Sage Grouse Protection
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Sage Grouse
Photo by Jim Laybourn Courtesy of Wyoming Photo Experience |
The Greater Sage Grouse
The magnificent greater sage grouse, North America's largest grouse, makes its home in Wyoming. In fact, two of the largest remaining complexes of nesting and breeding sites, known as "leks," are located in pristine habitat in Wyoming. The courtship rituals of the grouse are considered one of the greatest wildlife spectacles on the continent. Some Plains Indian nations, such as the Sioux, Cheyenne, Blackfoot and Shoshone imitate it in their dances.
Reasons For Concern
Of the three Canadian provinces and 16 states in which sage grouse were once found, substantial populations exist only in seven states, with two stronghold populations anchored in Wyoming. Sage grouse is a good focus for conservation because it is a great representative species that reflects the health of sagebrush ecosystems, upon which a host of rare and beloved wildlife depend. Sage grouse have been declining dramatically in all of their historic range in North America since the 1960s.
Threats to Sage Grouse Survival
Loss of habitat as a result of fragmentation and degradation is the main cause for the decline of the sage grouse. As sagebrush ecosystems are cut up by human developments such as fences, roads, and oil and gas development, and are degraded by overgrazing, prescribed fire, spraying herbicides or ploughing and farming, sage grouse populations suffer. Right now, ill-planned oil and gas development is the largest threat to sage grouse survival.
Ways to Save the Grouse
Biodiversity Conservation Alliance and its conservation partners petitioned to list the grouse under the Endangered Species Act.. We work to advance positive, forward-looking land management plans to protect the grouse, and strive to defend its habitat, nesting, and breeding sites against destruction. We remind public agencies of the scientific and legal requirements for sage grouse survival. In comments on every project that potentially influences sage grouse habitat on public lands, we ensure the grouse is not overlooked. Please enjoy the following description of BCA's recent work to protect and restore the grouse.
Advancing Grouse Protection Through Management Changes in the Great Divide
During the revision process for the Bureau of Land Management's plan for the Great Divide area, BCA empowered the public to speak out for conservation. The plan will cover 4.5 million acres in Wyoming, and one of the last fully-functioning sage-steppe ecosystems in the West. Unfortunately, before BCA advocacy, the Bureau of Land Management's preferred plan was an endorsement of the destructive practices that put the sage grouse and other rare wildlife at risk. Through the visionary Western Heritage Alternative, a citizens' conservation plan for the Great Divide drafted by BCA, sage grouse would be very well protected. The Alternative recommends that comprehensive guidelines in the Connelly sage grouse study of 2000 be implemented in the Great Divide. These focus around the conservation of breeding and nesting habitat, late summer chick rearing habitat, and wintering habitat. BCA also advocates in the Alternative for no surface-occupancy or disturbance within 3 miles of a sage grouse nesting and breeding site.
BCA led efforts to organize public support for the Alternative, as well as public opposition to the destructive measures in the Bureau's preferred plan. BCA published the Great Divide Special Values Report to educate decision-makers, journalists and the public about the many wild jewels of the Great Divide and good reasons to protect them. We worked to educate citizens at regional events and by holding tours for regional newspapers as well as National Geographic and Wyoming Wildlife magazines. Each tour resulted in news stories highlighting the outstanding qualities of the Great Divide region. Supporters organized by BCA spoke at hearings across southern Wyoming. Conservation concerns dominated public testimony; a majority explicitly supported the Western Heritage Alternative. We engaged political leaders as voices for conservation, including the Governor, county commissioners and state legislators, all of whom deserve praise for doing the right thing by publicly criticizing the BLM’s plan. Dozens of concerned citizens wrote op-ed pieces in Wyoming newspapers, including letters and articles supporting conservation efforts authored by history buffs, religious leaders, petroleum geologists, and Native Americans. In the end, members of the public submitted more than 85,000 comments to the BLM, almost all opposing their destructive plan.
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Sage Grouse
Photo by David Menke,
US Fish and Wildlife Service |
Shedding Light on Groundbreaking Science
BCA publicized a groundbreaking study on sage grouse populations in the fall of 2005, known as the Holloran study. The Bureau of Land Management, who funded the study, was therefore unable to quash media access to the conclusions. BCA widely broadcasted the findings that protections for sage grouse are not currently sufficient to ensure the bird's survival, and we publicly demanded greater protections be enacted that would allow the bird to thrive. Despite the Bureau of Land Management's knowledge of the study and its findings before the date of publication, the Bureau had not previously disclosed that its management practices were insufficient to protect the sage grouse, nor did it change them. Due to this media blitz, the public debate on sage grouse has changed, and the Bureau must admit its efforts aren't working. For example, in the recent record of decision on the Jonah Field Infill project in the Upper Green River Valley, the Bureau itself wrote that management practices are not protecting the bird.
BCA Wins Protections for Grouse in Thunder Basin National Grassland
Due to a settlement negotiated between BCA and the Bill Barrett Corporation over 232 coalbed methane wells planned for the Thunder Basin National Grasslands, sage grouse will be better protected. In the so-called "Big Porcupine" coalbed methane project, seasonal, gated closures will occur within 2 miles of sage grouse nesting and breeding sites. During the nesting season, access to wells within the closure areas will be allowed only by bicycle in emergency situations, reducing the grouse's risk of roadkill, and significantly reducing disturbance and stress the birds would otherwise endure.
Watchdogging Collaborative Process to Prevent Gutting of Grouse Protections in Pinedale
When a group of industry representatives suggested that stakeholders in the Pinedale Anticline should meet to collaborate in finding a solution to conflicts over land use, BCA was skeptical but agreed to participate to ensure native species had a voice at the table. This collaborative process seems to have broken down. We have many options to engage in the process of decision-making and will do everything we can to make industry do the best thing for sage grouse in the Pinedale Anticline. In particular, despite much resistance, BCA insists that the Bureau maximize well-clustering in the suggested energy project. Furthermore, we are demanding that all well sites within 3 miles of a sage grouse nesting or breeding site be controlled remotely, with no travel or on-site management.
Defending Sage Grouse Against Jonah Field Infill Threat
There are four sage grouse nesting and breeding sites still within the infamous Jonah Field, already a poster child for environmental destruction caused by oil and gas development gone amok. A tangled web of roads and wellpads surround the grouse, and erodes their ability to survive. Now industry executives intend to further pulverize the landscape with 3100 more wells, and BCA has filed an administrative challenge to prevent this awful precedent.
Defending Pristine Habitat and Active Grouse from Giant Gas Drilling Project
A drilling proposal spanning over a million acres and encompassing extensive pristine habitat and one of Wyoming's largest sage grouse breeding concentration areas on the eastern end of the Red Desert is under threat by a proposal to authorize 8,950 new gas wells. According to many studies, this kind of impact could threaten the survival of the grouse that use the area. BCA has watchdogged this project from the beginning, has organized citizens to speak out on the grouse's behalf, and will continue to defend the grouse as the process moves forward. BCA is now spearheading a lawsuit to challenge the BLM’s decision to approve high-impact coalbed methane drilling in this area.
Defending Habitat from Coalbed Methane Threats in the Atlantic Rim
Wild Cow Creek proposed wilderness is among the West's most endangered wilderness areas. This is the last big parcel of public land along the Atlantic Rim that is still wild and pristine, with two large canyon systems cutting through the uplift. A destructive energy project was proposed that would cover the sensitive Atlantic Rim area, of which Wild Cow Creek is the center. In response to this project, in which 2,000 coal bed methane and gas wells are proposed at the eastern rim of the Red Desert, BCA has advocated strongly for "no surface-occupancy" within 3 miles of sage grouse nesting and breeding sites.
Defending Seven Nesting and Breeding Sites from Industrialization in Adobe Town
This year the vulnerable wilderness gem known as Adobe Town continued to be threatened by the so-called "Desolation Flats" gas project. The gas project would have industrialized fully a quarter of this wilderness-quality landmark had BCA not launched a legal case to prevent it. The case is still pending. There are at least seven active sage grouse leks within the Adobe Town area that are very sensitive to oil and gas development, and the inadequacy of BLM’s sage grouse protection measures is central to the case.
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