Sage Grouse Protections

The sage grouse is an iconic bird and a symbol of western landscapes. The Bureau of Land Management on Friday announced the beginning of a process to make amendments to Resource Management Plans across the west to add stronger protections for the bird. The effort is in response to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finding that the greater sage grouse is a candidate for protection under the Endangered Species Act due in part to irresponsible oil and gas drilling in the Rocky Mountain states and poorly managed grazing by livestock in the Great Basin states farther west. According to the Notice of Intent, “The inadequacy of regulatory mechanisms to conserve the greater sage-grouse and its habitat was identified as a significant threat in the FWS finding on the petition to list the greater sage-grouse as a threatened or endangered species.”