“The sage grouse planning effort began with great ideas and sound science, but what came out the other end of the sausage grinder is a weak collection of compromises that will not and cannot conserve the species”, said Erik Molvar, a wildlife biologist with WildEarth Guardians. It also could help defuse a potential political liability for Democrats heading into the 2016 election; federal protections could have brought much more sweeping restrictions on oil and gas drilling, grazing and other human activities from California to the Dakotas.
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While supporters laud the coalition’s effort as “unprecedented”, “historic”, and an “extraordinary collaboration”, environmental groups see the move as a failure that falls short of what the birds need to survive.
She also called the collaborative effort “the largest land conservation effort in USA history”.
Over the past decade, the diverse coalition of states, counties, landowners, universities, energy companies, conservation groups and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Sage Grouse Initiative have charted a highly successful path based on voluntary partnerships, incentives and integrating public and private lands.
If the species were listed on the endangered species list, oil rigs could possibly be stopped until the bird populations were safe.
While the sage grouse is typically thought of as a “federal lands” species, because 64 percent of its habitat is on federal land, private lands are just as important.
No doubt a wide swath of Wyoming’s residents breathed a collective sigh of relief Tuesday when sage grouse was officially excluded from the Endangered Species List. More information on the plans is available here. The administration’s announcement of this major mineral withdrawal will more than double the number of acres of public land the president has protected thus far during both his terms.
For some time, the bird had been at the heart of a debate that pitted environmentalists against industry advocates, and conservationists against land developers.
The USFWS will continue to monitor greater sage-grouse populations, as it is scheduled to reevaluate the status of the species in 2020.
The greater sage grouse is an umbrella species that is emblematic of the health of the sagebrush habitat it shares with more than 350 other kinds of wildlife, including world-class populations of mule deer, elk, pronghorn and golden eagles.
Mead quoted his great grandfather, while Dan Ashe, the director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, summoned author Wallace Stegner’s memorable admonishment for the West: “When it fully learns that cooperation, not rugged individualism, is the quality that most characterizes and preserves it, then it will have achieved itself and outlived its origins”. 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”.
Federal officials deem that state-led efforts are sufficient to protect the bird’s habitat for the near future. Over the last century, they lost roughly half their habitat to development, livestock grazing and an invasive grass that’s encouraging wildfires in the Great Basin of Nevada and adjoining states.
“It does not mean we get to have a celebration and walk away from sage grouse conservation”, Christensen said.
About 45 percent of the grouse’s habitat is on state and private lands, which often include the wetter meadows and riparian habitat that are essential for young chicks. While private lands programs differ, each works with ranchers, landowners and other partners on long-term agreements to undertake proactive conservation measures that benefit sage grouse.
He said during Tuesday’s event that although he inherited his father’s distrust of the federal government, he raised his daughter to help him tie markers on ranch fences to keep sage grouse from flying into them and getting killed. On private and federal lands, the FWS and BLM have received commitments on 5.5 million acres through Candidate Conservation Agreements.
States in the sage grouse’s range have been engaged in this collaborative process, notes the FWS.
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Wyoming has been credited as a national leader in sage grouse conservation with its “core area” strategy that has been in effect for about five years.
