USFWS Region 2: NWRS Special Project Support for Prescribed Fire and Bighorn Sheep Forage at San Andres NWR

The San Andres Mountains are a priority recovery area for the state-endangered desert bighorn sheep. Coniferous woodland species have invaded these Chihuahuan Desert grasslands over the last 100 years due to overgrazing, fire suppression, and climate change, and deciduous shrub species have reached advanced succession stages, limiting their availability for desert bighorn sheep. Before 1999, wildfires were actively suppressed, but after, prescribed burns became an important habitat management strategy. The impetus for burning includes providing high quality foraging environments for native ungulates. As such, San Andres NWR and neighboring land managers need to know if and how prescribed fire benefits forage for desert bighorn sheep. Ideally, prescribed fire improves nutritional forages, and consequently provides the basis for a healthy, productive and self-sustaining population of bighorn sheep. This project will evaluate if such effects occur.
Objectives of this work include:
1) Quantifying the amount and spatial distribution of vegetation responses to fire on San Andres NWR.
2) Evaluate the relationship between fire type (hot/cold) and vegetation response.
3) Report how vegetation responses resulting from prescribed fire equate to habitats favored by Refuge ungulates.
4) Based on habitat association work occurring on desert bighorn sheep, quantify the contribution of habitat gained from prescribed fire in proportion to available habitat for the species.
Data from this project will be used to amend the desert bighorn sheep habitat restoration efforts on San Andres NWR and neighboring lands with respect to prescribed burns. Data will also be useful to plan prescribed burns appropriately (timing, intensity, duration). We expect our results to be transportable to other areas housing desert bighorn sheep within the Chihuahuan Desert ecosystem. Overall, the project provides information to evaluate bighorn habitat as a baseline for adapting fire management conducted by San Andres NWR and its partners.

Justification for Single Source Determination – In accordance with Department of the Interior guidance (505 DM 2.14) the USFWS provides notice of its intent to make a single-source award in the amount of $31,920 via a cooperative agreement with the University of New Mexico (UNM). The University of New Mexico is interested in research on, and management of, fire as a tool to regenerate and rejuvenate vegetation for wildlife. This project forms a natural extension of research that UNM performed in the northern San Andres Mountains and Oscura’s to evaluate woodland fire history. It also complements pinon-juniper woodland studies in the Sevilleta NWR which is ongoing and directly relates to this project outcome. The USFWS has an interest in supporting the enhancement of UNM biological programs to provide a broader range of knowledge about habitat management for ungulates, especially desert bighorn sheep and other grazing wildlife. Both parties have a mutual interest in understanding and managing desert grassland ecosystems. The Service, through its resources and technical knowledge, will contribute to the work of the University by contributing biological expertise in the identification of University research projects and by providing technical expertise at the request of University researchers. It is in the public interest for both parties to consolidate resources for the protection and management of grassland habitats, by initiating and facilitating the development of cooperative efforts in educational and resource management programs, faculty and specialist exchanges, and the sharing of institutional resources. There is no Full Announcement associated with this notice of a single-source award.