Fire resilience grant aims to help Bi-State sage-grouse
Keith Trout
Funding to help protect Bi-State Distinct Population Segment of the greater Sage Grouse from wildfire was announced Friday by U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.
The announcement included that the Department of the Interior will award $4.3 million to Nevada to restore the health and fire resilience of iconic landscapes in the states, including $395,000 for the Bi-State Sage Grouse in Nevada and a portion of eastern California. The funding also includes $3.98 million for the Greater Sheldon Hart Mountain area, which covers parts of Oregon, Nevada and California.
The Bi-State Sage Grouse project covers more than 4.5 million acres and addresses fire and habitat resiliency for sage grouse and other wildlife. The announcement says this project also improves local economies by providing woodland products to the public, tribes and commercial entities.
The BLM is partnering with the Nevada Department of Wildlife, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the Great Basin Institute and the National Resources Conservation Service on this project to improve the fire resilience of forests and rangelands.
"Today's announcement is a big deal for Nevada," Reid said. "This grant money will be used to protect both Greater Sage Grouse (Sheldon) and Bi-State Sage Grouse habitat in Nevada and throughout the west from wildfire — one of the top threats to the species."
He continued, "This administration has committed to a real, on-the-ground strategy to protect imperiled wildlife instead of kicking the can down the road like some of my colleagues would have us do. I thank the Department of the Interior for their work in making our public lands more resistant to potential wildfires."
The Greater Sheldon Hart Mountain project focuses on restoring sagebrush shrub and native perennial grass/forb communities by controlling juniper expansion.
The Wildland Fire Resilient Landscapes Program incorporates goals of the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy and Secretarial Order 3336, Rangeland Fire Prevention, Management and Restoration.
The Resilient Landscapes activities aims to improve the integrity and resilience of forests and rangelands by restoring natural vegetation landscapes to specific conditions and maintain fire resiliency, lessening the risk from catastrophic wildfire.
The Bi-state Sage-Grouse collaborative project includes the Pine Nut Land Health Project to the north and the Bodie Hills Upland Vegetation Restoration Project, in the mid-portion of the area.
A description of the Pine Nut project says it thins 10,000 acres of low-density pinyon-juniper to achieve reduction of hazardous vegetation, improve woodland and riparian health.
The Bodie project is more than 21,000 and its description says it "uses mowing or prescribed fire to remove pinyon-juniper and sagebrush to maintain and improve the ecological conditions and resiliency of the most ecologically-departed and at-risk upland vegetation systems in the Bodie Hills, at landscape-scale."
"The conservation and restoration of sustainable, resilient wildlife habitats, in particular the (Bi-state sage grouse) … is the primary purpose of these projects," a description of the overall project says. "Actions to counter the primary threats from invasive (non-native) annual grasses, wildlife, conifer expansion, and climate change are the focus of the projects.
"Treatments are intended to maintain and restore ecologically diverse, properly functioning, and resilient native plant communities."