Extrapolated 5-year average (2038-2042) invasive annual grass invaded cover for the sagebrush biome, USA

Invaded cover was extrapolated for the sagebrush biome using 5-year average outputs from 10 regional spatially explicit state-and-transition simulation models (STSMs) of invasive annual grass (IAG) dynamics. This dataset contains extrapolated cover for the biome after simulating 20 years (2022-2042) of alternative IAG management strategies. The average invaded cover layers generated illustrate predicted hectares of invaded area and the ability of scenarios to preserve core sagebrush areas, minimize degradation and loss of wildlife habitat, and reduce wildfire risk. STSMs were built to simulate and track IAG growth and spread as well as response to management actions. Spatially explicit models were built as paired model extents (A/B) for five regions that differed in underlying site conditions, susceptibility to invasion, and the amounts of IAG cover present (seedbank, <8% cover, 8-15% cover, 15-50% cover, >50% cover, uninvaded), representing a range of simulated IAG outcomes across the sagebrush biome. Two scenarios representing alternative IAG management strategies were simulated for each model landscape. Management actions and treatment effort levels were based on historic treatment area polygon data for IAG management, represented treating approximately 1% of IAG infested areas of a landscape, and emphasized allocating treatment actions at a higher rate to areas with more IAG cover. Sagebrush Conservation Design (SCD) classifications of the landscape were included in STSMs to track simulated outcomes relative to areas of importance and were also used for extrapolating results up to the sagebrush biome scale.