Written by Peter Pearsall/Photos by Skyler Vold, ODFW Sage-Grouse Conservation Coordinator
In early April 2025, a crew from Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) conducted aerial sage-grouse surveys via helicopter over several Priority Areas of Conservation (PACs) located on Steens Mountain. The ODFW biologists used P Ranch as their base camp due to its proximity to the survey transects.
“The aerial surveys are conducted to locate previously undocumented leks, document shifts in sage-grouse breeding distribution, and monitor activity of leks which are inaccessible from the ground,” said Skyler Vold, ODFW Sage-Grouse Conservation Coordinator. “They are less a counting effort and more a presence-only assessment, which is followed up with ground surveys.”
The aerial surveys, which began in 2015, are funded in part by the Bureau of Land Management to support their range-wide sage-grouse Resource Management Plan. Oregon’s sage-grouse PACs are surveyed aerially on a 10-15 year rotation to monitor any changes in habitat use. Disturbances (for example, wildfire) or habitat restoration can change how sage-grouse use an area.
The aerial surveys are usually conducted during the first week of April, when weather is more reliable and sage-grouse are more likely to be present on their leks.
Read the ODFW Oregon Greater Sage-Grouse Population Monitoring: 2024 Annual Report.
