The Sage Grouse Crisis has Reached Critical Mass

[Ben Lamb]

With the fire frequency that accrued in SE Montana pre fire suppression I wonder how many grouse there were in the pre fire suppression days. SE Montana burned far to frequently for big expanses of sagebrush.
As for fire and grazing, I have seen it first hand, fires burn slower and with less heat in grazed pasture than in pasture that has been grazed. Of course, if you get enough low humidity, heat and wind behind a fire even places that have been grazed hard will burn.

Sage Grouse require massive, intact habitats to thrive. Pre-settlement, they had that and you can read the accounts of settlers who watched skies get dark with sagies.

All plains species are fire-adapted species. Natural orders are like waves with crests & troughs. But because the habitat existed in sufficient acreage, they always were in abundance.

 

[antlerradar]

Sage Grouse require massive, intact habitats to thrive. Pre-settlement, they had that and you can read the accounts of settlers who watched skies get dark with sagies.

All plains species are fire-adapted species. Natural orders are like waves with crests & troughs. But because the habitat existed in sufficient acreage, they always were in abundance.

Fire science using fire scars on ponderosa pine indicate that SE Montana burned with a frequency of every 15 to 25 years. With that fire frequency it would be imposable to maintain massive intact tracts of Big Sagebrush unless it was grazed to the dirt every year.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Fire science using fire scars on ponderosa pine indicate that SE Montana burned with a frequency of every 15 to 25 years. With that fire frequency it would be imposable to maintain massive intact tracts of Big Sagebrush unless it was grazed to the dirt every year.

As noted above, grouse utilize different habitat types across the broad swath of land, so given that there were herds of bison running tens of thousands strong, along with exponentially higher numbers of black tailed & white tailed prairie dogs, etc, habitat turnover/manipulation was happening on a large scale, including fire.

 

[BigHornRam]

With the fire frequency that accrued in SE Montana pre fire suppression I wonder how many grouse there were in the pre fire suppression days. SE Montana burned far to frequently for big expanses of sagebrush.
As for fire and grazing, I have seen it first hand, fires burn slower and with less heat in grazed pasture than in pasture that has been grazed. Of course, if you get enough low humidity, heat and wind behind a fire even places that have been grazed hard will burn.

A lot of those fires back then were human caused, and they had enough sense for the most part, not to light them off during periods of high wind and heat, and low humidity. Frequent fire in those conditions would not burn up all the vegetation including sage. It would create a mosaic of vegetative conditions that would reduce the chances of wide spread catastrophic fire.

 

[OntarioHunter]

GPS studies of grouse where I used to work offered some surprising insight on to habitat use, especially by hens with chicks. Come about late August, lots of the hens moved out of areas dominated by sagebrush to an area with very little sagebrush. Old dryland wheat farms that were then big fields of grass. They hypothesized that they were moving there for the higher number of bugs. IIRC sage grouse chicks cannot digest/utilize sagebrush until they are a couple months old and feed on insects until that time.

Again, I'm going to leave the bison grazing comments alone...

But by August the chicks should be at least a couple months old. It's my understanding that pheasant chicks also require bugs during early development.

 

[88man]

But by August the chicks should be at least a couple months old. It's my understanding that pheasant chicks also require bugs during early development.

The birds that die from west nile virus die in sept and some in October

 

[Desk Pop]

With the fire frequency that accrued in SE Montana pre fire suppression I wonder how many grouse there were in the pre fire suppression days. SE Montana burned far to frequently for big expanses of sagebrush.
As for fire and grazing, I have seen it first hand, fires burn slower and with less heat in grazed pasture than in pasture that has been grazed. Of course, if you get enough low humidity, heat and wind behind a fire even places that have been grazed hard will burn.

Yes it would be interesting. A lot of different factors back before hay fields and cities and whatnot.

 

[OntarioHunter]

This is true. I personally have flushed plenty of transmittered broods out of ag fields, old and new, when birds are seeking bugs.

That would explain why I haven't seen any sage grouse in wheat fields. By hunting season the bugs are usually gone. The last sage hens I shot forty years ago were feeding in alfalfa during October. I presume they were eating the stuff.

 

[CPAjeff]

Thanks everyone for the wonderful links and the posts full of knowledge! As stated previously, the decline of sage grouse is such a multi-faceted issue. For me, it is simply fascinating to look at all of the known factors and learn more about these incredible birds!

 

[Hunting Wife]

That is what they did sixty years ago, and you can add in trapped and poisoned too. We do not need to go back to those days.

Sarcasm font

 

[Ben Lamb]

Sarcasm font

You'd be surprised how many times I've heard politicians and lobbyists tell everyone that if we just used some 1080, everything would be fine again.

 

[kwyeewyk]

That is what they did sixty years ago, and you can add in trapped and poisoned too. We do not need to go back to those days.

I think we're still there, I know of multiple ongoing state and federal efforts to shoot, trap and poison various predators for grouse recovery, from yokes to ravens and even hawks and owls at one point.

 

[88man]

Thanks everyone for the wonderful links and the posts full of knowledge! As stated previously, the decline of sage grouse is such a multi-faceted issue. For me, it is simply fascinating to look at all of the known factors and learn more about these incredible birds!

I don't want to beat the west nile virus to death on this board because I know it will be dismissed by most. However, last night some late night reading about eastern turkey declines due to WNV a researcher referrers to the sage grouse as being HIGHLY SUSEPTIBLE > just more food for thought. Aside from WNV there are some lesser know viruses causing death in galliformes

 

[Hydrophilic]

I don't want to beat the west nile virus to death on this board because I know it will be dismissed by most. However, last night some late night reading about eastern turkey declines due to WNV a researcher referrers to the sage grouse as being HIGHLY SUSEPTIBLE > just more food for thought. Aside from WNV there are some lesser know viruses causing death in galliformes

I don't think anybody disagrees with you about WNV being a factor in certain situations. I personally did not know about that and am glad you brought it up.
We need to address all of the identified problems to work towards recovery, however.
If you have some links you want us to read, post 'em up.

 

[1_pointer]

I think we're still there, I know of multiple ongoing state and federal efforts to shoot, trap and poison various predators for grouse recovery, from yokes to ravens and even hawks and owls at one point.

When I was in UT, the DWR did heavy predator control (mostly red fox, ravens/magpies) to help sage grouse that were being relocated to help bolster a struggling population. I was surprised at the nesting/survival success numbers between control and no control.

 

[kwyeewyk]

When I was in UT, the DWR did heavy predator control (mostly red fox, ravens/magpies) to help sage grouse that were being relocated to help bolster a struggling population. I was surprised at the nesting/survival success numbers between control and no control.

It's unfortunate that we have to go to those measures but there does seem to be some benefit for grouse. One interesting observation in Washington is that a few years ago it became legal to collect roadkill deer, and there have been some anecdotal observations that it might be benefitting grouse by reducing scavenging opportunities for ravens. I've heard that well fed ravens are more likely to raid grouse nests, like it's more of a game or treat for them than a core food source, not sure if there's been any actual research on that though.

 

[Ben Lamb]

When I was in UT, the DWR did heavy predator control (mostly red fox, ravens/magpies) to help sage grouse that were being relocated to help bolster a struggling population. I was surprised at the nesting/survival success numbers between control and no control.

Any data on that transplanted population post-predator control?

 

[Hunting Wife]

I don't want to beat the west nile virus to death on this board because I know it will be dismissed by most. However, last night some late night reading about eastern turkey declines due to WNV a researcher referrers to the sage grouse as being HIGHLY SUSEPTIBLE > just more food for thought. Aside from WNV there are some lesser know viruses causing death in galliformes

I’ve been involved in wildlife disease work for a long time. Yes, sage grouse seem to be pretty susceptible to WNV. As are some other grouse, corvids, pelicans, etc. But that does not mean WNV mortality is high everywhere, every year. Conditions have to be right for Culex, the virus, and the grouse to interact in a manner that optimizes transmission and mortality. Some years we see a lot of WNV mortality among sage grouse (seems to be a pattern with precip), other years we’ll see almost none. That does not alter the fact that there is far more contributing to sage grouse declines than just West Nile.

 

[antlerradar]

Sarcasm font

Yes, but all good sarcasm has a hint of truth.

 

[antlerradar]

A lot of those fires back then were human caused, and they had enough sense for the most part, not to light them off during periods of high wind and heat, and low humidity. Frequent fire in those conditions would not burn up all the vegetation including sage. It would create a mosaic of vegetative conditions that would reduce the chances of wide spread catastrophic fire.

I would agree that many of the fires were set by native's, but anyone that has set a backfire or burned ditches knows how fast conditions change and the fire is out of your control even with today's equipment and weather forecasts.
My great grand father talked about a fire that burned everything between Powder River and Tongue River. Likely it never got across the rivers because back in those days anything close to good water was grazed to the dirt.