Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Utah
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

Utah Project


Integrated resource assessment, inventory and monitoring of wildlife responses to manipulation of the shrubsteppe enviroment

July 2004 - June 2011


Personnel

Participating Agencies

  • Natural Resource Conservation Service
  • Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
  • S. E. J. Quinney Foundation

Research objectives include: (1) Evaluation of assessment, inventory and monitoring techniques for determining status of plant and animal species and communities in the shrubsteppe ecosystem; (2) Focal animal studies on shrubsteppe passerine obligates, the greater sage-grouse, pygmy rabbit, and small mammal communities; and (3) A two-pronged effort on modelling vegetation, focused on (i) methods for change detection in shrubsteppe environments; and (ii) understanding the dynamics of vegetation transition, especially in response to man-induced and natural disturbance factors.