WILDLIFE DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Centrocercus urophasianus | Sage Grouse 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Sage grouse are distributed from north-central Oregon, southern Idaho,
and southern Alberta and Saskatchewan south to eastern California,
western Colorado, and extreme western North and South Dakota.  Isolated
populations occur in New Mexico, where sage grouse were extirpated but
have been reintroduced, and in eastern Washington [28,37,54].  Sage
grouse have been extirpated in British Columbia, most of North and South
Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arizona (except the extreme
northwestern tip), and central California [23,26,37].

Western sage grouse occurs only in eastern Washington and Oregon.  The
ranges of western and eastern sage grouse overlap in Oregon.  Eastern
sage grouse occur in all states and provinces within the range of sage
grouse except Washington [1,12].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
FRES29 Sagebrush


STATES : 


    
AZ
    
CA
	
CO
    
ID
    
MT
    
NV
    
NM
    
ND
    
OR
    
SD
	
UT
    
WA
    
WY



    
AB
    
SK
  



BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
    4  Sierra Mountains
    5  Columbia Plateau
    6  Upper Basin and Range
    7  Lower Basin and Range
   10  Wyoming Basin
   11  Southern Rocky Mountains
   12  Colorado Plateau
   13  Rocky Mountain Piedmont
   16  Upper Missouri Basin and Broken Lands


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   K024  Juniper steppe woodland
   K038  Great Basin sagebrush
   K055  Sagebrush steppe
   K056  Wheatgrass-needlegrass shrubsteppe


SAF COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
   107  Western juniper/big sagebrush/bluebunch wheatgrass
   314  Big sagebrush-bluebunch wheatgrass
   315  Big sagebrush-Idaho fescue
   316  Big sagebrush-rough fescue
   320  Black sagebrush-bluebunch wheatgrass
   321  Black sagebrush-Idaho fescue
   324  Threetip sagebrush-Idaho fescue
   405  Black sagebrush
   406  Low sagebrush
   407  Stiff sagebrush
   408  Other sagebrush types
   612  Sagebrush-grass


PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
Sage grouse are obligate residents of the sagebrush (Artemisia spp.)
ecosystem, usually inhabiting sagebrush-grassland or juniper (Juniperus
spp.)-sagebrush-grassland communities.  Meadows surrounded by sagebrush
may be used as feeding grounds [27].

Sage grouse occur throughout the range of big sagebrush (A. tridentata),
except on the periphery of big sagebrush distribution or in areas where
it has been eliminated [12].  Sage grouse prefer mountain big sagebrush
(A. t. ssp. vaseyana) and Wyoming big sagebrush (A. t. ssp.
wyomingensis) communities to basin big sagebrush (A. t. spp. tridentata)
communities.

Sagebrush cover types other than big sagebrush can fulfill sage grouse
habitat requirements; in fact, sage grouse may prefer other sagebrush
cover types to big sagebrush.  Sage grouse in Antelope Valley,
California, for example, use black sagebrush (A. nova) cover types more
often than the more common big sagebrush cover types [45].

Sagebrush communites not included in SRM cover types but supporting sage
grouse include silver sagebrush (A. cana) and fringed sagebrush (A.
frigida) [41,55].  Sage grouse use of less common sagebrush communities
(i.e., Bigelow sagebrush [A. bigelovii]) may occur but is not documented
in current literature.


REFERENCES : 
NO-ENTRY

Related categories for Wildlife Species: Centrocercus urophasianus | Sage Grouse