Dancing in the Desert
Managing Rangelands for Wildlife
Agriculture or wildlife: Is it always “either/or?” After all, a plowed field doesn’t seem very welcoming to nesting birds, and if livestock are chowing down on all the available rangeland vegetation, how is wildlife supposed to survive?
According to the scientists of the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), it’s not “either/or.” They say that out West, for example, wise management of rangelands can be good for both livestock and wildlife—and they’re proving that.
Consider the case of the greater sage grouse. Not only does it have a rich history — Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were captivated by this “cock of the plains” when they came across it— but it puts on a heck of a show when it’s shopping for a mate.
But as the name suggests, “sage” plays a big role in the greater sage grouse’s life. In fact, it’s the bird’s sole source of winter food, and the grouse’s astonishing mating ritual takes place exclusively in sagebrush habitat.
Sage grouse numbers have been sliding for years. In Lewis and Clark’s day, this bird reportedly numbered in the millions, but now there are only about 150,000 or fewer sage grouse in 11 states and Canada. Fingers of blame have been pointed at invasive weeds, increased predation, poor land-use practices, altered fire frequencies, and fragmented habitat, but the bottom line is that someone needs to lend a hand to the greater sage grouse.
That’s what the ARS scientists are doing. At their sheep experiment station in Idaho, they’ve been tracking the sage grouse population for four decades, and they even have an in-house sage grouse expert who says that at the sheep station, the birds’ numbers are holding steady, thanks to careful management.
The ARS scientists use three very unusual tools to make life better for the grouse: hooves, jaws and fire. The hooves come courtesy of the station’s 3,000 mature sheep, with assistance from the mule deer and other hoofed wildlife that wander on the station’s land. These critters act as four- legged “weed whackers,” gobbling up invasive weeds, while their sharp hooves help open up thick sagebrush stands (the birds don’t like sage canopies that are too dense).
The adult grouse typically feed exclusively on sagebrush during the snowy winter months, and in the spring their chicks start eating the green, leafy plants at 1 to 2 weeks of age. The nesting hens also like to eat the sagebrush leaves.
While it might be a bit harder to understand how fires on the range can be a good thing, the scientists say they’re a powerful weapon. Carefully planned burns can reset the range’s “biological clock,” awakening plants that have lain dormant for too long. For example, when sagebrush has taken over completely, it crowds out a potential variety of native plants and wildflowers trying to grow beneath the bushes. Occasionally burning out the sage lets these low- lying plants have a shot at precious soil nutrients and moisture.
Of course, the planned burns are very carefully scheduled and controlled. The ARS scientists say their burns are based on a 20- to 25-year cycle, which is what researchers think is typical of natural fires burning through mountain big sagebrush.
It may surprise you that grazing animals really like these recently burned areas. That’s because those areas stay greener in the late summer than the non-burned sites, because mature sagebrush isn’t there slurping up all the available water — which leaves some for the smaller grasses and plants.
The scientists say that since they’ve been managing the habitat at the station with these controlled burns, they’ve seen an increase in the number of grouse breeding grounds, called “leks.”
Now about that mating dance: There’s a good reason why it’s been called “one of nature’s greatest spectacles.” Just before daylight, the male grouse puff up their chests and plumage to make themselves look bigger, then start whistling, swishing their wings and making a loud popping sound known as “booming” to impress nearby females. The dominant males take center stage on the strutting grounds, with the younger males skulking at the edges.
Talk about “strutting your stuff” — these birds seem to have invented it!
"Everybody's
Science" is written by Sandy Miller Hays, Director of Information for
the Agricultural Research Service, the chief scientific research agency
of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Hays is a native of Fort Smith,
Ark. From the late 1970s until early 1988, Hays was a reporter, editor
and columnist at the Arkansas Democrat (now the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette),
a Little Rock-based daily newspaper. She joined the ARS Information
Staff in 1988, and became Director of Information in April 1998.
Managing Rangelands for Wildlife
Agriculture or wildlife: Is it always “either/or?” After all, a plowed field doesn’t seem very welcoming to nesting birds, and if livestock are chowing down on all the available rangeland vegetation, how is wildlife supposed to survive?
According to the scientists of the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), it’s not “either/or.” They say that out West, for example, wise management of rangelands can be good for both livestock and wildlife—and they’re proving that.
Consider the case of the greater sage grouse. Not only does it have a rich history — Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were captivated by this “cock of the plains” when they came across it— but it puts on a heck of a show when it’s shopping for a mate.
In “a dance in the desert,” a young male grouse puffs up his chest to look larger to other males and to gain a female's acceptance for mating. (Photo by Stephen Ausmus)
Sage grouse numbers have been sliding for years. In Lewis and Clark’s day, this bird reportedly numbered in the millions, but now there are only about 150,000 or fewer sage grouse in 11 states and Canada. Fingers of blame have been pointed at invasive weeds, increased predation, poor land-use practices, altered fire frequencies, and fragmented habitat, but the bottom line is that someone needs to lend a hand to the greater sage grouse.
That’s what the ARS scientists are doing. At their sheep experiment station in Idaho, they’ve been tracking the sage grouse population for four decades, and they even have an in-house sage grouse expert who says that at the sheep station, the birds’ numbers are holding steady, thanks to careful management.
The ARS scientists use three very unusual tools to make life better for the grouse: hooves, jaws and fire. The hooves come courtesy of the station’s 3,000 mature sheep, with assistance from the mule deer and other hoofed wildlife that wander on the station’s land. These critters act as four- legged “weed whackers,” gobbling up invasive weeds, while their sharp hooves help open up thick sagebrush stands (the birds don’t like sage canopies that are too dense).
The adult grouse typically feed exclusively on sagebrush during the snowy winter months, and in the spring their chicks start eating the green, leafy plants at 1 to 2 weeks of age. The nesting hens also like to eat the sagebrush leaves.
While it might be a bit harder to understand how fires on the range can be a good thing, the scientists say they’re a powerful weapon. Carefully planned burns can reset the range’s “biological clock,” awakening plants that have lain dormant for too long. For example, when sagebrush has taken over completely, it crowds out a potential variety of native plants and wildflowers trying to grow beneath the bushes. Occasionally burning out the sage lets these low- lying plants have a shot at precious soil nutrients and moisture.
Of course, the planned burns are very carefully scheduled and controlled. The ARS scientists say their burns are based on a 20- to 25-year cycle, which is what researchers think is typical of natural fires burning through mountain big sagebrush.
It may surprise you that grazing animals really like these recently burned areas. That’s because those areas stay greener in the late summer than the non-burned sites, because mature sagebrush isn’t there slurping up all the available water — which leaves some for the smaller grasses and plants.
The scientists say that since they’ve been managing the habitat at the station with these controlled burns, they’ve seen an increase in the number of grouse breeding grounds, called “leks.”
Now about that mating dance: There’s a good reason why it’s been called “one of nature’s greatest spectacles.” Just before daylight, the male grouse puff up their chests and plumage to make themselves look bigger, then start whistling, swishing their wings and making a loud popping sound known as “booming” to impress nearby females. The dominant males take center stage on the strutting grounds, with the younger males skulking at the edges.
Talk about “strutting your stuff” — these birds seem to have invented it!
The Agricultural Research Service is the chief in-house scientific
research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. You can read
more about ARS discoveries at http://www.ars.usda.gov/news/.
About the author
"Everybody's
Science" is written by Sandy Miller Hays, Director of Information for
the Agricultural Research Service, the chief scientific research agency
of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Hays is a native of Fort Smith,
Ark. From the late 1970s until early 1988, Hays was a reporter, editor
and columnist at the Arkansas Democrat (now the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette),
a Little Rock-based daily newspaper. She joined the ARS Information
Staff in 1988, and became Director of Information in April 1998.