WildEarth Guardians

Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Gunnison Sage-Grouse May Get Protection - Agreement Requires Feds to Publish Endangered Species Listing Determination

Despite years of collaboration among federal, state and local working groups, the Gunnison sage-grouse continues to teeter at the brink of extinction. Endangered Species Act protection is urgently needed.
Contact: WildEarth Guardians

Denver, CO - In a settlement agreement announced today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed to consider Endangered Species Act protection for the highly imperiled Gunnison sage-grouse. The grouse has been a formal "candidate" species under the Act since 2000 because of steep population declines and rapidly dwindling habitat. The Service is required to publish an Endangered Species Act listing proposal by March 31, 2006, or to determine that the grouse is recovered sufficiently that it no longer needs special protection.

Despite years of collaboration among federal, state and local working groups, the Gunnison sage-grouse continues to teeter at the brink of extinction. "While a lot of folks have tried hard for a long time, it hasn't been enough," said Rob Edward, Sinapu's carnivore restoration director. "We need to do a better job of recovering the grouse, and Endangered Species Act protection is the most important first step in that direction."

Gunnison sage-grouse numbers have reportedly increased over the past year, but biologists suspect this is the result of the diminishing intensity of the lengthy drought across the region.

"We are excited that the drought is easing off, but the biologists are very concerned that the Gunnison sage-grouse is still at extremely high risk of extinction because ranchland in the Gunnison Basin is being lost to developers, and other threats continue to destroy key habitat," explained Erin Robertson, staff biologist for Center for Native Ecosystems.

The Colorado Division of Wildlife acknowledges the same concern in a July 27, 2005 press release (dnr.state.co.us/news/press.asp?pressid=3563) on the newest population estimates, cautioning that "several year's [sic] data [are] needed to confirm a trend."

"The most significant effect of protection for the Gunnison sage-grouse will be a limit on new development in the Gunnison Basin," explained Jacob Smith, Director of Center for Native Ecosystems. "While livestock grazing can harm the grouse, many ranchers are already doing much of what needs to be done."

Endangered Species Act protection would likely restrict some construction of new subdivisions and homes in the rural Gunnison Basin. If the Gunnison sage-grouse is protected, it will almost certainly be accompanied by special rules (known as "4(d)" rules), Habitat Conservation Plans, and other tools that limit the listing's impact on ranching and agricultural practices.

Gunnison sage-grouse (Centrocercus minimus) (soon to be renamed simply as "Gunnison grouse" by the American Ornithologists' Union) is a distinct species of sage-grouse that occurs in small, isolated populations in western Colorado and southeast Utah. Citizen groups petitioned for Endangered Species Act protection for the grouse in 2000 because of extensive declines. As reported in the July 7 Colorado Division of Wildlife news release, although it is difficult to precisely quantify the declines, there is broad consensus that the grouse "now occupy only a tiny percentage of their historic range."

"The Gunnison sage-grouse is another in a long list of residents of the Sagebrush Sea that face an uncertain future," said Nicole Rosmarino, conservation director for WildEarth Guardians. "The sagebrush ecosystem is in tatters, but protection of endangered western grouse provides an opportunity to protect whole landscapes of life."

The long list of imperiled grouse in need of Endangered Species Act safeguards includes the Columbian sharp-tailed grouse, the greater sage-grouse, the Mono Basin sage-grouse, and the lesser prairie-chicken. All are at risk of extinction from similar threats, including habitat loss to agriculture, livestock grazing, mechanical and chemical "treatments" of habitat, application of pesticides, altered fire regimes, invasion of noxious weeds, poorly managed hunting, inbreeding/reduced genetic fitness, and the placement and construction of roads and transmission lines.

Unless the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determines that the Gunnison sage-grouse does not need Endangered Species Act protection, the settlement also requires the agency to formally designate the bird as "threatened" or "endangered" by March 2007. The coalition of conservation groups involved in the settlement includes the Sagebrush Sea Campaign, American Lands Alliance, Center for Native Ecosystems, WildEarth Guardians, The Larch Company, and Sinapu. Western Environmental Law Center represented the coalition.

Contacts: Erin Robertson, Staff Biologist, Center for Native Ecosystems, (303) 546-0214 Nicole Rosmarino, Conservation Director, WildEarth Guardians, (505) 988-9126 x156 Rob Edward, Carnivore Restoration Director, Sinapu, (303) 447-8655 x2# Jacob Smith, Executive Director, Center for Native Ecosystems, (303) 546-0214