Sagebrush in autumn

This story closely follows information in Pocket Guide to Sagebrush (2017),
by Leila Shultz, Utah State University - Faculty emeritus. 

Sagebrush grows on over 160 million acres of western North America – about 145 million of which are in the U.S.  Almost 67 million of U.S. sagebrush acres are BLM-managed public lands. 

Though sagebrush is botanically related to the sunflower, its blossoms have neither bright petals nor oversized seeds. Late summer blooming remains muted, and the plant relies on the wind for pollination, rather than insects. This requires a massive amount of pollen! 

There are hundreds of flower heads on a single stem and between two and ten florets per head. Each floret produces just a single seed, about 1 millimeter long. Altogether, a healthy, mature sagebrush plant can produce thousands of seeds. 

Amid the sagebrush, greater sage-grouse chicks hatched in spring have grown to nearly adult-size. Native grasses and flowering plants are drying out, losing their value as food and no longer able to support spiders and insects that nourish sage-grouse and other species in summer months. The birds now begin to rely exclusively on sagebrush leaves and seeds for food.

Sagebrush seeds and the plants' evergreen leaves will sustain the grouse through the long high country winter. 
 

With a commitment to improving outcomes for greater sage-grouse, the BLM is updating the plans adopted in 2015 to manage sagebrush habitat on public lands. Monitoring data and new scientific information published since 2015 will help us determine what additional steps we should take to benefit sage-grouse and people across the West who also rely on a healthy sagebrush-steppe.