Sagebrush steppe Vegetation

Parks where protocol will be implemented

• City of Rocks National Reserve
• Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve
• John Day Fossil Beds National Monument
• Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument
• Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area

Importance / Issues

• Sagebrush steppe is the most abundant vegetation type in the Upper Columbia Basin Network.
• Significant portions of the sagebrush steppe have been converted to agriculture and heavily grazed rangeland, and much of what remains has been degraded through altered fire regimes and invasion of introduced plants.
• These changes have resulted in native flora and fauna declines, decreased soil stability, and reduced hydrologic function. Land use practices both within and adjacent to the Network parks continue to fragment and alter steppe ecosystems and predicted climate change scenarios will likely intensify these stressors.
• Plant invasion and shifting community composition and species abundance is the overarching concern for Network park managers. Indicators of sagebrush steppe biotic integrity, hydrologic function, and soil/site stability are the focus of the protocol, which will provide managers with information necessary to evaluate progress in activities related to maintaining and restoring native plant communities.

Preliminary Monitoring Objective

• Determine the status and trends in key indicators of ecosystem soil/site stability, hydrologic function, and biotic integrity in UCBN sagebrush steppe communities.
• Determine the status and trends in the frequency of occurrence and cover of principal native and exotic grasses, forbs, shrubs, and in the density of conifer trees in UCBN sagebrush steppe communities.

Potential Measures

Soil surface indicators of erosion; frequency and cover of Artemisia species, native bunchgrasses, forbs, cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), medusahead (Taeniatherum caput-medusae), crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum), and noxious weedy forbs; density of single-leaf pinyon pine (Pinus monophylla) and juniper (Juniperus spp.); forb species richness and ranked species dominance.

Management Applications

Information gathered from this monitoring will be used to:

• Help assess progress toward land health goal for upland communities.
• Inform management actions concerning grazing allotments, fire management, and western juniper reduction.
• Inform trend estimates for established invasive plants.

Protocol Development & Status

A draft monitoring protocol was peer-reviewed and field tested in 2008. The final protocol was approved in 2009, and monitoring efforts are now underway.

Contact Information

Tom Rodhouse
Upper Columbia Basin Network Ecologist
National Park Service
2600 NW College Way - Ponderosa Bldg.
Bend, OR 97701
Email

Document Links

• Protocol and Standard Operating Procedures (link to Reports & Pubs page)
• Resource Brief (link to Reports & Pubs page)
• Protocol Development Summary