One for 350: Managing sagebrush landscapes

The nearly 67 million acres of sagebrush habitat on BLM-managed public lands are home to more than 350 species of animals, insects and plants. Some live nowhere else: if sagebrush is lost, the habitat no longer sustains them. For others, sagebrush lands are critical for breeding and seasonal migration: if sagebrush lands are lost or fragmented, their chances for survival decline, too. 

Many of these creatures are small and elusive. Adult sagebrush lizards are only 2 to 3.5 inches long and immediately scurry for cover at any sign of threat. 

The greater sage-grouse is the best-known avian inhabitant, but a number of migratory birds share the territory, spring through fall. 

 
More than two-thirds of sage thrashers (above-left) and sagebrush sparrows (above-right) are found on BLM-managed public lands. Like the others, Brewer's sparrows (center) nest and breed on sagebrush lands, but they also winter on BLM-managed lands in Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona.  

The pygmy rabbit stays in sagebrush country year-round, never venturing far from its burrow, where it spends much of the day between dawn and dusk. 

At the other end of the scale, the black-tailed jackrabbit is one of North America's largest hares and has a wider range of habitat. Still, they do best in areas where healthy sagebrush gives cover for foraging and to females giving birth and nursing young in shallow depressions, or forms, in the ground. 

 
Perhaps most prominent among sagebrush species are those that stand tallest -- mule deer and pronghorn. Both animals rely on healthy sagebrush lands for breeding and moving between areas they use in different seasons. 

GET INVOLVED | Review and comment on the draft environmental analysis of proposed options for strengthening protection of BLM-managed sagebrush habitat and the health of local Western communities. The comment period is open through June 13, 2024.