To Save the American West’s Most Iconic Landscape, It Pays to Be Strategic

A plan to save “core” sagebrush habitat helped some parks use scarce federal dollars where they’ll have the most impact.

By the editors of Park Science magazine

About this article

This article was originally published in the "Research Roundup" section of Park Science magazine, Volume 39, Number 1, Winter 2024-25 (January 15, 2025).

Sagebrush landscape at Fossil Butte National Monument, with flowering blue flax.

Image credit: NPS / John Collins

Picture rolling fields of shrubland all the way to the horizon, just like in old movie westerns. If you’re lucky, you might see a large, striking bird—the male sage grouse—putting on a showy display for the benefit of potential mates. But since 1998, U.S. national parks have lost 75 percent of good quality sagebrush habitat, and national wildlife refuges have lost 25 percent. That’s according to the authors of a study published in the November 2024 issue of Rangeland Ecology & Management.

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In total, that’s more than 500,000 acres of the West’s largest, most iconic, yet imperiled landscape. The study authors argue that when trying to protect this landscape, it’s better to be strategic and rely on what your eyes and ears tell you than to make random choices. They used a plan called the Sagebrush Conservation Design to help them decide how to protect and grow “core” sagebrush areas. Core areas are large, intact, relatively undisturbed sagebrush habitat expected to withstand the impacts of a changing climate. The authors show how this plan has helped some parks use scarce federal dollars where they’ll have the most impact.

Sparklin and others. 2024. An Assessment of Conservation Opportunities Within Sagebrush Ecosystems of US National Parks and Wildlife Refuges. Rangeland Ecology & Management 97: 94–106.