Landscape Explorer
Montana
Montana's productive grasslands provide habitat for incredible populations of diverse wildlife and forage for the state's important grazing economy.
Encroaching trees like juniper and Douglas fir are threatening these services by degrading habitat and making it harder for the families who have stewarded these lands for generations.
Montana NRCS is implementing win-win conservation solutions to benefit wildlife, producers, and communities by addressing impacts of conifer encroachment on...
Wildland Fire Risk
While many of us associate wildfire with forests, more than 60% of the nation's wildfires occur in grass and shrublands where encroaching trees can make fires more severe and harder to control and extinguish.
Montana is no different. According to Headwaters Economics, "Wildfire activity...occurs in grasslands and shrublands and are some of Montana’s largest wildfire events."
The areas in Montana where the risk of wildfires are rapidly increasing are also the regions experiencing a marked expansion of woody species into grasslands.
Wildlife Habitat
When trees move into Montana's grass and shrublands, wildlife lose out.
- Sagebrush-dependent birds avoid habitat with more than a few trees per acre.
- Mule deer and elk rely on sagebrush during the winter months for forage, and studies show that mule deer avoid areas of dense conifer cover.
According Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks, deer, elk, and pronghorn hunting contributes $324 million to the state's economy every year, spending that is threatened by encroaching trees.
Ranching Economics
Expanding trees reduce the amount of forage available for cattle. In 2022, Montana's lost forage production equated to:
- $11.5 million in forage value
- 697,000+ round hay bales
- Since the 1950s, trees have moved into more than 7.4 million acres of Montana's rangelands
Each year, an increasing amount of productive rangelands are being overtaken by woody species, reducing the land's suitability for ranching. As a result, these lands are more likely to be converted to other uses, such as row-crop agriculture or residential development.
Landscape Explorer is an extension of a research effort focused on woody encroachment in Montana.
The Research
Working Lands for Wildlife researchers compiled and compared historical and modern aerial imagery from Montana's rangelands to learn more about woody encroachment. Read about this research here.
The Findings
The team found that across the nearly 48 million acres of Montana rangelands they analyzed, tree encroachment had occurred on approximately 7.4 million acres, or about 15.4% of intact rangelands in Montana.
Most tree expansion occurred in grass or shrublands, as opposed to existing woodlands, highlighting how tree encroachment is particularly threatening to Montana’s sagebrush ecosystems because they occupy the interface between forests and grasslands, increasing exposure of rangelands to tree seed sources.
The Implications
Understanding where and how trees have moved across Montana's sagebrush country gives landowners and managers insight on where to work to protect intact cores from woody encroachment. The Landscape Explorer application helps communicate the degree and scale of this threat.
Montana NRCS is teaming up with partners to tackle this threat through innovative, proactive strategies that defend intact cores and remove trees to benefit wildlife and ranching communities.
Montana Conservation in Action
Success Stories
Terry Todd is no stranger to working on the land in the beautiful Ruby Valley.
Terry initially started doing prescribed burning to take control of the junipers and extremely overgrown sagebrush that were invading his land. He later started receiving technical and financial assistance from NRCS and partnered with the Southwest Montana Sagebrush Partnership and Ruby Valley Conservation District to aid in conifer encroachment solutions.
Not only is Terry seeing beneficial outcomes for his cattle and monetary gains, but he’s also witnessing how the juniper thinned land is benefiting the wildlife. “I would say that you have a healthier elk population from doing this.” Terry continues, “We see grouse, elk, deer, antelope. So, it’s a benefit to everything I would say. I think it’s a win-win. It benefits a lot, not just yourself. And I think that’s fantastic.”
In 2021, siblings Staci Ketchum and Erik Peterson embarked on a mission to improve the health of their rangelands and decrease the risk of catastrophic wildfire on their properties. Having lived through two wildfires as children has made their work on their family’s land even more meaningful.
With NRCS’s help, they are simultaneously addressing two critical goals: reducing the risk of devastating wildfires and enhancing the overall health of grazing lands in the area. Additional agencies like the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC), and the Custer County Conservation District are also helping the siblings manage their land effectively.
Learn more about woody encroachment in the West and how YOU can help!
Woody encroachment is one of the biggest threats facing sagebrush habitat in Montana and across the West.
Partnerships that include federal agencies like the USDA-NRCS, state and local conservation organizations, universities, and landowners are helping address this threat through proactive, cross-boundary, spatially targeted conservation.
Learn more about how woody plants are threatening western range and the conservation solutions that are tackling this threat below.
