Umbrella Species: Greater Sage Grouse
Protecting the West's sagebrush landscape goes way beyond merely protecting the greater sage-grouse.
The greater sage-grouse is famous for its elaborate courtship displays, with males strutting, fanning their tail feathers, and popping the yellow air sacs on their breasts to create a whup sound that can be heard up to two miles away. These charismatic birds, which are strongly tied to the sagebrush steppe landscape of western North America, are threatened by habitat degradation, largely due to farming, invasive plants, and, increasingly, oil and gas development. To protect the bird in the 11 states where it occurs, the federal government has adopted a “core-habitat” strategy, pioneered in part by Audubon, which aims to limit development on lands most critical to the species’ survival. Conserving the sage-grouse, an “umbrella” species, helps protect a wide array of other wildlife that rely on the same habitat. Here’s a look at some of the plants and animals likely to benefit from greater-sage grouse conservation.
Birds
Western burrowing owl
Mammals
Kit fox
Merriam’s shrew
Mule deer
Pronghorn
Pygmy rabbit
Sagebrush vole
White-tailed jackrabbit
Wyoming ground squirrel
Other Vertebrates
Plants
Big sagebrush
Flatspine stickseed
Fringed sagebrush
Hood’s phlox, or spiny phlox
Hooker’s sandwort
Maiden blue-eyed Mary
This story ran in the March-April issue as "Steppe by Steppe."