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For The Love Of Sagebrush, Protecting A Vulnerable Ecosystem In Utah

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Salt Lake City recently played host to the second All Lands All Hands Summit, which focuses on sagebrush conservation across the western United States.

“There’s about 350 different species in the sagebrush ecosystem," said San Stiver from theWestern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. "We have a number that are sagebrush obligates, species that require sagebrush in order to survive. There’s others that are sagebrush-dependent, those are species that depend on sagebrush during some part of their life cycle. And then sagebrush-associated species. There’s about 20 different species that are nominally species of concern, things like brewer sparrows, sagebrush sparrows, sage thrashers, sagebrush lizards, pygmy rabbits.”

 

Researchers and policy-makers from several states, including Utah, discussed the future of conservation in sagebrush habitats across the western U.S.

 

The U.S. Geological Survey’s Steve Hanser laid out the challenges facing land managers in sagebrush ecosystems,
 

“On the western portion of the range, some of the large issues are rangeland fire, which is largely driven by the expansion of invasive species like cheatgrass. In the eastern portion, although those invasive species and fire are becoming a larger threat, you have agricultural conversion and you have energy development,” Hanser said. “The science provides various options and information that then can be used by decision-makers to inform those decisions that they have to make about what needs to happen on the landscape.”

Both Hanser and Stiver recognize that sagebrush habitats are more than just a place for the people who live and work within them.

“There’s just something magical about it," Hanser said. "Immediately it was just a place that I was drawn to. So for the last 17 years, I’ve really had a passion for working in sagebrush.”

 

Stiver feels similarly.

 

“It provides a unique set of animals, that aren’t found anywhere else in the world. Additionally, it’s some of the large wild country that’s left in the continental United States, so that’s an important part of it. I think everybody that lives here should really enjoy that and treasure it.”