The Bureau of Land Management today released two long-awaited interim policy documents that will dictate how sage grouse habitats are to be managed for the several years it will take for the agency to amend its land-use plans throughout the range of the sage grouse to incorporate new protection measures for the bird.

The new policy is filled with actions that the BLM must "consider" (but not necessarily implement), and none of these actions are described with any specificity. The original Instruction Memoranda circulated in September of 2011 contained a mandate that actions harmful to sage grouse would be deferred until the completion of the Sage Grouse Resource Management Plan Amendment process if they were within 3 miles of an active lek and inside Preliminary Priority Habitats. This language was stripped out prior to the release of the final interim guidance, and replaced with vague language that gives almost unlimited discretion to local officials and pins hope for accountability on collaborative working groups made up of state, BLM, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife service officials.

"The BLM convened a National Technical Team of sage grouse experts to identify measurable standards needed to protect sage grouse, but the interim sage grouse policy is remarkably devoid of these measurable standards," said Erik Molvar, Wildlife Biologist with Biodiversity Conservation Alliance. "In cases where local BLM land managers want to do more to protect sage grouse, they will find ample encouragement for stronger protections. In cases where BLM officials want to ignore the welfare of sage grouse and ram through projects that are detrimental, there will be little in the new policy to stop them. The interim policy is written with such loose language that BLM officials will have the latitude to do anything they want – or nothing at all – to protect the grouse."

At the same time, BCA praised the work of the National Technical Team, which compiled a detailed list of recommended standards to apply in the context of important sage grouse habitats. This team was comprised of biologists from state and federal agencies, and its recommendations include the following for core habitats:

- No new oil and gas leasing in core areas and "sunsetting" existing leases as they expire so they cannot be renewed;

- A maximum of 1 disturbance site per square mile;

- A maximum of 3 percent of the land area could be subjected to surface-disturbing activities at any one time;

- No new surface-disturbing activities permitted in Core Areas, including wintering habitats, and if permitted a 4-mile No Surface Occupancy halo be applied around active sage grouse leks;

- Route powerlines away from core areas and bury existing powerlines to the extent possible;

- Require livestock grazing to be managed to maintain Properly Functioning Condition for streamside riparian habitats; and

- Modify or maintain grazing strategies to meet sage grouse habitat requirements.

In some cases, exceptions might be granted under stringent restrictions that require that sage grouse populations cannot be negatively impacted.

"The National Technical Team got it right – they did an exhaustive review of the science, and laid down a strong series of measurable standards that represent our best chance at sage grouse conservation and recovery if they are applied," Molvar reported. "The real news today is that the BLM, for the first time ever, has finally pulled together a series of sage grouse protection measures that are both strong and biologically adequate. They just didn't implement them in their policy guidance."

The National Technical Team's report is online at http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/wo/Information_Resources_Management/policy/im_attachments/2012.Par.52415.File.dat/IM%202012-044%20Att%201.pdf. The interim management Instruction Memorandum is available online at http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/info/regulations/Instruction_Memos_and_Bulletins/national_instruction/2012/IM_2012-043.html, while the interim planning document is available at http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/info/regulations/Instruction_Memos_and_Bulletins/national_instruction/2012/IM_2012-043.html.

The interim guidance comes after the sage grouse was petitioned for Endangered Species protection. After a 'Warranted but Precluded' finding landed them on the Candidate Species list, several lawsuits compelled the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and BLM to take stronger action to protect the bird, with a new finding on whether to list the bird as Threatened or Endangered due by the end of 2015.

"The BLM now knows what it needs to do to protect the sage grouse," concluded Molvar. "The question is, will they do it? They need to listen to listen to the experts."