[PCA] NEWS: OSU Project Looks at Sagebrush Ecosystems

[Olivia Kwong]

Oregon State University Project Looks At Sagebrush
Ecosystems

By Travis Cobb, 541-737-6411/OSU

CORVALLIS, Oregon - Oregon State University has
received a five-year, $3.6-million federal grant to
study ways to restore the West's sagebrush ecosystems.
The Sagebrush Steppe Treatment Evaluation Project will
analyze lands that feature large, dry, open areas with
few trees.


"We are losing sagebrush steppe ecosystems at an
alarming rate, as wildfires fueled by cheatgrass sweep
across the landscape," said project coordinator Jim
McIver, an OSU associate professor of rangeland
resources. "To stop this process, managers need better
information on how and when to treat these ecosystems
to make them more resilient.

"The SageSTEP study," he added, "is designed to
provide this information."

Joining McIver on the OSU research team are Paul
Doescher, a professor of forest resources; Richard
Miller, a professor of rangeland resources; Bruce
Shindler, a professor of forest resources; and John
Tanaka, an associate professor of agricultural
economics.

The West contains 100 million acres of sagebrush
steppe, characterized by dry, open areas where
sagebrush dominants. Because of the invasion of
non-native plants such as cheatgrass, the numbers of
wildfires, and the expansion of juniper woodlands,
sagebrush communities have become one of the most
threatened land types in the United States.

Even among the sagebrush communities that remain,
problems continue, McIver said. Remaining brush is old
and unproductive and other native plants in the
communities face the same problems.

SageSTEP's interdisciplinary research study focuses on
land management options, such as controlled burns,
mechanical thinning and herbicide application to
reduce the potential for wildfires, and to promote the
growth of native plant species. The project also looks
at the different impacts these possibilities have on
ecological, economic, and social issues.

OSU is one of nine institutions participating in the
overall project, a $12.9-million effort that is being
funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the
U.S. Department of Interior's Joint Fire Science
Program.

Detailed information is available online at
www.sagestep.org. About Oregon State University: OSU
is one of only two U.S. universities designated a land
grant, sea grant, space grant and sun grant
institution. Its more than 19,000 students come from
all 50 states and more than 80 countries. OSU programs
touch every county within Oregon, and its faculty
teach and conduct research on issues of national and
global importance.

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