Mapping and prioritizing seasonal habitats for greater sage‐grouse in Northwestern Colorado

Abstract

ABSTRACTDelineating and prioritizing areas where wildlife occur on a seasonal basis is critical for successful conservation and management of at‐risk populations. Many local populations of greater sage‐grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) are of conservation concern in western North America because of continuing habitat loss and degradation caused by changing land use. To manage populations, wildlife managers need accurate, high‐resolution maps of different seasonal habitats, guidelines for managing habitat at landscape scales, and quantitative tools to inform habitat prioritization and management. We conducted population‐level, multi‐scale, resource selection function (RSF) analyses with generalized estimating equations (GEE) using locations from 2006 to 2010 to model and map greater sage‐grouse seasonal habitats in the Parachute‐Piceance‐Roan population in northwestern Colorado. Areas selected by greater sage‐grouse in all seasons had a mix of habitats with a sagebrush component, less rugged topography, and less non‐sagebrush habitat. Selection or avoidance of most vegetation classes was best supported at the 100‐m or 400‐m scale in all seasons. Birds selected sagebrush and sagebrush‐grassland at intermediate elevations during breeding and winter and more diverse sagebrush habitats at higher elevations in summer and fall. Absolute validation index (AVI) analyses indicated that although most use locations were concentrated within a highly restricted portion of the study area in each season, a much larger proportion of the study area was required to encompass seasonal use locations for most individuals in the population. Our study illustrates the utility of multi‐scale RSF analyses with GEE for accurately mapping habitat and AVI analyses for informing prioritization efforts for populations of greater sage‐grouse. © 2015 The Authors. Journal of Wildlife Management published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of The Wildlife Society.