Book Review: Saving Species on Private Lands: Unlocking Incentives to Conserve Wildlife and Their Habitats

This is a book review of Saving Species on Private Lands: Unlocking Incentives to Conserve Wildlife and their Habitats

Utah\u27s Sage-Grouse Habitat Mitigation Program

This fact sheet is intended for an audience of rural landowners in Utah who have sage-grouse habitat -- or possible sage-grouse habitat -- on their land. Landowners who are interested in earning credits for habitat improvement projects done on their land may be able to sell those credits to others who have created permanent disturbance to sage-grouse habitat elsewhere in Utah. Basic information about Utah\u27s state program for compensatory mitigation of sage-grouse habitat is provided, including core qualifications to participate in the program, and how to get more detailed information

Wyoming Sage-Grouse Working Groups: Lessons Learned

The greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) has been the subject of multiple status reviews under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Wyoming accounts for approximately 38% of the range-wide population. Since 2000, 2 statewide and 8 local citizen working groups have been established in Wyoming to developed conservation plans and advise state policy. The first statewide plan for the conservation of sage-grouse was formally adopted in 2003. The statewide plan established local sage-grouse working groups charged with developing and facilitating implementation of local conservation plans. Those 8 plans were completed in 2007 and 2008, and updated in 2014. From 2005-2017, the local working groups allocated nearly $7 million in legislatively appropriated funds to support conservation projects. In 2007, then Wyoming governor Dave Freudenthal appointed a statewide Sage-grouse Implementation Team. The team was statutorily sanctioned by the Wyoming legislature in 2015 and advises the current governor on all matters related to the Wyoming Greater Sage-Grouse Core Area Protection Policy. The Core Area Policy was established by Executive Order and provides mechanisms for limiting human disturbance in the most important sage-grouse habitats. Federal land management agencies have incorporated most aspects of the Core Area Policy into their land use planning decisions. Effectiveness of local and state-wide collaborative conservation has been evaluated through assessments of local working group accomplishments, research on policy effectiveness, sage-grouse population monitoring, and ESA status reviews

Assessing the Needs of Sage-Grouse Local Working Groups Final Technical Report

Over the last several decades, biologists have grown increasingly concerned about declines in populations of two species of sage-grouse (Centrocercus spp.), a bird whose range covers a vast portion of eleven western U.S. states and two Canadian provinces (Stiver et al. 2006). This chicken-sized bird inhabits sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) habitats on public and private land across its range. Recent declines in population numbers of this bird across its range have generated concern among landowners and state wildlife officials that the bird may be listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Sage-grouse local working groups (LWGs) have emerged as a centerpiece of a voluntary effort to address declines in sage-grouse populations in the Intermountain West. As of 2008, over 60 LWGs had been established across the western United States. The majority of these groups have written local sage-grouse management plans and many have begun to implement these plans by seeking funding, coordinating management actions, and designing research to address knowledge gaps

Working with Sage-Grouse Local Working Groups. A Practical Guide for NRCS Staff.

This publication serves as a guide for NRCS staff for working with local sage-grouse working groups

SLIDES: Assessing Opportunities and Barriers to Reducing the Environmental Footprint of Oil and Gas Development in Utah

Presenter: Dr. Douglas Jackson-Smith, Utah State University--Logan Campus 37 slide

Sheeprock Mountains Visitor Use Report

The Sheeprock Mountains, located in southern Tooele and northern Juab counties, support a variety of uses. The mountains are a popular destination for camping, hunting, and off-highway vehicle use; they also support domestic livestock grazing operations through public land grazing allotments, and provide important habitat for numerous wildlife species. These uses have co-existed for many years, with many of them well documented through either public records (e.g., grazing leases) or scientific data collection efforts (e.g., vegetation mapping). However, there is very little empirical data detailing outdoor recreation use in the region. The only known data come from two-way traffic counters; data from these counters suggest an increase in vehicle traffic throughout the region over the past several years. Aside from this, very little is known about visitors to the region. This report details the first visitor use study to be conducted in the Sheeprock Mountains. We specifically set out to: 1) characterize the types and amount of outdoor recreation use occurring within the region; to 2) better understand recreationists’ motivations for visiting the area; and to 3) identify the spatial patterns of off-highway vehicle use in the area

Factors Related to Success and Participants’ Psychological Ownership in Collaborative Wildlife Management: A Survey of Sage-Grouse Local Working Groups

Declines of sage-grouse (Centrocercus spp.) across the western United States have prompted the formation of numerous collaborative stakeholder partnerships, known as local working groups. These voluntary groups create and implement local sage-grouse management plans and projects, often in the hopes that their efforts may help avert a federal Endangered Species designation for the bird. Using a mail survey of participants in 54 local working groups, I examined the importance of psychological ownership in working group dynamics. Psychological ownership is conceptualized as a latent, multidimensional variable consisting of responsibility, control, and caring elements. Multiple regression analysis showed early-stage group success, representative membership structures, older group age, and respondent identity and presence during group formation to be significantly related to feelings of ownership in group work. The results also showed that psychological ownership is a strong predictor of group success at the project implementation stage, when other variables were controlled

Conservation Programs for Private Lands. Programs and Resources Available in Utah for Implementation of Utah\u27s Wildlife Action Plan

This document is a compilation of the major programs in Utah that provide opportunities for landowners to conduct conservation work on private land. Each program summary answers the same set of questions, so that it is easier to compare opportunities in specific ways; for example, whether or not the program provides follow‐up funding for species monitoring