Partners working through the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Working Lands for Wildlife launched the Sagebrush Conservation Gateway website on October 15. The site features 20 new peer-reviewed collaborative research articles, published in a special issue of the Journal of Rangeland Ecology & Management, that build off of the Sagebrush Conservation Design (SCD) process developed in 2022. This process used new remote sensing technologies, like the Rangelands Analysis Platform, to map the entire sagebrush biome and categorize it into Core Sagebrush Areas, Growth Opportunity Areas, and Other Rangeland Areas. The SCD also evaluated the different threats facing the biome and showed that 87% of degradation across the biome is caused by invasive annual grasses and conifer encroachment, and land-use modification is a severe, though localized threat, that fragments and reduces sagebrush ecological integrity.

“At its core, the SCD is a roadmap for diverse stakeholders to proactively conserve the sagebrush biome in the American West,” the partners noted in the announcement. “It identifies the last, best, ecologically intact sagebrush areas to safeguard. It also points out the largest threats that are degrading the biome today.”

The Sagebrush Conservation Gateway features summaries of each article, along with interviews and presentations from the researchers, in an easy-to-navigate site. The Gateway delves into the science of how, where, and why conservationists are deploying the SCD to conserve the sagebrush biome. The site presents key findings and related resources. It is geared toward conservation professionals, land managers, and anyone interested in sagebrush conservation.