Sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystems occupy more than 100 million acres of the western United States. Big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) communities are among the most widespread of sagebrush communities. The land area historically occupied by sagebrush has been reduced by nearly half due to a variety of causes, including human development, agriculture, woodland expansion, nonnative plant invasions, overgrazing by livestock, and climate changes. About 30% of the land formerly occupied by sagebrush communities has been converted to other land cover types, including conifer woodlands and nonnative annual grasslands, and additional areas are under threat of conversion.
Not only do many species rely on sagebrush communities, but these altered land cover types differ from sagebrush communities in their fire ecology and fire regimes. For example, conifer woodlands have higher woody fuel loads and altered fuel structures that increase the potential for high-intensity, stand-replacing crown fire. Fires in nonnative annual grasslands tend to be more frequent, larger, faster spreading, and more severe than in sagebrush communities, which can result in a grass/fire cycle that prevents sagebrush from reestablishing.
Resources listed here contain the most recent and applicable information on these topics for big sagebrush ecosystems in the Northern Rocky Mountains.
This hot topic was developed in partnership with the Fire Effects Information System.
Recorded Webinars
Research Briefs
- Mountain big sagebrush species review
- Mountain big sagebrush - Fire regimes
- Sage advice for managers: a new, collaborative science framework for conservation and restoration of the sagebrush biome
- Understanding mountain big sagebrush seed production variability
- Mountain big sagebrush - Fire ecology and management
- Guide for quantifying post-treatment fuels in the sagebrush steppe and juniper woodlands of the Great Basin
- Filling in the blanks for prescribed fire in shrublands: developing information to support improved fire planning
- Guide for quantifying fuels in the sagebrush steppe and juniper woodlands of the Great Basin
- Big changes in the Great Basin
- Bird counts of burned versus unburned big sagebrush sites
Syntheses
- Fire regimes of Wyoming big sagebrush and basin big sagebrush communities
- Artemisia tridentata subsp. wyomingensis species review
- Greater sage-grouse science (2015–17)—Synthesis and potential management implications
- Effects of fall and spring prescribed burning in sagebrush steppe in central Oregon
- Artemisia tridentata subsp. vaseyana (mountain big sagebrush)
- Centrocercus minimus, Centrocercus urophasianus (Gunnison sage-grouse, greater sage-grouse)
- Short-term effects of early fall prescribed fire on herbaceous species and arthropods important in the diet of greater sage-grouse in Wyoming big sagebrush habitats
- Climate change in grasslands, shrublands, and deserts of the interior American West: a review and needs assessment
- Restoring Wyoming big sagebrush
- Seeding considerations in restoring big sagebrush habitat
- Artemisia cana, Artemisia cana subsp. Bolanderi, Artemisia cana subsp. cana, Artemisia cana subsp. viscidula (silver sagebrush, Bolander silver sagebrush, plains silver sagebrush, mountain silver sagebrush)
- Artemisia arbuscula (low sagebrush)
- Artemisia tridentata subsp. wyomingensis (Wyoming big sagebrush)
- Artemisia tridentata subsp. tridentata (basin big sagebrush)
- The sagebrush-grass region: A review of the ecological literature
- The role and use of fire in sagebrush-grass and pinyon-juniper plant communities: a state-of-the-art review
Management Documents
- Fire regimes of mountain big sagebrush communities
- The integrated rangeland fire management strategy actionable science plan
- Using resistance and resilience concepts to reduce impacts of invasive annual grasses and altered fire regimes on the sagebrush ecosystem and greater sage-grouse: a strategic multi-scale approach
- Conservation of greater sage-grouse on public lands in the Western U.S.: implications of recovery and management policies
- Guidelines to manage sage grouse populations and their habitats
- Birds in a sagebrush sea: Managing sagebrush habitat for bird communities
- Ecological implications of sagebrush manipulation: A literature review
Conference Proceedings
- Modeling erosion on steep sagebrush rangeland before and after prescribed fire - proceedings
- Big and black sagebrush landscapes
- Biomass consumption during prescribed fires in big sagebrush ecosystems
- Restoring Wyoming big sagebrush
- Reseeding big sagebrush: techniques and issues
- Seeding considerations in restoring big sagebrush habitat
- Impacts of fire on hydrology and erosion in steep mountain big sagebrush communities
- The role of fire in juniper and pinyon woodlands: a descriptive analysis
- Response of shrubs in big sagebrush habitats to fire on the northern Yellowstone winter range
- VA mycorrhizal status of burned and unburned sagebrush habitat
- Germination and establishment ecology of big sagebrush: Implications for community restoration
- Sagebrush over time: A photographic study of rangeland change
Publications
Podcasts
Presentations
Past Events
- Mar 30, 2021
- Oct 13, 2020
- Mar 23, 2020
- Oct 3, 2019
- Mar 18, 2019
- Apr 10, 2017
- May 20, 2016
- May 18, 2016
- May 16, 2016
- May 13, 2016
- Oct 22, 2015
- May 27, 2015
- Jan 31, 2015