| |||||||||
|
NEWS RELEASE March 5, 2010 Conservationists: ‘Warranted but Precluded’ Sage Grouse Finding a ‘Wake-up Call’
WASHINGTON – The federal government today announced its decision to move toward protections to the sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act. U.S. Fish and Wildlife finds the greater sage grouse is moving toward extinction and is in need of stronger protection but says other species come first—as many as 250 of them. Today’s decision highlights ongoing failures of inadequate plans and efforts to voluntarily protect this western icon and the sagebrush landscape it needs to survive. The ‘Warranted but Precluded’ finding still fails to grant meaningful protections to this vanishing symbol of the American West. At best this decision puts industry and public lands managers on notice to improve efforts to protect the the sagebrush landscape. At worst, business will continue as usual and the sage grouse will be driven closer to extinction. Biodiversity Conservation Alliance wild species program director, Duane Short said, “the fate of the greater sage grouse, in many ways, is the fate of this westerns way of life valued by so many. This issue is about so much more than a single bird.” Westerners pointed to the sage grouse as a barometer of the broader health of the land across the American West, and hoped that an increase in sage grouse conservation efforts would trigger broader benefits. “The oil industry has a much bigger impact on our western lands because unlike other minerals development, oil and gas fields can sprawl across millions of acres of prime habitat and open space,” said Bob Elderkin of the Rimrock Ranch in western Colorado. “The decline of the sage grouse goes hand-in-hand with the degradation of western lands and the loss of clean water in our aquifers as a result of drilling; we must now change industry’s business-as-usual approach because the lives and livelihoods of a lot of westerners are at stake here.” Today’s decision gives a ray of hope to hunters, bird watchers and all who value western landscapes that government and industry will finally move beyond lip service and paper-thin efforts toward meaningful protections. Mike Guy, a hunter from Casper, Wyoming, recalled the disappearance of sage grouse from one of his favorite areas. “It was a beautiful September evening about thirty years ago when we set down to watch the last rays of the sun sink below the far ridge in the Red Desert,” said Guy. “The sage grouse could be heard in the distance behind us as they collected to fly into the waterhole below to get a drink. As they flew over us flock after flock we marveled at the spectacle of the birds silhouetted against the fading light and sliding into the darkness of the draw bottom waterhole. We estimated that over 400 birds flew by us that night and that at least 600 were using that waterhole that September. A year ago when we last visited that waterhole I walked around the area carefully and could not find a sage grouse track anywhere. With the sage grouse situation as desperate as it is, the prospect of industrial development in the form of oil and gas drilling and production as well as uranium exploration and mining will create a massive additional stress on the birds. Will the antelope, elk, deer, and other species follow the same route as the sage grouse? I fear they will.” The sage grouse is an icon of the West and an integral part of the cultural fabric of western traditions. “For thousands of years, sage grouse have been important to Native people for food and cultural reasons, said Dick Baldes, an Eastern Shoshone tribal member and former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist. “Some of the traditional dances were derived from Native people observing them on their strutting grounds. The Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes on the Wind River Reservation recognize that good land stewardship results in more wildlife, clean water and clean air. We need change to strike a balance so development doesn’t cause the disappearance of our lands, wildlife, and clean water.” Conservation-minded citizens and organizations will be watching closely to see if the sage grouse’s new status of ‘Warranted but Precluded’ results in more effective efforts going forward to establish basic ground rules for the oil and gas industry. “For a decade now, we’ve had a style of oil and gas drilling that runs roughshod over our western lands and wildlife, leaving polluted air and water in its wake,” said Erik Molvar, Wildlife Biologist with Biodiversity Conservation Alliance. “The health of the entire western landscape, with its wildlife ranging from pronghorns and elk to pygmy rabbits and burrowing owls, is imperiled. Up to this point we’ve seen plans that predict continued sage grouse declines, but hopefully this decision will be the wake-up call that’s needed to turn things around and compel corporate interests like the oil industry to start using advanced technologies to achieve major reductions in impacts on the sage grouse, other wildlife, and the American West as a whole.” Molvar continued, “Economically feasible exploration and drilling methods and technologies already exist for the oil and gas industry that are compatible with the biological needs of the sage grouse and other sagebrush dependent wildlife. For example, the use of directional drilling—where a single pad is used instead of many for several wells—can decrease the impact to all wildlife and the landscape by orders of magnitude. But even the best oil and gas industry technologies and techniques cannot save the sage grouse and other sagebrush dependent wildlife if they are not used.” One of the world’s most respected sage grouse experts, Clait Braun, noted “The continued declines in distribution and abundance of this once more widely distributed and very abundant species emphasize the failure of multiple-use management of Western rangelands.” “Sage-grouse deserve better recognition of their biological needs.” “Management should focus on practices that benefit Sage-grouse.”
Contact information:
|
|||||||||
Biodiversity Conservation Alliance P.O. Box 1512, Laramie, WY 82073 (307) 742-7978 - carmi@voiceforthewild.org |