91´ÎÔª

Personal Summary

Dave is Professor of Wildlife Biology at the 91´ÎÔª and a science advisor for the NRCS-led Working Lands for Wildlife approach in the sagebrush biome. Dave and his science team use the latest in remote sensing technologies and field techniques to build spatial targeting tools and to assess outcomes in voluntary, private lands conservation. He values balancing science tools that help wildlife and ranching operations as the secret sauce in community-based conservation. Dave did his graduate work at South Dakota State University.

Education

Ph.D. Biological Sciences, South Dakota State University, 1998
M.S. Wildlife Science, South Dakota State University, 1994
B.S. Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Northwest Missouri State University, 1992

New Book - Energy Development and Wildlife Conservation in Western North America

Edited by Wildlife Biology Professor  with 25 contributors and a foreword by Mark Boyce
 

Teaching Experience

I am a tenured Associate Professor in the Wildlife Biology Program.My appointment is a 9-month tenure track position (67% Teach, 33% Research). I teach courses at UM that reach a cross-section of wildlife graduate students (Landscape Ecology WBIO560), Jr/Sr undergraduate majors (Wildlife Habitat WBIO370) and freshman non-majors (Wildlife & People WBIO105N). This is the first time that WBIO105N and WBIO560 have been offered on campus. I developed WBIO105N as an ecological literacy course for non-majors to satisfy 3 credits of their Natural Science (Gen Ed) requirements. This course is gaining in popularity with 100+ non-majors enrolled Fall 2006. In Spring 2002 and 2003, 42 MS and PhD students completed my new WBIO560 course. I also completely revised and updated the WBIO370 Wildlife Habitat course materials. Changes include six 5-hr hands-on field trips, assignments to improve writing skills, and GIS labs to expose our majors to new technologies. My average teaching scores on student evaluations questions 1-4 (course content/instructor's effectiveness) were 4.5 (WBIO105N), 4.0 (WBIO370) and 3.9 (WBIO560) on a 5.0 scale (1 = poor and 5 = excellent). I also advise an average of 34 undergraduate majors and sit on 8 graduate student committees.

Research Interests

My primary applied research interests are in understanding relationships between organisms and their habitats in a landscape context. Critical thresholds in abundance and spatial arrangement of habitats likely vary among species that perceive habitat suitability on a hierarchy of scales.  Using the newest GIS and remote sensing technologies, my students and I quantify the importance of local and landscape attributes influencing habitat use of grassland and wetland birds in prairie and sagebrush ecosystems.

My current research projects include:

1. grassland bird conservation planning in the northern Great Plains,
2. sage-grouse research on habitat, West Nile virus, and energy development,
3. factors associated with mallard recruitment in the Great Lakes,
4. risk assessment modeling to characterize factors influencing tillage of native rangeland resources.

I have published 40 papers in peer-reviewed journals and co-authored 111 presentations at national and international conferences, 29 invited presentations to resource professionals, and 16 invited lectures at workshops and universities. I also maintain Adjunct Professor status at South Dakota State University (1998-). I have further served management and scientific communities by publishing 5 book chapters, 12 extension publications, 3 literature syntheses, and 1 book review.
 

Selected Publications

2025    Donnelly, J.P., J.N. Moore, J.S. Kimball, K. Jencso, M. Petrie, and D.E. Naugle. Going, going, gone: Landscape drying
reduces wetland function across the American West. Ecological Indicators 171:113172.

2024    Doherty, K.E., J.D. Maestas, T. Remington, D.E. Naugle, C. Boyd, L Wiechman, G. Bedrosian, M. Cahill, P. Coates,
M. Crist, M.C. Holdrege, A.V. Kumar, T. Mozelewski, R.C. O'Connor, E.M. Olimpi, A. Olsen, B.G. Prochazka, J.R. Reinhardt, J.T. Smith, W.D. Sparklin, D.M. Theobald, and K. Wollstein. State of the sagebrush: Implementing the sagebrush conservation design to save a biome. Rangeland Ecology & Management 97:1-11.

2024    Mozelewski, T.G., P.T. Freeman, A.V. Kumar, D.E. Naugle, E.M. Olimpi, S.L. Morford, M.I. Jeffries, D.S. Pilliod, C.E.
Littlefield, S.E. McCord, L.A. Wiechman, E.J. Kachergis, and K.E. Doherty. Closing the conservation gap: Spatial targeting and coordination are needed for conservation to keep pace with sagebrush losses. Rangeland Ecology & Management 97:12-24.

2024    Naugle, D.E., J.D. Maestas, S.L. Morford, J.T. Smith, K.R. Mueller, T. Griffiths, and T. Heater. From a bird to a biome:
Exploring the Sage Grouse Initiative’s role in defending and growing sagebrush core areas. Rangeland Ecology & Management 97:115-122.

2024    Smith, J.T., A.R. Kleinhesselink, J.D. Maestas, S.L. Morford, D.E. Naugle and C.D. White. Using satellite remote
sensing to assess shrubland vegetation responses to large-scale juniper removal in the northern Great Basin. Rangeland Ecology & Management 97:123-134.

2024    O’Connor, R.C., C.S. Boyd, D.E. Naugle, and J.T. Smith. The Carbon Security Index: A novel approach to assessing
how secure carbon is in sagebrush ecosystems within the Great Basin. Rangeland Ecology & Management 97:169-177.

2024    Bedrosian, G., K.E. Doherty, B.H. Martin, D.M. Theobald, S.L. Morford, J.T. Smith, A.V. Kumar, J.S. Evans, M.M.
Heller, J.P. Donnelly, J. Guinotte, D.E. Naugle. Modeling cropland conversion risk to scale-up averted loss of core sagebrush rangelands. Rangeland Ecology & Management 97:73-83.

2024    Reinhardt, J.R., J.D. Maestas, D.E. Naugle, G. Bedrosian, K.E. Doherty, and A.V. Kumar. A spatial prioritization of
conifer management to defend and grow sagebrush cores. Rangeland Ecology & Management 97:51-60.

2024    Donnelly, J.P, K. Jensco, J.S. Kimball, J.N. Moore, D. Ketchum, D.P. Collins, and D.E. Naugle. Beneficial
‘inefficiencies’ of western ranching: Flood-irrigated hay production sustains wetland systems by mimicking historic hydrologic processes. Agriculture, Ecosystems, & Environment 370:109051.

2024    Goosey, H.B., G.E. Blanchette, and D.E. Naugle. Pollinator response to livestock grazing: Implications for rangeland
conservation in sagebrush ecosystems. Journal of Insect Science 24:13.

2024    Zarri, E.C., D.E. Naugle, and T.E. Martin. Impacts of umbrella species management on non-target species.
Journal of Applied Ecology 61:1411-1425.

2024    Donnelly, J.P., D.P. Collins, J.M. Knetter, J.H. Gammonley, M.A. Boggie, B.A. Grisham, M.C. Nowak, and D.E.
Naugle. Flood-irrigated agriculture mediates climate-induced wetland scarcity for summering sandhill cranes in western North America. Ecology and Evolution 14:e10998.

2024    Morford, S.L., B.W. Allred, E.R. Jensen, J.D. Maestas, K.R. Mueller, C.L. Pacholski, J.T. Smith, J.D. Tack, K.N.
Tackett, and D.E. Naugle. Mapping tree cover expansion in Montana, U.S.A. rangelands using high-resolution historical aerial imagery. Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation 10:91-105.

2023    Tack, J.D., A.F. Jakes, P.F. Jones, M. Hebblewhite, D.E. Naugle, K.E. Doherty, M.K. Sather, B.H. Martin, and R.
Pritchert. Grassland intactness outcompetes species as a more efficient surrogate in conservation. Conservation Science and Practice: 5:e13020.

2023    Smith, J.T., BW. Allred, C.S. Boyd, K.W. Davies, A.R. Kleinhesselink, S.L. Morford, D.E. Naugle. Fire needs annual
grasses more than annual grasses need fire. Biological Conservation 286:110299.

2023    Beck, J.L., T.J. Christiansen, K.W. Davies, J.B. Dinkins, A.P. Monroe, D.E. Naugle, and M.A. Schroeder. Sage-grouse.
Pages 295-338 In L.B. McNew, D.K. Dahlgren, J.L. Beck, (editors). Rangeland Wildlife Ecology and Conservation. Springer International Publishing.

2023    Maestas, J.D., J.T. Smith, B.W. Allred, D.E. Naugle, M.O. Jones, C. O'Connor, C.S. Boyd, K.W. Davies, M.R. Crist,
and A.C. Olsen. Using dynamic, fuels-based fire probability maps to reduce large wildfires in the Great Basin. Rangeland Ecology & Management 89:33-41.

2023    Smith, J.T., B.W. Allred, C.S. Boyd, K.W. Davies, M.O. Jones, A.R. Kleinhesselink, J.D. Maestas, and D.E. Naugle.
Where there's smoke, there's fuel: dynamic vegetation data improve predictions of wildfire hazard in the Great Basin. Rangeland Ecology & Management 89:20-32.

2023    Tack, J.D., J.T. Smith, K.E. Doherty, P.J. Donnelly, J.D. Maestas, B.W. Allred, J. Reinhardt, S.L. Morford, and D.E.
Naugle. Regional context for balancing sagebrush-and woodland-dependent songbird needs with targeted pinyon-juniper management. Rangeland Ecology & Management 88:182-191.

2023    Reinhardt, J.R., J.D. Tack, J.D. Maestas, D.E. Naugle, M.J. Falkowski, and K.E. Doherty. Optimizing targeting of
pinyon-juniper management for sagebrush birds of conservation concern while avoiding imperiled pinyon jay. Rangeland Ecology & Management 88:62-69.

2023    Kleinhesselink, A.R., E.J. Kachergis, S.E. McCord, J. Shirley, N.R. Hupp, J. Walker, J.C. Carlson, S.L. Morford, M.O.
Jones, J.T. Smith, B.W. Allred, and D.E. Naugle. Long-term trends in vegetation on Bureau of Land Management rangelands in the western United States. Rangeland Ecology & Management 87:1-12.

2023    Cross, T.B., J.D. Tack, D.E. Naugle, M.K. Schwartz, K.E. Doherty, S.J. Oyler-McCance, R.D. Pritchert, and B.C. Fedy.
The ties that bind the sagebrush biome: integrating genetic connectivity into range-wide conservation of greater sage-grouse. Royal Society Open Science 10:220437.

2022    Morford, S.L., B.W. Allred, D. Twidwell, M.O. Jones, J.D. Maestas, C.P. Roberts, and D.E. Naugle. Herbaceous
production lost to tree encroachment in United States rangelands. Journal of Applied Ecology 59:2971-2982.

2022    Roberts, C.P., D.E. Naugle, B.W. Allred, V.M. Donovan, D.T. Fogarty, M.O. Jones, J.D. Maestas, A.C. Olsen, and D.
Twidwell. Next-generation technologies unlock new possibilities to track rangeland productivity and quantify multi-scale conservation outcomes. Journal of Environmental Management 324:116359.
    
2022    Allred, B.W., M.K. Creutzburg, J.C. Carlson, C.J. Cole, C.M. Dovichin, M.C. Duniway, M.O. Jones, J.D. Maestas,
D.E. Naugle, T.W. Nauman, G.S. Okin, M.C. Reeves, M. Rigge, S.L. Savage, D. Twidwell, and B. Zhou. Guiding principles for using satellite-derived maps in rangeland management. Rangelands 44:78-86.

2022    Smith, J.T., B.W. Allred, C.S. Boyd, K.W. Davies, M.O. Jones, A.R. Kleinhesselink, J.D. Maestas, and D.E. Naugle.
Where there’s smoke, there’s fuel: Dynamic vegetation data improve predictions of wildfire hazard in the Great Basin. Rangeland Ecology & Management: 89:20-32.

2022    Maestas, J.D., J.T. Smith, B.W. Allred, D.E.Naugle, M.O. Jones, C. O'Connor, C.S. Boyd, K.W. Davies, M.R. Crist, and
A.C.Olsen. Using Dynamic, Fuels-Based Fire Probability Maps to Reduce Large Wildfires in the Great Basin. Rangeland Ecology & Management 89:33-41.

2022    Oyler-McCance, S.J., T.B. Cross, J.R. Row, M.K. Schwartz, D.E. Naugle, J.A. Fike, K. Winiarski, and B.C. Fedy. New
strategies for characterizing genetic structure in wide-ranging, continuously distributed species: A greater sage-grouse case study. PLoS ONE 17:e0274189.

2022    Twidwell, D., D.R. Uden, C.P. Roberts, B.W. Allred, M.O. Jones, D.E. Naugle, and C.R. Allen. Mapping panarchy to
improve visualization of complex environmental change. Applied Panarchy: Applications and Diffusion Across Disciplines 136.

2022    Roberts, C.P., D.R. Uden, S.M. Cady, B. Allred, S. Fuhlendorf, M.O. Jones, J.D. Maestas, D.E. Naugle, A.C. Olsen, J.
Smith, and J. Tack. Tracking spatial regimes as an early warning for a species of conservation concern. Ecological Applications 32:e02480.

2022    Smith, J.T., B.W. Allred, C.S. Boyd, K.W. Davies, M.O. Jones, A.R. Kleinhesselink, J.D. Maestas, S.L. Morford, and
D.E. Naugle. The elevational ascent and spread of exotic annual grass dominance in the Great Basin, USA. Diversity and Distributions 28:83-96.