The influence of a conservation-based grazing program on greater sage-grouse habitat selection

Understanding how vegetation management affects animals' habitat selection patterns is critical for comprehensive conservation planning. As part of a decade-long study (2011–2019) of 486 adult female sage-grouse in central Montana, we investigated how a conservation-based grazing program (CGP) affected greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) habitat selection at two temporal scales: (a) the seasonal scale (four biologically relevant seasons) and (b) the annual scale. We used resource selection functions to assess sage-grouse selection for pastures enrolled in a CGP as well as plant functional type and topography. We found that sage-grouse strongly selected shrub cover, flatter slopes, and less tree cover. They selected CGP-enrolled pastures (Pre-, During-, and Post-grazing system implementation) over Non-CGP pastures during all seasons except the summer–fall. During the summer–fall, they selected pastures where CGP implementation was complete. Future research is needed to determine whether selection for CGP-enrolled pastures was due to unmeasured, underlying differences between CGP and non-CGP pastures or CGP enrollment patterns rather than effects of different grazing systems, as well as whether these habitat selection differences are linked to demographic rates or population dynamics.