WildEarth Guardians

Friday, June 2, 2006
Settlement Reached Over Imperiled Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse

Feds Must Make Endangered Species Act Petition Finding in November
Contact: WildEarth Guardians

Santa Fe, NM - WildEarth Guardians and conservation organization from across the western United States reached a settlement agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Wednesday which requires the agency to determine on or before November 15, 2006 whether the petition to list the Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse warrants further review. While the Endangered Species Act requires this finding to be made 90 days following the submission of a petition, the organizations submitted their petition to list the grouse underthe law more than a year and a half ago, in October 2004. The grouse, which once ranged across 11 western states, has been extirpated from over 90 percent of its historic range.

"The Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse urgently needs the vital safety net that the Endangered Species Act provides," stated Nicole Rosmarino of WildEarth Guardians. "Inaction may cause this rare bird to join the many other species that have gone extinct due to listing delays," Rosmarino continued.

Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse were once described as an extremely abundant bird in the West. Their unique mating dance is one of the most awesome animal spectacles in the West. The grouse has suffered extensive declines in population and distribution. The coalition contends the species is in danger of becoming extinct unless it is protected under the Endangered Species Act. Delays in listing endangered wildlife and plants have led to species extinctions in the U.S. A May 2005 report by the Center for Biological Diversity found that, from 1974-2004, listing delays contributed to the extinction of 42 species. On the whole, Endangered Species Act protection has been tremendously successful in preventing extinction of native species: over 99% of species protected under the law still exist.

Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse historically occurred in shrub-steppe, mountain shrub, and riparian habitats in the Intermountain West in the United States and British Columbia. This grouse's range has been reduced to isolated populations in northern Washington, northeastern Nevada, western Idaho, south-central Idaho, southeastern Idaho, northern Utah, south-central Wyoming, northwestern Colorado and central British Columbia.

The Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse was first petitioned for Endangered Species Act listing in 1995, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service denied the request despite dramatic declines in population and range, asserting that tracts of land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), an agricultural land reservation program, provided sufficient quality habitat to ensure the species' survival. Since it was denied listing, the grouse has vanished from the state of Montana, and threats continue to escalate. Changes to the CRP have allowed frequent haying and livestock grazing on enrolled lands, which harms grouse nesting and brood-rearing habitat. Although voluntary conservation plans have been developed in several states, since listing was denied, these plans have not been implemented, and in the case of Idaho (home to 80 percent of remaining Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse), abandoned completely.

"The Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse is another in a long list of residents of the Sagebrush Sea that face an uncertain future," said Mark Salvo, director of the Sagebrush Sea Campaign. "The sagebrush-steppe ecosystem is in tatters, and protection for this grouse is vital to save this increasingly rare bird and the ecosystem of which it is a part."

This grouse faces numerous threats to its continued survival, including conversion of native habitat to agriculture, livestock grazing, mechanical and chemical "treatments" of habitat, application of pesticides, altered fire regimes, invasion of non-native species, both excessive and accidental hunting, inbreeding/reduced genetic fitness, and the placement and construction of roads and transmission lines.

Conservation organizations joined WildEarth Guardians in the lawsuit over the Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse petition: Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, Center for Biological Diversity, Center for Native Ecosystems, the Larch Company, Oregon Natural Desert Association, the Sagebrush Sea Campaign, and Western Watersheds Project. The organizations were represented by attorney Todd C. Tucci of Advocates for the West.

The Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse is one of several imperiled grouse species that WildEarth Guardians is seeking to protect as part of its "Western Grouse Project." Other imperiled western grouse needing Endangered Species Act protection are the Greater Sage-grouse, Lesser Prairie-Chicken, Gunnison Sage-grouse, and the Mono Basin Sage-grouse. These grouse face threats similar to those affecting Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse. Protecting these birds will also benefit ecosystems they inhabit, and help recover other imperiled native species.

The Bush Administration has a track record of forestalling listing of imperiled species. While President Clinton listed 65 species a year during his administration, and President George H.W. Bush listed 59 species per year, the George W. Bush Administration has listed an average of only 8 species per year, and all of these were under court order.

Additional contacts: Todd Tucci, Advocates for the West, 208-342-7024 Mark Salvo, Sagebrush Sea Campaign, 503-757-4221