Overview Threat-based ecostate maps provide a spatial depiction of rangeland condition across public and private land in eastern Oregon. These maps are based on the principles of Threat-Based Land Management (Johnson et al 2019) as a framework to identify and address the primary ecosystem-level threats to rangeland ecosystems in eastern Oregon, and are widely used by the SageCon Partnership. Rangeland condition is described by ecological states (ecostates) that express current vegetation composition and level of threat from invasive annual grasses, wildfire, and juniper encroachment based on the cover of key rangeland functional groups and the severity of threats present. Change over time is captured from circa 1990 to present, with the intention to update maps each year.

The current Ecostate Time Series maps (version 3) consists of a set of 31 maps representing 3-year averages from 1989-1991 to 2020-2022 (the most current time step available as of fall 2023). These maps can be used as a recent snapshot of ecosystem condition, with planned annual updates over time, and also allow us to track trends over time. Because they represent 3-year time slices, these maps are not appropriate for detecting year-to-year changes, but are intended to capture landscape-level change on medium to long time frames, such as depicting long-term trends or evaluating post-fire recovery or treatment effectiveness over >5-10 years. Check out the ecostate summarization tool within the SageCon Landscape Planning Tool to explore status and trends of ecostates in a user-defined area within eastern Oregon.

Technical documentation

For more details see the threat based ecostate mapping description.

Data access

• The most recent ecostate map (and other data layers) can be viewed, summarized and downloaded from the SageCon Landscape Planning Tool. The ecostate summarization tool within the Landscape Planning Tool allows users to summarize ecostates for a customized area of interest and time frame.
• The Ecostate Time Series dataset for Oregon can be downloaded in geodatabase format as a full geodatabase (1.8 GB) or by decade: 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s to most recent. Note: download starts automatically from links.
• An Ecostate Map for the sagebrush biome (2019-2021) crosses 11 Western states and can be downloaded for areas outside of Oregon. Note: download starts automatically from link.
• Take Ecostate Maps in the field! Georeferenced PDFs (that show your location on the map) for your phone or tablet are available for rangelands in Baker County, Crook & Deschutes Counties, Grant County, Harney County, Lake County, and Malheur County. See the How to Access section of our storymap (toward the bottom) for directions and QR codes to automate access to these maps on your mobile devices.

Technical resources

For more rangeland technical resources, see our Rangeland Assessment and Management Tools resource page.

Contact Dylan O'Leary (dylan.oleary@oregonstate.edu) or Megan Creutzburg (megan.creutzburg@oregonstate.edu) with any questions or for technical support.