Public lands managers have released an outline for creating a decades-long strategy to combat wildfire-prone invasive weeds considered a main threat to Great Basin sagebrush ecosystems.
The report released Monday by the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies says piecemeal efforts must be replaced by landscape-wide strategies stretching across Western states.
Officials say without it there will be declines in sage grouse and other species possibly leading to regulatory actions limiting economic growth.
The report, the product of a weed summit in Boise last fall, says the next step is creating an action plan.
The report is part of a larger effort following Interior Secretary Sally Jewell's order last year calling for a "science-based" strategy to stop wildfires that have been especially destructive in the Great Basin region.