Washington Projects

Shrub-steppe Landscape Restoration and Resilience

Our Goals
Protect and restore Washington’s shrub-steppe ecosystem to ensure resilience for endangered birds, wildlife, and communities dependent on this unique arid landscape.
What We’re Doing
Audubon Washington advances shrub-steppe conservation by aligning on-the-ground habitat work, applied science, and policy with our partners in the Washington Shrub-Steppe Restoration and Resilience Initiative (WSRRI). Through this approach, we focus on implementing priority actions that improve habitat for birds, increase fire resilience, and support the long-term health of working lands across the Columbia Plateau.
Landscape view of sagebrush and a river

The shrub-steppe is an iconic ecosystem of the western United States, an arid land of shrubs and grasses and the habitat of the imperiled Greater Sage-Grouse, as well as declining populations of Sagebrush Sparrow and Ferruginous Hawk.  

Unfortunately, threats to this ecosystem are on the rise. Shrub-steppe areas in the Columbia Plateau have largely been converted to agricultural production and fragmented by residential and urban development, resulting in a loss of over 80% of Washington’s historic shrub-steppe habitat. The limited habitat that remains is under threat from development pressure, incompatible grazing practices, invasive species, and wildfires. 

The Labor Day Fires of 2020

In 2020, catastrophic wildfires decimated 600,000 acres of shrub-steppe habitat in the Columbia Plateau in just 24 hours, destroying critical breeding grounds for sage-grouse and other shrub-steppe birds. The fires also tore through farming communities across Eastern Washington, revealing that state, federal, and conservation partners were ill-prepared to launch a rapid response to critical landscape rehabilitation, and needed a comprehensive strategy addressing shrub-steppe fire resilience and recovery.  

The Audubon Network in Washington Responds 

The 2020 fires were a tipping point in what has become an increasingly severe problem. More frequent fires, burning at higher intensities and over larger areas, are destroying shrub-steppe habitat faster than it can recover. After the 2020 fires, we worked with public and private partners to develop a new approach to fire management in the region. We collaborated with NGO partners, champions in the state Senate, and staff at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) to lay the groundwork for a Shrub-steppe Fire Recovery and Preparedness Proviso, which funded immediate recovery and long-term landscape conservation strategy needs.     

We created a sign-on letter for individuals and organizations to express their support for investments in landscape recovery and had 700 individuals and 50 organizations sign on in support. We also penned a joint opinion piece calling attention to the urgent need to provide recovery funding for the landscape. These efforts helped secure a $2.35 million biennial allocation from the Washington State Legislature, along with an additional $1.5 million for the replacement of fences with wildlife-friendly alternatives.  

The WSRRI Long-Term Strategy Sets the Stage for Collaborative Action 

With funding in place, the proviso became what is now known as the Washington Shrubsteppe Restoration and Resilience Initiative (WSRRI). The initiative is aimed at improving fire resilience and resistance and is led by an agency coalition consisting of WDFW, the Washington State Conservation Commission, and the Washington State Department of Natural Resources. Audubon has served on the long-term advisory group for WSRRI since January 2022, working to create a strategy to promote ecosystem health, resistance to fire, landowner preparedness and response, and wildlife recovery. These elements were finalized in the WSRRI Long-Term Strategy, setting the stage for collaborative action across the public-private sector and giving us hope for the future of the birds and landscapes we care about.   

A 30-year Strategy for Shrub-Steppe Conservation 

WSRRI's Strategy, set for a 30-year period, includes five key elements focused on community engagement, habitat protection, habitat restoration, species management, and fire management. It emphasizes a strategic conservation approach, encapsulated in the "Defend the Core, Grow the Core, Connect the Core" principle. The initiative leverages advanced remote sensing for effective landscape-scale mapping and monitoring and identification of spatial priorities for habitat protection and conservation.  

Audubon continues to advocate for funding and resources for on-the-ground conservation, stewardship, and restoration activities in Washington. This work includes deepening partnership and engagement on tribal and private-land conservation opportunities, identifying potential opportunities for collaborative conservation and restoration actions, and exploring innovative, incentive-based approaches.  

One such approach is Audubon Conservation Ranching, a program that works at the intersection of wildlife, food, climate, and communities by collaborating with ranchers to implement management practices that enhance bird habitat.  

The WSRRI strategy is an Audubon success story that we can be proud of, and we’re excited to be a core partner in delivering conservation and restoration outcomes in support of the WSRRI vision.  

How WSRRI Guides Our Work:  

Advisory Expertise: Contribute avian science and landscape conservation knowledge to the WSRRI advisory group to guide implementation of the long-term strategy for shrub-steppe ecosystem health.  

Collaborative Strategy: Lead and support the implementation of a comprehensive, landscape-level approach to fire resilience and habitat restoration in partnership with WSRRI stakeholders.  

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