Understanding current and future threat of invasive annual grasses (invasives) in the sagebrush ecosystem is a critical need for resource and wildfire management, biological planning and conservation design for this imperiled ecosystem. Many land managers are challenged with selecting the most appropriate invasives dataset or tool for their planning efforts due to difficulties in understanding dataset attributes (e.g., scale, resolution, sensitivity) and lining them up with management objectives. This project will: (1) develop an annotated bibliography of recent, peer-reviewed literature for three invasive annual grass species of highest concern (cheatgrass, medusahead, and ventenata); (2) review all geospatial datasets available for these species, including data attributes. For both of these tasks, information will be distilled in a format that is accessible and easily understood by private, state, federal and public managers and decision-makers.
PI: Cameron Aldridge aldridgec@usgs.gov and Sara Carter skcarter@usgs.gov
PI/Funding recipients organization: US Geological Survey - FORT Collins Science Center
Start date: 5/1/2020
Projected end date: 8/31/2021
Award ID: not yet assigned
Funding sources and amounts: US Fish and Wildlife Service, Legacy Region 6, Science Applications, $50,00