Progress 07/01/05 to 06/30/06
Outputs
Past livestock grazing practices, fire control, range improvement projects, the invasion of alien weeds, urbanization, the development of irrigated agriculture, and the expansion of pinyon-juniper woodlands have resulted in the loss, fragmentation, and degradation of sagebrush vegetation. This in turn has resulted in the decline of many animal species dependent on sagebrush such as the Sage Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) and the pygmy rabbit (Brachylagus idahoensis). Due to declines in populations in Oregon and Washington and a lack of solid information about its status elsewhere, there has been a petition filed to list the pygmy rabbit as threatened or endangered. This project employed graduate students to draft a conservation blueprint for the pygmy rabbit as a class exercise. The class, which was taught during Spring semester 2006, consisted of 2 Ph.D. students from the Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology program, 1 M.S. student from Biology, and 1 M.S.
student from Geography. These students collected all relevant information and identified data gaps, constructed an envirogram (a flow chart that identifies the most important proximate components of the environment that directly affect the species' chances to survive and reproduce and the distal factors that act in sequence to affect the proximate components), identified the threats to the species, evaluated the effectiveness of existing conservation areas and conservation programs, designed the conservation strategy within an adaptive management framework, and, finally, performed an economic analysis on the conservation strategy and its alternatives (e.g., a listing under the ESA). The major conservation actions proposed are: (1) maintain areas of stable, mature sagebrush during fuels treatment or conservation restoration actions, (2) maintain moderate grazing in mature sagebrush to keep understory at low levels, (3) remove pinyon-juniper that is encroaching on pygmy rabbit habitat,
(4) control wildfires burning in mature big sagebrush and restore burned areas, and (5) designate the pygmy rabbit a non-game species. The class also assembled a power-point presentation that was given to representatives of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the US Bureau of Land Management, the US Forest Service, and the Nevada Department of Wildlife. A final report that will be disseminated widely to the appropriate agencies and interested parties is now in preparation.
Impacts
A listing of the pygmy rabbit under the US endangered species act could have substantial negative impacts on ranching in the intermountain west. This project will attempt to head off such a listing by creating a conservation blueprint for the species that the Bureau of Land Management, Nevada Division of Wildlife, and other stakeholders are comfortable with implementing and that is acceptable to the US Fish and Wildlife Service under their PECE (Policy for the Evaluation of Conservation Efforts When Making Listing Decisions) policy. Aside from its benefit to the pygmy rabbit, the conservation of mature sagebrush habitat will benefit several other sagebrush obligate species directly including Brewer's Sparrows Sage Sparrows, and Sage Thrashers. Greater sage-grouse also will benefit from the conservation of mature sagebrush, especially during winter.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 01/01/05 to 12/31/05
Outputs
Past livestock grazing practices, fire control, range improvement projects, the invasion of alien weeds, urbanization, the development of irrigated agriculture, and the expansion of pinyon-juniper woodlands have resulted in the loss, fragmentation, and degradation of sagebrush vegetation. This in turn has resulted in the decline of many animal species dependent on sagebrush such as the Sage Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) and the pygmy rabbit (Brachylagus idahoensis). Due to declines in pygmy rabbit populations in Oregon and Washington and a lack of solid information about its status elsewhere, there has been a petition filed to list the species as threatened or endangered. This project will employ graduate students, in cooperation with agency personnel, to draft a conservation blueprint for the pygmy rabbit as a class exercise. The class, which is being taught during Spring semester 2006, consists of 2 Ph.D. students from the Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation
Biology program, 1 M.S. student from Biology, 1 from Geography, and 1 from Natural Resources and Conservation Science. Agency representatives are from the US Bureau of Land Management, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and Nevada Department of Wildlife. A number of steps must be taken to formulate a conservation blueprint. These include collecting all relevant information and identifying data gaps, selecting the appropriate conservation targets (e.g., pygmy rabbit only or several sensitive species), constructing an envirogram (a flow chart that identifies the most important proximate components of the environment that directly affect the conservation target's chances to survive and reproduce and the distal factors that act in sequence to affect the proximate components), identifying the threats to the conservation target, evaluating the effectiveness of existing conservation areas and conservation programs, designing the conservation strategy (within an adaptive management framework),
setting conservation goals and objectives and priorities for action, and, finally, performing an economic analysis on the conservation strategy and its alternatives (e.g., a listing under the ESA). Class participants will research these steps and discuss them; they also will assemble a power-point presentation that will be given to stakeholder groups and will write the final product that will be disseminated widely to the appropriate agencies and interested parties.
Impacts
A listing of the pygmy rabbit under the US endangered species act could have substantial negative impacts on ranching in the intermountain west. This project will attempt to head off such a listing by creating a conservation blueprint for the species that the Bureau of Land Management, Nevada Division of Wildlife, and other stakeholders are comfortable with implementing and that is acceptable to the US Fish and Wildlife Service under their PECE (Policy for the Evaluation of Conservation Efforts When Making Listing Decisions) policy.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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