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March 29, 2024

U.S. rejects protections for greater sage grouse across West

Sage grouse

Associated Press

A male sage grouse, left, struts with two other males during mating season in April 2000, in Northern Nevada.

Updated Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2015 | 9:48 a.m.

BILLINGS, Mont. — The greater sage grouse, a ground-dwelling bird whose vast range spans 11 Western states, does not need federal protections, the Interior Department said Tuesday, following a costly effort to reverse the species' decline without reshaping the region's economy.

The fight over whether to list the bird as endangered or threatened recalled the battle over the spotted owl 25 years ago, in which federal protection greatly impeded the logging economy. The Obama administration and affected states have committed hundreds of millions of dollars to saving the grouse without Endangered Species Act protections that many argued would threaten the oil and gas industry and agriculture.

Tuesday's announcement signaled that the Obama administration believes it has struck a delicate balance to save the birds from extinction without crippling the West's economy. 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.

The government was providing some level of habitat protections on 67 million acres of federal lands, including 12 million acres where strict limits on oil and gas limits will be enforced, an aide to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said. 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.

"It's the most complex, the largest land conservation effort in U.S. history," Jewell adviser Sarah Greenberger said. "This model of science-based, landscape-level conservation is truly the future of conservation."

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada commended the Interior Department and the 11 Western states with sage grouse habitat for “their unparalleled collaboration.”

”Nevada has the second-highest population of sage grouse and some of the best habitat in the country, and I want to applaud Gov. Brian Sandoval and his staff for the phenomenal work done in partnership with Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell,” Reid said in a statement. “The decision not to list this unique bird was made because of the proactive conservation of sagebrush habitat agreed upon by the states and federal agencies. This process has not been easy, and we have a long way to go. But all those involved in this historic process should be proud of the outcome. This conservation not only protects the sage grouse, it also protects our rangelands, our mule deer and pronghorn antelope habitat and our western way of life. I look forward to continued cooperation between the federal agencies, states and local governments on implementing the sage grouse management plans and making sure that the sage grouse can thrive alongside our western economies.”

Jewell and the governors of Wyoming, Montana, Colorado and Nevada were to make a formal announcement later in the day at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge just north of Denver.

Even before that event, elected officials and interest groups offered a mix of praise and condemnation as news of the decision circulated.

Petroleum industry representatives said measures enacted to prop up the bird's population threaten to choke off oil and gas production. That echoed previous concerns raised by the governors of Montana and Wyoming over federal land-use plans intended to preserve the grouse's shrinking habitat.

Some conservation groups, including the Environmental Defense Fund and National Audubon Society, said the case demonstrates that cooperation among governments and private interest groups can preserve imperiled species. Other wildlife advocates said loopholes in federal land-use plans would allow too much development.

Greater sage grouse once numbered in the millions. Over the last century, the bird lost roughly half its habitat to development, livestock grazing and an invasive grass that's encouraging wildfires in the Great Basin of Nevada and adjoining states. An estimated 200,000 to 500,000 birds now occupy sagebrush habitat spanning 11 states.

Tuesday's finding reverses a 2010 determination that the sage grouse were in precipitous decline. Under a federal court settlement with the group WildEarth Guardians, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service faced a Sept. 30 deadline to decide the bird's status.

Erik Molvar with WildEarth Guardians said Interior officials had turned an opportunity to help the grouse into "an epic conservation failure." He said allowing exceptions, modifications and waivers within federal land-use plans means protections could evaporate with the stroke of a pen.

Republicans cast the issue as evidence of endangered-species laws run amok. Congress last year voted to block Fish and Wildlife from spending money on efforts to change the bird's legal status.

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.

"Do not be fooled," the Utah Republican said in a statement. "With the stroke of a pen, the Obama administration's oppressive land management plan is the same thing as a listing" under the Endangered Species Act.

The ranking Democrat on the committee, U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, said House Republicans attack Obama when his administration lists a species as endangered and when it decides against a listing, comparing the rhetoric to a game of "Mad Libs."

The Obama administration has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into conservation measures in hopes of patching together enough sagebrush habitat to ensure the bird's long-term survival. Federal officials worked with state governments to adopt their own habitat protection plans, which included local restrictions on energy development and setting aside private and public lands as habitat.

The administration also is proposing to withdraw mining claims on 10 million acres considered key habitat.

In addition, sales of oil and gas leases that were previously deferred on more than 8 million acres will undergo a 90-day review before a final decision is made.

At the center of the fracas has been Wyoming, home to roughly 40 percent of the bird's population and a hub of fossil fuel development, with huge potential for wind energy and uranium mines.

Efforts to avoid protections in Wyoming have resulted in a significant impact: No drilling may take place near vital sage grouse breeding grounds during nesting season. Oil and gas wells in areas deemed as core habitat must be clustered together and directionally drilled from well pads.

Other states have adopted similar plans.

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