PICEANCE BASIN RESTORATION FOR WILDLIFE

The Piceance Basin in northwest Colorado provides critical habitat for mule deer and greater sage-grouse, and is also impacted by natural gas development. With elevations of 5,000-8,000 feet, sagebrush communities vary from Wyoming big sage with a cheatgrass understory to Mountain big sage with a diverse native understory. In 2008, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) set up 6 sagebrush restoration experiments at 12 sites spanning the elevation range. Monitoring continued through 2019. Key findings emphasize the importance of controlling cheatgrass dispersal and seed density within disturbances at all elevations. Cheatgrass dispersal and seed density are lessened when barriers to seed movement are provided, and this allows lighter use of herbicides and competitive grasses, both of which hinder sagebrush establishment. Sagebrush seed collected near restoration sites is essential, as sagebrush is site-adapted at a fine scale. Replacing dead sagebrush skeletons back on restoration sites slightly but consistently improves sagebrush establishment. With the suite of tools now available, including dispersal control, herbicides, forb/shrub-heavy seed mixes, local sagebrush seed, and shrub skeletons, disturbances within degraded sagebrush communities should be viewed as an opportunity to improve habitat. Findings are synthesized in CPW technical publication #57, Piceance Basin Restoration for Wildlife.