. Specifically, practical information regarding status and trends in wildlife populations such as mule deer, pronghorn, songbirds and small mammals, interactions among species, and their relations to habitat conditions and management actions in the sagebrush ecosystem have been identified by federal and state agencies as management priorities. Priorities and associated actions focused on grouse conservation leave open-ended questions about the effects on other species of concern. Trends in many of these species have been documented, however relationships between species and responses to habitat changes, land-uses and management actions are often poorly understood. Documentation of patterns and trends in habitat conditions, including restoration and treatment effects, is growing, and concepts and analyses that synthesize and interpret these results, and link them to the distribution and dynamics of wildlife populations are needed for management applications. Further, understanding how management designations and actions focused on sage-grouse may affect other priority species is important for ecosystem management and wildlife conservation. Multiple species conservation can be addressed through a sound understanding of ecosystem functions and understanding the relations between each species and the habitat conditions on which they depend - the distribution, dynamics and condition of vegetation and connection to wildlife distributions and trends is an essential part of this understanding.

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