February 24, 2016 | 3:00 PM
Goal: To provide land managers and others with broad scale policy and management updates regarding livestock grazing and the management of sagebrush ecosystems.
Background: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and US Forest Service (USFS) administer million acres of public lands within the range of the greater sage-grouse. Grazing by domestic livestock is the predominate land use on much of these lands. In managing livestock grazing on public rangelands, the BLM's and USFS overall objective is to ensure the long-term health and productivity of these lands and to provide for multiple environmental services that result from healthy watersheds. Public lands and the adjacent private ranches provide the working landscapes which maintain open spaces in the fast-growing West, provide habitat for wildlife, offer a myriad of recreational opportunities for public land users, and help preserve the character of the rural West. This session will review how recent amendments to BLM and USFS resource management and land use designed to benefit the greater sage-grouse will be implemented. Recent research that may help guide these large scale policy decisions will also be presented and discussed.
Session Lead: Terry Messmer
Professor and Extension Wildlife Specialist, Jack H. Berryman Institute, 5230 Old Main Hill, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322-5230; Phone: 435-797-3975; E-mail: terry.messmer@usu.edu; web site: www.utahcbcp.org and www.berrymaninstitute.org
Terry A. Messmer is the Director of the Jack H. Berryman Institute, holds the Quinney Professorship of Wildlife Conflict Management in the College of Natural Resources, and is the Director of the Utah Community-Based Conservation Program at Utah State University. His research, teaching, and extension activities include identification, implementation, and evaluation of conservation strategies, technologies, and partnerships that can benefit agriculture, wildlife, and resource stakeholders.
Speakers Include:
BLM grazing permit processes: Past and Present: How RMP Plan Amendments Will Be Implemented.
Alan Bass, Rangeland Management Specialist, BLM Utah State Office, 440 West 200 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84101; abass@blm.gov
Alan graduated from Weber State University with a B.S. degree in Botany in 2004. Attained a second B.S. degree in Rangeland Resources from Utah State University in 2005. Became a permanent BLM employee in early 2006 and worked as a Rangeland Management Specialist for 5 years before taking his current position as a Rangeland Management Specialist in the BLM Utah State Office.
Greater Sage-grouse Conservation: Regional Implementation Strategy pertaining to Rangeland Management in the Intermountain Region, U.S. Forest Service.
Terry L. Padilla, Regional Rangeland Management Staff Officer, Intermountain Region, USFS; Regional Rangeland Management Staff Officer, Intermountain Region, USFS, Federal Building, 324 25th Street Ogden, UT 84401; tpadilla@fs.fed.us
Terry currently has U.S. Forest Service Agency Responsibilities that include Regional Management and Over-sight of the Botany; Grazing Management; Wild Horse and Burro Management; Rangeland Ecology, Improvement, and Restoration Programs. The Intermountain Region of the Forest Service is the largest grazing program in the agency. Additionally, the region contains the largest amount of sage grouse habitat representing approximately 8 percent of priority sage grouse habitat of all public lands in the western U.S. Terry holds a B.S. in Forest/Range Science from Utah State University.
Compatibility of livestock and greater sage-grouse depends on plant productivity and grazing timing and intensity.
Adrian. P. Monroe, C. L. Aldridge, T. J. Assal, K. E. Veblen, D. A. Pyke, and M. L. Casazza.
Adrian Monroe, Ph.D. Scientist, Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Dept. 1499, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1499. E-mil: amonroe@usgs.gov. Web Site: https://www.fort.usgs.gov/staff-details/1518
Adrian is a postdoctoral fellow at CSU with Dr. Cam Aldridge, and in collaboration with USGS at the Fort Collins Science Center. He is primarily interested in avian ecology and conservation within agricultural landscapes. He did his graduate work at Oklahoma State University and Mississippi State University studying effects of grazing on the distribution and demographics of birds in tallgrass prairies.
Greater Sage-Grouse and Range Management: Insights from a 25-Year Case Study in Utah and Wyoming.
David. K. Dahlgren, R.T. Larsen, R. Danvir, G. Wilson, E.T. Thacker, T.A. Black, D.E. Naugle, J.W. Connelly, and T. A. Messmer.
David Dahlgren, PhD, Extension Associate – Wildlife, Jack H. Berryman Institute, 5230 Old Main Hill, Utah State University, Logan UT, 84322-5230; dave.dahlgren@usu.edu; www.utahcbcp.org
Dave is an Extension Associate at Utah State University and has been working with grouse and their habitats for nearly 15 years. He has worked for state wildlife agencies as well as in academia, and has enjoyed longtime partnerships with other federal agencies and private entities. He facilitates 4 local working sage-grouse groups in Utah and is keenly interested in the translation of scientific research into applied management for the conservation of grouse and working landscapes.