Greater Sage-Grouse – Oregon Conservation Strategy

Overview

Species Common Name Greater Sage-Grouse
Species Scientific Name Centrocercus urophasianus
Federal Listing Status Species of Concern
State Listing Status Sensitive

Ecoregions

Blue Mountains

Located in NE Oregon, the Blue Mountains ecoregion is the largest ecoregion in the state. It provides a diverse complex of mountain ranges, valleys, and plateaus that extend beyond Oregon into the states of Idaho and Washington.

Northern Basin and Range

The Northern Basin and Range ecoregion covers the very large southeastern portion of the state, from Burns south to the Nevada border and from the Christmas Valley east to Idaho. It is largely a high elevation desert-like area dominated by sagebrush communities and habitats.

Special needs

Greater Sage-Grouse require expansive sagebrush habitat that encompasses a mosaic of conditions. They use wet meadows and playas during brood-rearing, especially areas with native forbs.

Limiting factors

Greater Sage-Grouse have experienced declines and local extirpations in Oregon. Habitat loss and fragmentation, juniper expansion into sagebrush, and impacts of increased fire frequency and intensity on sagebrush due to invasive annual plants have contributed to declines. This species is dependent upon adequate sagebrush habitat, including suitable lek sites, for successful breeding and year-round survival. Greater Sage-Grouse are sensitive to human disturbance at leks.

Data gaps

See the detailed presentation in the Greater Sage-Grouse Conservation Assessment and Conservation Strategy for Oregon (Hagen 2011).

Conservation actions

See the detailed presentation in the Greater Sage-Grouse Conservation Assessment and Conservation Strategy for Oregon (Hagen 2011).

Key reference or plan

ODFW Wildlife: Greater Sage-Grouse BLM: Sagebrush Ecosystem Sage-Grouse Conservation Partnership (SageCON).

Strategy Spotlight: Monitoring Greater Sage-Grouse Leks

Infrared Remote Sensing

Remote Greater Sage-Grouse leks (areas where males gather in a mating display for females) are the most important places to monitor this iconic species, but they can also be especially difficult to access by land. Several leks in eastern Oregon had gone several decades without monitoring, with some leks last surveyed over 20 years ago, and others having gone without a survey since the World War II era.

In spring 2015, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) biologists began testing the use of infrared technology to remotely detect birds from the air. Airplane-based infrared remote sensors can survey leks that are difficult to visit on the ground for reasons including access or extreme remoteness. ODFW contracted with Owhyee Air Research to conduct the surveys with fixed wing aircraft.

“We’re very pleased with the results, and the technology looks promising. We confirmed many leks are still active that haven’t been surveyed for decades because of access issues,” said Jackie Cupples, Statewide Sage-Grouse Coordinator.

Male counts are used as the population index, and adding visible light cameras may let biologists distinguish males from females and allow continued monitoring of remote or inaccessible leks.

Solar-Powered GPS Transmitters

More than 1 million acres of sage-grouse habitat burned in the 2012 wildfires. To see how well the birds respond to very large, landscape-altering fires, biologists fixed solar-powered GPS transmitters to 66 sage-grouse hens in 2013 and 2014.

Transmitters record up to several point locations daily which biologists can access via any desktop computer with internet access. It would be very expensive to collect similar data with conventional VHF radios that require technicians and biologists on the ground to triangulate locations, especially for birds that may move several miles in a day. The GPS point locations also improve lek location accuracy.

The majority of leks are still counted from the ground to get an index of male attendance, but the combination of IR flight and GPS transmitter data is giving biologists more tools to survey leks that are difficult to access. IR flights may also reduce risk to biologists who survey leks from helicopters that fly at low elevations in mountainous terrain.

Partnerships are key in conserving sage-grouse, and funding sources help to make these types of research projects happen. The IR flights were funded with a combination of ODFW and Bureau of Land Management funds while ODFW’s Upland Game Bird Program funded the 66 hens equipped with GPS transmitters. Funding from the Oregon Hunters Association and Oregon Wildlife Foundation will, in part, allow the project to continue with a new PhD student, technicians, and more GPS transmitters.

Greater Sage-Grouse with solar-powered GPS transmitter.