Dataset: Index of Relative Ecosystem Resilience and Resistance across Sage-Grouse Management Zones

Emerging applications of ecosystem resilience and resistance concepts in sagebrush ecosystems allow managers to better predict and mitigate impacts of wildfire and invasive annual grasses. Soil temperature and moisture strongly influence the kind and amount of vegetation, and consequently, are closely tied to sagebrush ecosystem resilience and resistance (Chambers et al. 2014, 2016). Soil taxonomic temperature and moisture regimes can be used as indicators of resilience and resistance at landscape scales to depict environmental gradients in sagebrush ecosystems that range from cold/cool-moist sites to warm-dry sites. We aggregated soil survey spatial and tabular data to facilitate broad-scale analyses of resilience and resistance across the range of sage-grouse (Maestas et al. 2016). Soils data were derived from two primary sources available through the National Cooperative Soil Survey: 1) completed and interim soil surveys available through the Soil Survey Geographic Database (SSURGO; Soil Survey Staff 2014a), and 2) the State Soils Geographic Database (STATSGO2; Soil Survey Staff 2014b). SSURGO and STATSGO2 data for this product were obtained from the Geospatial Data Gateway (https://gdg.sc.egov.usda.gov/) in October 2013. Corrections were made to some soil moisture subclass data in Wyoming and northwestern Colorado in April 2016, based on information provided by local soil scientists with the USDA - Natural Resources Conservation Service. Outputs include geodatabases that combine key soils data across sage-grouse management zones which have been made available to assist conservation planning. We also generated a simplified index of relative resilience and resistance by assigning each soil temperature and moisture regime/moisture subclass to one of three categories (high, moderate, and low) based on expert opinion. Users are encouraged to field verify soils when planning onsite projects.