Early Estimates of Herbaceous Annual Cover in the Sagebrush Ecosystem

Cheatgrass dramatically changes shrub steppe ecosystems in the West, mainly by changing the fire regime. The creation of maps of current-season cheatgrass location and density has been difficult to estimate rapidly. USGS researchers have developed methods for producing a near-real-time cheatgrass percent cover dataset. They have completed a dataset that depicts cheatgrass across a large portion of the sagebrush ecosystem including the Great Basin and Wyoming for the current year (2017). Having cheatgrass maps early in the summer can help land managers as they plan fire operations and protective measures for human development and crucial wildlife habitats.