Sage grouse avoids endangerment

Energy developers and conservation groups now possess two successful cooperative conservation models as examples. Similarly, Oregon has adopted an “all lands” strategy for greater sage-grouse conservation.

“What’s good for the bird is good for the herd”, said Collin O’Mara, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, “and (this) decision will help rebuild greater sage grouse populations and conserve sagebrush habitat that supports more than 300 species, including pronghorn, mule deer, and elk”.

“It’s not over”, said Michael Thabault, assistant regional director for ecological service for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Denver.

Last week the state requested recognition by the USFWS and BLM of the Colorado Habitat Exchange – a new program that, at least initially, will focus only on sage grouse habitat. The litigation was initiated by the Western Energy Alliance, and questions the reliability of the federal agency’s data-gathering methods regarding Sage-grouse population numbers and the density of leks. Through collaborative efforts between industry, environmentalists, and private landowners, management plans for the grouse were developed. Because of these factors, the Fish and Wildlife Service determined “the bird does not face the risk of extinction now or in the foreseeable future and therefore does not need protection under the ESA”.

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop said the announcement was a “cynical ploy” intended to mask the fact that the Obama administration has imposed limits on development across the West. Bishop was referring to changes in government policies guiding lands controlled by the U.S. Forest Service and Interior’s Bureau of Land Management.

The greater sage grouse is not heading to the Endangered Species List.

Scientists hired by the Department of Interior have estimated that Sage Grouse population has declined by almost 90 percent due to drilling and mining.

Sage grouse habitat used to cover more than 290 million acres. A territory covering millions of acres in 11 Western states has escaped a hammer blow. Through the recently-announced SGI 2.0 strategy, USDA expects voluntary, private land conservation efforts to reach 8 million acres by 2018. It’s too early to tell whether the uptick is a blip or a trend, but it’s happening without the pressure of an endangered species listing. Almost all of Wyoming is covered in dots indicating projects, and the majority of the Rocky Mountain West is shaded for future plans. This process has not been easy and we have a long way to go. “While the decision is welcome, the implementation of equally oppressive land use plans, which do nothing to improve on the work already being done locally to preserve the grouse, still leaves Colorado and other Western communities in a worrisome situation”.

At the same time, concerns persist over pending federal land-use provisions aimed at protecting the bird’s habitat, and, in the case of Garfield County, how big a land area that involves. He said exceptions, modifications and waivers within the land-use plans mean protections could evaporate with the stroke of a pen. “There could be litigation from both directions”.

Sage-grouse need the open range to survive. The FWS noted that in 2010 it believed that “habitat loss, fragmentation, and inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms” could warrant ESA listing for the grouse.

With the sage-grouse population having declined by nearly 80% over the past century, the debate about whether to list the species has ramped up in recent years. That’s more than a third of the animal’s total range and does not include millions of acres of private land shielded by conservation easements. Other states have followed.

“The number of people that are thinking about sage-grouse today is just incredible compared to five years ago”, Dave Naugle, a wildlife ecologist at the University of Montana in Missoula and the scientific advisor to the USDA initiative, said in a previous interview. Mike Enzi in a press release. Greater sage grouse rely on extensive amounts of sagebrush for survival and have had their short distance migration impeded. “These improvements will enhance not only sage-grouse, but also all manner of wildlife that are a crucial part of what makes Colorado and the American West the unique place that it is”.