Name: Lens on Learning: Saving the Sage-Grouse and Why it Matters
Start: 2024-10-19T15:00:00-07:00
End: 2024-10-19T17:00:00-07:00
Location: The Juniper Room at Crooked River Ranch

Lens on Learning: Saving the Sage-Grouse and Why it Matters

Addressing the challenges of creating resilience in diminishing sage-grouse populations and sagebrush ecosystems, i.e. the sagebrush sea
About this Event

Please join Friends and Neighbors of the Deschutes Canyon Area (FANs) for our Lens on Learning program, Saving the Sage-Grouse and Why it Matters, presented by Joshua Newman Collins, PhD.

Known for the male’s elaborate mating displays in spring, the greater sage-grouse depends on sagebrush plants for its survival. But due to numerous environmental factors and habitat loss, their population over the years has been in steady decline.

Dr. Collins will discuss the challenges of creating resilience in sage-grouse populations and sagebrush ecosystems by addressing three main topics:

• What and where is the sagebrush steppe ecosystem (a.k.a. the Sagebrush Sea)?

• What is the greater sage-grouse and why does it matter?

• What we can do to save the sage-grouse and its ecosystem?

Dr. Collins received his doctorate in ecology in 1993 from the University of California at Berkeley. He has an extensive background in research and teaching covering subjects from nearshore marine to alpine ecosystems throughout the West. Retiring to Bend in 2021, Dr. Collins began working with the East Cascades Bird Alliance (ECBA) to help conserve the sage steppe ecosystem of Oregon and neighboring states, with a focus on the greater sage-grouse. He currently chairs the sage science team of ECBA and represents environmental non-governmental organizations on the Coordinating Council of the SageCon Partnership.

Presented by non-profit organization Friends and Neighbors of the Deschutes Canyon Area (FANs), Lens on Learning programs are free for FANs members; a $5 donation is requested for non-members.