Salt Lake City (Utah) Field Office

Hazardous fuels reduction raises brood and lek counts

Prescribed burning of a sagebrush stand along the Utah-Wyoming border in 2003 resulted in increased survival rates and higher brood and lek counts among Greater sage-grouse. It also improved the overall health of the local watershed and greatly reducing the threat of unchecked wildfire on land that is a mix of public and private ownership.

The burn removed 30 - 60% of decadent vegetation on 411 acres of a continuous sagebrush stand along Murphy Ridge in northeastern Utah. New, more desirable vegetation began to appear in the area just ten days after the prescribed burn was conducted in April 2003.

After fuels reduction, brood and lek counts have increased in the treated area. Before the burn, less than one chick per brood (0.6) survived, on average. After the burn the survival rate more than doubled, to 1.4 chicks per brood. Lek counts also showed a remarkable increase, from almost no sage-grouse found in the area to over 50 birds after treatment.

A “concert of cooperation” combined resources in the form of equipment, knowledge and labor from the BLM, the Deseret Land and Livestock Ranch, state and county authorities, and local landowners. BLM fire crews were able to tie in with existing fuel breaks previously created by the ranch. 

Initially conceived as a hazardous-fuels project in support of the goals of the National Fire Plan, the project’s potential benefits for sage-grouse were quickly recognized by the Interdisciplinary Team at the Salt Lake Field Office.

A campaign to inform nearby homeowners prior to the prescribed burn brought additional support for agency efforts to improve fire management in a wildland-urban interface zone.

New vegetation appears on Murphy Ridge
following a prescribed burn on 400 acres of
overgrown sagebrush. In some portions
of the treated area, new vegetation appeared
in just ten days.