Diminishing Great Basin Sagebrush

The variation in climate is and will continue to affect the resilience in sagebrush ecosystems. This weakened state is further intensified following fire. The increasing trends in temperature and CO₂ in addition to the frequency of severe weather events is establishing unfavorable conditions for sagebrush while in contrast it establishes favorable environment for invasive species like cheat grass, which is a species that follows fire. 

These same climatic variations noted above will also increase the opportunity of fire which kills sagebrush. As the sagebrush continues to weaken from climatic responses such as drought so do the native perennials. These two factors coupled with fire can clear large expanses of sage-grouse habitat. Regeneration of sagebrush is a much slower process than the regeneration of invasive cheat grass thus the recovery potential decreases as more habitat is lost following a fire.

I keep saying to myself…”what do we do?” After some research I found a sagebrush restoration guide provided through the Sage-Grouse Initiative that discusses the potential of restoring sites following fires or where cheat grass is already invaded with sagebrush bareroot stock or seedlings. Seeding areas are difficult and have shown poor results, in contrast to regeneration through plantings. This is interesting that it appears to be a realistic option to restoring sagebrush ecosystems.

Shaw et al. 2015. Establishing Big Sagebrush and Other Shrubs From Planting Stock

http://www.sagegrouseinitiative.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/8_GBFS_transplanting-seedlings.pdf