IN RANGELANDS, RESTORATION IS UNDERTAKEN TO MITIGATE LOSS OF NATIVE PLANTS AND PREVENT FURTHER DEGRADATION SUCH AS SOIL LOSS OR ESTABLISHMENT OF MONOCULTURES OF INVASIVE SPECIES. ESTABLISHMENT OF HEALTHY AND DIVERSE NATIVE COMMUNITIES PROVIDES RESISTANCE TO INVASIVE SPECIES AND RESILIENCE TO FURTHER DISTURBANCE AND DEGRADATION, THEREBY IMPROVING OR MAINTAINING ECOSYSTEM SERVICES BEFORE THEY ARE PERMANENTLY LOST. THREE SPECIFIC ECOSYSTEM SERVICES THAT WILL BE DIRECTLY INFLUENCED BY RESTORATION OF NATIVE GRASSES AND FORBS ARE: 1) FORAGE PRODUCTION FOR LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE (A PROVISIONING SERVICE), 2) CREATION OF SEED SOURCES THAT PROMOTE DISPERSAL (A REGULATING SERVICE) AND THEREFORE HELP CREATE SELF-SUSTAINING PLANT COMMUNITIES THAT CAN SPREAD FROM FOCAL RESTORED AREAS, AND 3) REDUCTION OF BARE GROUND AND PREVENTION OF EROSION (A REGULATING SERVICE). YET TYPICALLY RESTORATION OCCURS IN AREAS THAT ARE HEAVILY DEGRADED, WHERE PROBABILITY OF RESTORATION SUCCESS IS LOW (E.G., IN MONOCULTURES OF INVASIVE SPECIES). HERE WE PROPOSE TO TEST AN APPROACH THAT INSTEAD FOCUSES HIGH RESTORATION EFFORT IN LESS DEGRADED "AT-RISK" AREAS WHERE SAGEBRUSH PLANTS REMAIN, BUT WHERE ABUNDANCES OF PERENNIAL GRASSES HAVE BEEN REDUCED. WE WILL REVEAL HOW ECOLOGICAL AND INSTITUTIONAL CONDITIONS INFLUENCE THE POTENTIAL SUCCESS OF THIS PRE-EMPTIVE APPROACH TO RESTORATION AND PROVISION OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES ASSOCIATED WITH DIVERSE, HEALTHY RANGELANDS. THIS PROJECT WILL USE ECOLOGICAL FIELD EXPERIMENTS, VERBAL INPUTS FROM LAND MANAGERS, AND COMPUTATIONAL MODELS TO DEVELOP SCIENTIFIC TECHNICAL CAPACITY AND IDENTIFY INSTITUTIONAL BARRIERS FOR A HIGH-EFFORT PRE-EMPTIVE APPROACH TO RESTORING SAGEBRUSH RANGELANDS AND THE ECOSYSTEMS SERVICES THEY PROVIDE. OVERALL WE EXPECT FUTURE APPLICATION OF OUR PROJECT RESULTS TO IMPROVE SUCCESS OF RANGELAND RESTORATION EFFORTS AND PROVISION OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES ASSOCIATED WITH DIVERSE, HEALTHY RANGELANDS, IN PARTICULAR FORAGE FOR LIVESTOCK, SEED DISPERSAL TO SUSTAIN NATIVE PLANT COMMUNITIES, AND EROSION CONTROL. IMPORTANTLY, BECAUSE WE ADDRESS BOTH SCIENTIFIC TECHNICAL CAPACITY AND MANAGER ATTITUDES, THIS RESEARCH ALSO HAS THE POTENTIAL TO DIRECTLY IMPROVE AND SUPPORT FIELD APPLICATION OF RESTORATION TREATMENTS IN THE GREAT BASIN. ADOPTION OF A HIGH-EFFORT PRE-EMPTIVE APPROACH IN THE GREAT BASIN WOULD REPRESENT A NEW PARADIGM OF SAGEBRUSH RESTORATION THAT COULD SERVE AS A MODEL FOR RANGELAND RESTORATION ELSEWHERE.